xuster "Mangia!"

Having just come home from Japan where I ate quite possibly the best sushi of my life at a restaurant adjacent to Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market, I was depressed that I’ll never find anything to satisfy my fine sushi crave.

If there’s one place that can satisfy that crave, it would be Shiro’s Sushi in Belltown. The decor is simple but the focus is on the quality of Sushi. Chef Shiro can often be seen behind the sushi bar chatting with his clientele. He has undoubtedly mastered the two main aspects of sushi making, great quality fish (both in cut and freshness) and excellent sushi rice (both in texture and taste).

The Toro is not to be missed here, nor are the Amaebi and Geoduck. If sushi is not your thing, the always good Blackcod Kasuzuke and Spicy Squid are also excellent. Price is definitely on the high end but if you’re a real sushi lover, you save money by not having to fly to Japan for the same quality sushi.

If you like great authentic sushi with non-pretentious atmosphere and you have a generous budget, Shiro’s is the place for you.

The former owner of Seven Star Pepper Cheng Biao Yang finally decided to seize the Chinese food market opportunity on the East Side of Seattle by opening a decently authentic Szechuan restaurant in Bellevue.

The food is very spicy but flavorful and authentic enough to satisfy the Microsoft Chinese crowd that frequent the restaurant. One of the marks of a good Szechuan restaurant is their use of the ‘ma’ pepper to construct the spicy flavor. Szechuan Chef is one of the few restaurants in Seattle that seems to do this pretty well. The decor is a tad overboard with an outdoor Chinese village courtyard feel but it’s clean and comfortable which is already a leg up on many other Chinese restaurants in the area.

My personal must-try’s include Mixed beef cold appetizer (Fu(1) Qi(1) Fei(4) Pian(4)) and personal favorite Fish in Spicy Gravy (Shui(3) Zhu(3) Yu(2)). Also try the cumin lamb and stirfry kidney (Huo(3) Bao(4) Yao(1) Hua(1)). The hotpot here is a good way to go for those cold and rainy Seattle winters but go with the half-spicy-half-regular soup. Your stomach will thank you in the morning.