{"id":5649,"date":"2018-06-04T14:06:58","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T13:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoomjapan.info\/?p=5649"},"modified":"2018-06-20T12:24:04","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T11:24:04","slug":"vol-8-sushi-taste-test-itsu-vs-wasabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/2018\/06\/04\/vol-8-sushi-taste-test-itsu-vs-wasabi\/","title":{"rendered":"[Vol.8] Sushi Taste-Test ( Itsu vs. Wasabi )"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever wondered if you can eat really great sushi in London, well, the answer is that you can. If (and it\u2019s a huge if) you have the money. <\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s Michelin-starred The Araki<\/a>, where the sushi omakase course is just \u00a3300, minus drinks<\/span>. Even if you don\u2019t spend that much, there are other places where you can get pretty great sushi for around \u00a370 or \u00a3100. But, I\u2019m sure that all of us would prefer some good sushi that we could eat every day. So, we\u2019ve scoured London in search of reasonably-priced sushi to compare with the supermarket sushi we have already tested for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This time, we have focused on two high-street sushi chains, Itsu and Wasabi. Japanese food has a healthy image, and that has played a big role in the way that sushi is perceived in the UK. Itsu is a great example as their sushi really emphasizes this healthy aspect and the calories are indicated prominently on all its takeaway boxes. In terms of the neta, i.e. the bits of fish that sit on top of the rice, Itsu keeps things super simple. Salmon, prawns, and tuna. That\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In Japan you also commonly see mackerel, squid, salmon roe, shellfish, and the neta tend to change with the season. But, if you think about the dangers of wasted fish, Itsu idea to focus on just three varieties is a smart one. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a37.99<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of Wasabi\u2019s selling points when it first opened was that you could choose which types you wanted and put together your own sushi takeaway box. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Over time, they have come to focus mainly on pre-packed boxes. But, one crucial difference with Itsu is that their boxes have a wider variety of neta.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a38.10<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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We started with the salmon nigiri. This time, it\u2019s not smoked salmon so our expectations are high. <\/span><\/p>\n

Visually they look very similar, and there is hardly any difference in taste either. But what does grab our attention is how amazingly thinly the salmon has been sliced. Is this possibly the secret to selling reasonably priced sushi?? <\/span><\/p>\n

Itsu\u2019s salmon nigiri already has some wasabi on the rice. The rice is a bit on the hard side. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the salmon nigiri from Wasabi has no wasabi on it (LOL), and the rice is soft.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Left:\u00a0<\/span>itsu\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Right<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>wasabi<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Next we moved to the tuna nigiri. The colour of Itsu\u2019s akami (the cheapest grade of sushi tuna) was good and it looked tasty. Wasabi\u2019s tuna, on the other hand, looked washed out and pink and really not that appetizing. Please note the colour and don\u2019t get it mixed up with the more expensive chu-toro tuna!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Left:\u00a0<\/span>itsu\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Right<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>wasabi<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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On the other hand, fish is a natural product, so the condition of the fish will vary day to day, depending on what the company has been able to source. So, it\u2019s impossible to judge with just one tasting. There are lot of different types of tuna in the sea, but in terms of taste here, they were both very similar.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the prawns, Itsu went down the fusion sushi route, and theirs is dotted with chives. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Left:\u00a0<\/span>itsu\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Right<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>wasabi<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Turning to Wasabi with their wider range of neta, they have egg, inari pockets (made from tofu), crab sticks with mayonnaise, chopped salmon, etc. They\u2019re trying hard, but to be honest, some of their ideas are a little uninspiring. <\/span><\/p>\n

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form left<\/span>\u3000<\/span> inari pockets, egg, chopped salmon, and crab sticks with mayonnaise.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In terms of price, both the similarly priced sets we bought at Itsu and Wasabi contained eight pieces. Our final conclusion was that if we\u2019re paying the same price, instead of Wasabi\u2019s thin egg and inari pockets, we\u2019d prefer to eat more salmon and tuna from Itsu.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up next time will be the roll sushi taste test!<\/span><\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever wondered if you can eat really great sushi in London, well, the answer is that you can. If (and it\u2019s a huge […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-japanese-tasting-team"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5649"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5778,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions\/5778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zoomjapan.info\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}