One of the most consistently promising kiosks at Food & Wine for us has been Japan. While some of the offerings aren’t too far removed from what you may find at your local Japanese restaurant (such as a Spicy Tuna Roll as seen in 2011), the kiosk always tried to incorporate something a little bit more interesting (like last year’s Pork Kakuni and 2010′s Wafu Ribettes).
2012 introduces two hand rolls, and while I still do want to try the Spicy Hand Roll, the Karaage Hand Roll was definitely a new item I had to try. The Karaage was one of the items from the original, shortly lived Kabuki Cafe menu in the Otsumami selections (alongside Wafu Ribs).
When I received the hand roll, it wasn’t like the cone-shaped hand rolls I’ve received at every Japanese restaurant to which I’ve ever been. It still looked darn tasty, though!
The size of the hand roll is a great value, as there were about 5 average sized sushi pieces in the roll. The spicy mayonnaise was really quite delicious and was a great compliment to both the rice and chicken. Its heat level was also on point in complementing the rice and chicken. I believe we may have dipped the hand roll in every last bit!
The chicken itself was surprisingly moist, and the fried essence came though. Some of the crispness held up as well. Personally, I’ll take sushi with fish any day, but I really appreciated this roll, and think it’s a great addition for those who may be wary about eating raw seafood.
Matt, being a HUGE fan of Teriyaki, ordered the Sukiyaki Beef Pan. We had both enjoyed the Sukiyaki Beef Roll previously, but this year I wasn’t too enthused about the description. When it arrived, my worst fears had come true. It just looked plain bad. Chopped meat and a few sparse onions with a squirt of Teriyaki sauce. On a dry hot dog bun.
Matt thought it was okay, but one bite and I was angry with myself for giving it that much of a chance. Even his description was “It’s like Steak-umms.” Yeah, no thanks.
So for both of us, the Karaage Hand Roll was pretty darn good, and the Sukiyaki Beef Pan split us between edible and WHY DID YOU MAKE THIS?!
I know we’ll be trying more items from Japan during the festival, so stay tuned! In the meantime, let us know how your experiences have been.
Really? I LOVED the Sukiyaki Been Pan! We got a good amount of jus in the dish to dip the sandwich in. My one complaint was that there was too much bread/not enough meat. but that didn’t stop me from using the extra bread to sop up the jus!
As always, I’m looking forward to the Japan booth this year. Last year we tasted and liked every food item (save the California roll — such a waste of time) and the drier saké. Since the menu is almost entirely new this year (again, save the California roll), I’m sure we’ll be spending a lot if time there. The Sukyaki Beef Pan does look a little boring, but I’m excited to try both hand rolls.
V – I cannot stand teriyaki sauce, so for me to even try this was a big deal. I simply didn’t like it, but Matt didn’t have a problem with it. He probably would have liked more teriyaki sauce though. And as you can see, there was no jus or anything in the bottom of our dish to help with the dry hot dog bun.
Melissa – I’ll probably have the Spicy Hand Roll this weekend. And perhaps some sake!
I loved their tuna sensation a couple of years ago (although I did find when they added the salmon it was too rich tasting) but I usually don’t like anything else (not fond of the california roll unless it’s real crab). However, my friend likes cooked rolls and the spicy roll sounds good so I think we’ll stop there.
Definitely worth a try! Sounds like there is something that each of you might enjoy sampling there!
Got to try the spicy tuna roll today and it was pretty good although I’m not used to the tuna being so ground down. The steak-umms comment you made describes the beef pan perfectly. LOL. My friend tried that and I had a bite too. We walked a little distance (basically next booth) to get some room (it was pretty crowded) and in that time the bun got completely soggy and the filling was ok. The spicy tuna was definitely spicy but not unbearable by any means.
The tuna’s consistency was a bit weird, but it tastes fresh and was enjoyable. The heat level was good and had more noticeable flavor over heat. The pan was blah, as you found out, though!