SPECIAL BIRTHDAY? FIND SUSHI KUNI IN WEST LINN

Was the special birthday at Shushi Kuni my choice for a celebration feast?

It was the inspired choice of a West Linn birthday girl who knows things, lots of things.

Which includes having the inside track on sushi.

Now you will, too.

A review from the website:

I’ve been to high-end sushi restaurants in Japan, and Sushi Kuni is on par with them. Their quality fish, artfully cut and presented, took me back to Japan.

Please watch the documentary like Jiro Dreams of Sushi to get a sense of what I’m talking about. I’ve also only had take-out so far, but plan to dine in soon — it’s an artfully decorated restaurant that brings a slice of Japan to Oregon. Very cool!

The prices are surprisingly good for the quality of the sushi. This is probably one of the best, if not the best restaurant in West Linn.

Artfully decorated? Yes it is.

If someone who has been to Japan calls it authentic, I believe it.

If you’ve never been to Japan, should you have an opinion on what is and what isn’t authentic sushi?

After Sushi Kuni you will. They raise the bar.

Authentic Sushi Pick Up

The story told is that Sushi Kuni drives from West Linn to Seattle a few times a week to pick up fish orders flown in from Japan.

Does sound like an extreme measure for the real thing?

You can fly to Sushi Kuni Tokyo instead.

One of the most sought after sashimi item here is the cho toro (Fatty tuna) as well as the uni (sea urchin). It is very expensive to eat these sashimi items outside of Japan and even more difficult to get the fresh and tasty ones. 

If you decide West Linn is far enough, that Japan can come to you for a special birthday, then you’re in luck.

This is the menu from Sushi Kuni West Linn:

This is Sushi Kuni on Uber Eats:

Click the Uber Eats link for a close up of each panel, but nothing beats seeing it on the table.

If you know someone with a celebration coming up, look to Sushi Kuni.

The cultural transport of the right food in the right place includes nutritious delicacies masquerading as art work in an environment of calm surrender to the experience.

Sound good to you?

Fine Dining For Special Birthday

How is fine dining done right? It’s not about a lace table cloth.

Travels with my favorite companion, my wife and mother to our children, have taken me to restaurants with a special place in the going-out-to-eat program.

We were in Belgium staying in a small luxury hotel and asked at the front desk about a place for dinner.

The longer they talked, the hungrier I got.

From that exchange I learned the difference between a chef-run restaurant menu, a menu made by cooks, and fast food.

We wanted a classic dining experience and made reservations in Brugge for ‘gastronomique’ restaurants.

The chef plans the menu for the day, shops for fresh ingredients.

His wife rules over the four tables in his restaurant.

And everything else.

After a few of those I sensed a trend: People care about the authenticity of the food they serve.

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Wherever you are in the Portland metro area, look at the red pointer for Sushi Kuni.

The West Linn Tidings of the Pamplin Media Group took a look:

To make the menu as authentic as possible, Sushi Kuni’s chefs are all Japanese — two of them having trained in Japan and another has a father who was a sushi chef in Japan.

“We relied on them (the chefs) to craft the menu, and we wanted real authenticity,” Leong said. 

Leong believes the restaurant was able to attract talented Japanese chefs because of their intentions to be as traditional as possible.

“It’s not going to be a conveyor belt or taking a piece of rice and throwing fish on it,” he said.

“You’re coming here to get a real taste of Japan.”

Sushi Kuni, which Lenog said roughly translates to “sushi kingdom” or “sushi nation,” plans to have fish flown overnight from Japan three times a week.

Food can trigger a happy yearning for a different time and place the same way a favorite song can transport you back to the first time you heard it.

Put food and music together and you may find yourself looking for places, the kind that bring out their best the way you give your best.

Good memories happen in those places.

(430 posts tagged ‘food.’)