Sushi Edo - Brisbane CBD. Adding more onto the prior novelty of the sushi train, Sushi Edo is one more place which is upping the ante with how sushi is being ordered. After success in Newmarket and Nundah, they have opened a store in the city centre, where it is positioned to tempt many hungry office workers during lunch break or after work hours. There is an active energy going on around here, as everything is made to be as efficient and enjoyable as possible. Being able to order and eat a meal has possible never been so easy; more on that later though. Making sure there is the most efficent ordering system possible, is only the beginning for Sushi Edo.
After working I was meeting a friend of mine for lunch, and after a bit of discussion it was that she was good with anythingājust very hungry. Initially, there was another idea but the original restaurant that was aimed at had a line out the door and quite some waiting time. Shrugging our shoulders, out the door we went; Sushi Edo, was right next door, it looked good and there were seats so that was the choice for lunch. Something might have been in the air or engineered into the dining experience, but this was a whole lot of fun and some of the most enjoyable innovation that I have yet met at any restaurant that I have been to.
With the service at this place, it is minimal. By saying that, it is more by their clever design of ordering rather than the waitstaff themselves. All of the ordering is done on a built-in iPad, where the diners can browse through the menu and select what they want at their will. They choose an item, and then put in how many orders of it they want and prestoāit is on its way before they know it. It show their ordering history and there are small icons indicating which ones are being cooked and which ones are ready and yet to come. When this happens, it is done very quickly (sometimes they simply grab an order off the sushi train). I had a lot of fun with my friend ordering this, scrolling through all the options and looking at what was available. What helps is that the plates are all the same price, so bringing alone a few people is ideal. Looking at this design aspect, it could make lunch times more efficient and much quicker.
Sushi Edo has a large selection of sushi, which includes all of the classics that are expected, heaps of nigiri and hand rolls, gunkanāwhich is the one with the strip of seaweed around it, sashimi, plus more modern fusion varieties among others. Also, there are heaps of the sides and snacks and several main meals in the form of udon noodles. A huge drinks menu existsāboth alcoholic and non-alcoholicāand they have not forgotten or disregarded dessert.
Each table is set up with everything that is needed before the orders on the plates. There are the condiments: ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi as well as the serviette dispensers, spoons and chopsticks all around the iPad, which is stuck in place. There are a lot of tables in this place, with both booth and train seats. Each one is perfectly set up with the meal ready to go once the diners' butts touch the seats.
A whole array and smattering of items was ordered from the iPad menu. At first it was drinks, where I ordered an iced tea off the menuājust one of the generic brands that is often available at many Japanese places, and from memory it was peach flavoured. Nevertheless, it was cool and refreshing.
Onto the food, I as usual went for weird and different sorts of options. My friend, while admittedly adventurous, played it safe for a bit. The first couple of orders were simple ones: a tuna-avocado roll plus a chicken-avocado-roll. Both of these, while simple, demonstrated the level of quality in which the ingredients and thus the sushi as a whole would display with decent cuts of meat, plump, smooth pieces of avocado and well steamed rice. They both had such a great flavour. The chicken avocado even had a finish of a mayonnaise swirl on top.
Amongst the selection here, as mentioned, were some of the more experimental and modern fusion varieties of sushi. Two of these which were gotten were a Lion King roll, and a Dragon roll. The Lion King roll consisted of a combination of seared salmon and avocado with a mayonnaise-cheese combination on top. The Dragon roll had tempura shrimp and avocado, with a garnish of cod roe on top. These were fantastic: unusual combinations for sure, but they really work. Firstly, with the lion king one the combination of salmon and avocado is a somewhat standard one, however with the creaminess of cheese and mayonnaise, plus the naturally smooth, buttery texture of avocado, all three compliment each other well and salmon suits those sorts of textures to compliment flavours. Secondly, the Dragon roll also works in a similar way. The avocado comes into practice again, but then there is the flexibility of deep fried meat, particularly prawn. Adding on the cod roe mixed in a strong, distinct flavour to finish off and compliment the piece of sushi. Both of them were really good, and make me excited to try other, less usual varieties in which are available.
Though there were heaps of other tempting varieties of sushi to sample, the other half of the menu was all the other various snacks some of which were too good to pass up. To keep it short, and avoid repetition, each one of these was delicious. Two of the chosen items were "karaage" - deep-fried meats marinated with a soy-ginger-garlic mixture beforehand. Of course there was the usual chicken, this time spicy, plus some octopus was sampled as well. Both were perfectly cooked, really hot, crispy and the inside meat was tender. Everything about both karaage was done just right. One other bone fide classic snack is okonomiyaki, the seafood pancake. A much smaller one was available for ordering which was ordered. This was delicious, with a generous filling of various seafood. Again, not much to talk about that is new other than it was done just perfectly as well. During the meal there, my friend had told me about her travels in Japan in which a common snack was "Renkon Chips". These were parts of a lotus root, cut up and deep fried. They were crispy, and not that far off simply being another form of French fry. There was a slight soy sauce flavour mixed throughout the batter.
What good is a meal without finishing it off with dessert? Keeping up the trend of always spotting something new and different to try. I chose this small sweet called a "Coconut Manjiyuu", which was a bit like a cookie that had an avocado-chocolate filling. It was a soft, moreish morsel that ended the meal quite nicely. Something fairly light and fluffy to end a relatively healthy meal was a good way to go.
I had a lot of fun like have not had for some time at Sushi Edo. This can definitely be chalked up in part to the novelty value of the iPad menu. It also is helped by having good tasting food, a decent price, a good atmosphere and you can never discount the company in which you are with at the time. Sushi Edo is certainly welcomed in the neighbourhood, and it already looks like it is gaining a following.
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