Spencer Williams, Contributor
East Japanese Restaurant in the Market Place, Constant Spring Road, is the best buy for the buck in Kingston!
The food is consistently good and the prices are reasonable for the quality you are getting.
I endeavour to eat there when I can because I love raw fish and unless you're deep-sea fishing every weekend it's hard to come by, as most of the seafood you get in supermarkets is freezer burned and tastes of washing powder!
The traditional way to start is with bowls of edamame and miso soup. The former is gorgeous sprinkled with salt. Put a pod in your mouth, squeeze your lips together and pull the end out, leaving delicate soy beans to slide down your throat. The latter is a salty broth with soft cubes of tofu and slippery leaves of seaweed. Only problem is that the miso soup, which is made with soy bean paste, is always tepid, so invariably I am sending it back to get reheated. After a little patience though, I am sitting there enjoying my meal immensely.
Something light
If feeling for something light, order the tuna tataki - seared tuna thinly sliced and fanned out on a bed of cold seaweed, served with fine julienne of cucumber and a creamy sauce, all sprinkled with wasabi caviar. The seaweed can be rather ordinary for some people, so make sure you use your chopsticks to pick up a selection of the different things on your plate at one time. I must tell you that twice the tuna has been a little stale, but it's probably due to the fact that they're not getting in fresh fish everyday. It's hard to monitor exactly how much one is going to sell on a daily basis.
My absolute favourite is the sashimi. I either make my own selection, or I have the New Yorker - a platter with raw yellow tail, tuna, red snapper, salmon and steamed shrimp. Due to the fact that the only cooked fish I order on the menu is the luscious grilled unagi (eel), I always exchange the shrimp for more yellow tail. Oh my gosh - how its succulently juicy flesh feels in your mouth is indescribable and when you dip it in a little soy sauce which has had a hint of wasabi paste rubbed into it! Well, go and have a nibble for yourself. Even those who hate the idea of eating uncooked fish might be converted. One suggestion though - the size of the fish pieces you can get on the nigiri (strips of raw fish placed on a large mouthful of rice) are big - this SHOULD be the same in the case of the sashimi!
If you are tempted to be adventurous, but you're a little nervous about all the sliminess, then try the tiny red flying fish roe, pink salmon eggs and sea urchin as nigiri sushi. It does take a little getting used to, and it certainly is not everyone's plate of fish, but I live for them all! Okay, once I had a bad experience. I got an 'off' sliver of sea urchin and because I tend to pop the entire nigiri into my mouth, it was a bit too late to spit it out once I realised something was wrong. So I asked the waitress to take back the second piece which I had not touched. When the bill came, I had been charged for the piece I'd eaten! Hmm ... you can imagine the discussion I got into with them when I was trying to explain why it was not on that they were charging me for the bad portion!
So, finally, the rolls! While they are probably the most popular items on the menu, many have been westernised (California and shrimp tempura to name a couple), for the palates of those who can't handle the real thing, but no disrespect intended! There are just some raw delicacies which do not appeal to everyone. Just because I'm someone who'd eat a crawling green ant, doesn't mean I'd eat a slithering maggot!
