Kushi

I'm just catching up with my dining experience back in March. I've received an email from a source that there will be a new Japanese restaurant opening in end of March. The concept was very similar to what I had in mind about what new restaurant should open in DMV area. I was intrigued that someone else besides me thought of the idea and I was very eager to make a visit. I guess having a high hopes for something is to let down many things... Keep reading as this is my first very harsh review.

Kushi is located in downtown DC close to Chinatown. At first, I didn't mind the outer appearance as interior is much more important for setting an Izakaya ambiance. As I walk in, there were few employees greeted me with pleasant smile and and I waited for seating. I looked around. High ceiling with open grill with bar sits and few tables. As I was escorted to my table, there was bigger space to the left of the entrance, with sake bar and sushi bar. The place was very clean as I've expected from a new place.

I sat at the sushi bar and I was pleased with table setting. This is how things are done, if you have gone to decent Japanese restaurant: Good Chopstick, wet towel, and upside down dish for soy sauce. It was clean enough to eat with your hands as that's how you are suppose to enjoy good sushi in fine Japanese restaurants. I looked over the menu and ordered a Japanese beer that you can't really find in DC area.

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale from Kiuchi Brewery, Japan.

It has a nice dark amber color. Somewhat similar to New Castle, where you get nice aroma of orange, fruit, and then the taste of wheat.

Onigiri
My taste buds are very similar to Japanese as I always order onigiri to start off. Also, onigiri also tells you what your foods will be taste like from that restaurant as the rices and sea weed will tell you alot about their ingredients. This onigiri was okay. It had enough pickled plums inside and portion of rice was good. However, seaweed was little to salty and rice was not dried enough or should I say cared enough like how sushi rice is made.

Madai and Hamachi
I think sushi is the best in this restaurant. They were super fresh and rice was made well. There was good balance of rice vinegar, sugar and water in the rice that went well with fish without killing the taste of fresh fish.

Edamame and Maki (Eel and Lump Crab)
It was saltiest edamame... It was nice to see that they used sea salt but they killed it. Maki was just ok. Nothing special about them.

Eringi Mushroom
Another disappointment. It was very salty. so salty that we couldn't even eat 1/3 of it. They must have cooked in salt water and sprinkled more salt on it.

Buta Bara Pork belly
This was decent. Fat pork belly was seared evenly and outside was cooked right. Inside was still soft and I was able to taste the soft pork fat. I wish they smoked it little longer and did little sauce on the outside. It was little salty but my sense of saltiness was disoriented by previous dishes.

Anago
I was glad to see that they didn't use packaged eel like most cheap Japanese places do. Sea-water eel was fresh and portions were generous.

Asari no Sakamushi (sake steamed clams)
I guess these guys are high on salt diet. They killed the taste of clam with overly powerful salty sauce. At this point, we wanted to cancel the order and go some place else to wash our taste buds.

Kawa (crispy chicken skin), Sweet Onion, Chicken breast with wasabi
After tasting lots of inedible dishes, I thought maybe, just maybe, since this place is claimed to be Izakaya, their bar food should be good. There was hit or miss on that assumption. Kawa is very popular bar food in Japan bar scene along with skewered sardine which this place doesn't have. It was ok. If you done it correctly, there should be little fat left on the skin so that when you grill it, you get smokey flavor. It was little to dry and I didn't know if it was fried or grilled. Sweet onions were good but anyone can grill sweet onions. Chicken breast was undercooked and there was no signed that it came from the grill.

So I've wasted good amount of money, trying different dishes on the menu. Sushi was good but I wouldn't come here to eat sushi. This place is suppose to be a Izakaya. Picture this in your mind: Overly worked and tired Japanese businessmen looking for quick drink before heading home after work. He walks into narrow street where there are tiny Izakayas one after another. He walks into tiny space, greeted by smiling employees and you can smell nice smokey meat on the grill. This is how they are in Japan and even in New York City. Kushi has modernized Izakaya so much and food selection is so off that they should not be called izakaya. Even modernized Izakaya in Japan is not like this. It's just another wealthy person who knows nothing about the true experience of Izakaya and going cheap with hiring all Chinese employees who knows nothing about true Japanese food. I can't wait to goto my favorite spot in New York to erase this bad experience...