"I paid $2 for a teabag"

ICHIUMI SUSHI & SEAFOOD BUFFET

So, we're still trying to figure out the kinks of having both of us blog at the same time. For now, Ling will write normally, and Eve's comments will be in italics.

We managed to trek over to Ichiumi Sushi & Seafood Buffet at Menlo Park Mall in Edison tonight. We were joined by Dilla, our Visual Art Director aka photographer. So the pictures are going to look like they were ripped off the Ichiumi website, but they were really taken by Dilla, who took her job way too seriously.

First impression: Very spacious, open .. not crowded but then again it only opened last week. Great buffet layout ... reminiscent of Kitchen Stadium with all the chefs running around minus the color commentary courtesy of American voice-overs.

Right off the bat, the sushi selection was pretty stellar. Sushi rolls, regular sushi, sashimi ... all with great presentation. The sashimi wasn't just your run-of-the-mill salmon and tuna (sea urchin!). Decent variety but nothing too far from ordinary.

Yes, there are snow crab legs, raw clams and raw oysters. So if you're that (asian) guy who goes to the buffet just to get a shitload of crab legs ........ you'll get your fix.

Major props for service. The wait staff was attentive, and management checked on us more than once.

They were like house elves as they were constantly clearing our plates and refilling my mug of tea.

Worth mentioning:

1) The BBQ station - Two cooks kept churning out BBQ meats, yaki-tori, langoustines, and more. I sampled some of the seafood pancake and pork; a good effort, but the BBQ itself wasn't really worthwhile. Eve didn't get to sample anything meat-like because she made the very stupid move of giving up meat for Lent.

What the hell was I hallucinating when I decided to give up meat for Lent. Probably one of the most difficult things I've ever attempted as I usually have no self control when it comes to satisfying my whims. But as for the seafood pancake, the ratio of seafood to pancake was pretty one-sided with seafood overwhelming the pancakey-ness. Our favorite seafood pancake still comes from Kimchi Hana.

2) (The) Make your own crepe station! - A made-to-order crepe station with very passable crepes and various fresh fruit for fillings. Not bad. Note: skip the Red Bean ice cream and just stick with the Green Tea. The Red Bean tasted like bubblegum.

I'm still trying to figure out what that cream was. As far as desserts went there was a slew of microscopic dessert portions ranging from cheesecake squares, cream puffs, to jello (nonalcoholic) shots and fruits. I really wouldn't save too much room for dessert unless it was for the crepes.

My strawberry, mango, pineapple and cream filled crepe à la Green Tea ice cream. Yum! We don't have a picture of Ling's because she couldn't wait to take a picture before eating it.

3) The Tempura/udon/ramen station - AWESOME. I love when buffets do this. Made-to-order noodle soups and, as a added plus, shrimp and soft shell crab tempura fried up right in front of you. Two types of noodles, udon and ramen, both were pretty good. Soft shell crab tempura didn't rock our world.

Try the Tokyo Ramen with fishballs, the broth was beef based and slightly bland but with their added seasonings it's almost perfect. Brings back memories of street side food carts in Asia.

One major beef (har har har) or lack there of, was the hot food section. There seemed to be a lot of choices at first, but upon closer inspection, all the hot food was basically the same. Beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki, BBQ chicken, and like, 8 different kinds of fish. Literally. Just filets of various types of fish took up most of the hot buffet. Salmon, Chilean Sea Bass, Yellow Eye, Pollock, etc. So basically, chicken or fish. We'd like to see more variety and creativity in this department.

We were irked by the fact that they charged us $2 for Eve's white tea because it's usually thrown in for free (although it did get us a great quote of the night and this blog title: "I paid $2 for a teabag.").

Basically, if you're a sushi lover and you've never been to the likes of Minado or Makkoli, you will likely spontaneously orgasm as soon as you see the buffet. And you'll fall in love with this place but never realize that there are bigger and better sushi buffets out there more worthy of your love.. but, you can be blissfully ignorant for a while. It's worth the $28 weekday/$31 weekend dinner charge in sushi alone.



OVERALL: There's potential. I would fork this place again ... but while I was forking Ichiumi, I'd be thinking about other restaurants. It's good enough for a good time, but it's not the one I want to settle down and grow old with.

It truly is a sushi and seafood buffet and that's what you should go there for. Ichiumi made giving up meat for the Lenten season just a little bit easier with their array of seafoods and vegetarian delights. But I'd have to say my favorite part of the meal was the Milkita sweets they offered in their candy bowl. I'd pay $30 again just to eat it.

FORKS: 3 out of 5

SPOONS: 3.5 out of 5

- Ling and Eve