Ichi Umi

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Ichi Umi
6 East 32nd Street, New York
352 Menlo Park Mall (Location visited)
Edison, NJ

As I have done in my last previous business trips, in that wish to make comparisons between sushi found in other cities and Vancouver, I did some quick search around and two places that kept popping out: Minado and Ichi Umi. There was a third restaurant I wanted to try, Mr. Pi Sushi, but, given the popularity of the previous two, I thought, hey, that is what people like so let’s go to one of these! And, out of the two, I ended up going to Ichi Umi mainly because that was the closest one (of course, “close” is a relative term given most of the drive was highway). However, there was something I neglected to do, not to mention something that was giving me bad vibes about this place: it is located in a mall. To make a really bad analogy, the two sushi restaurant in Vancouver that are in large malls (as far as I know and not counting the small stands) are Sui-Sha-Ya and Kawawa Japanese Restaurant. Both are all-you-can-eat and, out of the two, I have only been to the former (mainly due to peer pressure). As for the later, I will just refer to Sherman’s visit… But, back to Ichi Umi.

The same issue I mentioned in my visit to Pooja occured here as well: Due to my instinct on taking the left most lane to take a left turn, as we usually do here, I missed the exit to the mall which happened to be in the right most lane (out of three, sometimes four). Not only that, I was boxed by several cars for various clicks until I finally managed to change lanes to be able to take one of those jughandle turns. To make things worse? I ended up parked at the other end of the mall…

When I arrived, that one detail I neglected to double check hit me: Ichi Umi is a buffet – had I done my homework, this post would have been of Mr. Pi Sushi instead… But, I was there and not really in the mood of driving around so I just resigned myself. When I was seated, I found an interesting twist: There were induction stoves on some tables. My best bet would be used for shabu-shabu, which was listed as an option in the menu for an additional $5. Shabusen, anybody? As for the price itself, it does not come cheap either: Dinner for an adult is $29 on weekdays (and additional $3 on weekends). Since I was in New Jersey for two weeks and limited accessibility to a gym (there was one in the hotel, but, given it was a budget hotel, there wasn’t too much in the gym), I had to keep myself in check. It would be indeed a challenge…

After I was seated, I was told I could go ahead and hit the buffet, which is an interesting change from the fill-up-the-form type of all-you-can-eat here (of course, not that I have been to one in a long time). One thing I must mention: Since I wasn’t going to gorge myself to death, that meant the only way to take some pictures would be standing in the middle of the buffet area. As a result, before I started to do so (and get myself kicked out if they didn’t like that idea), I asked the staff if it was OK. I wasn’t given a general yes/no answer but rather, I was asked not to do a close-up of the food if it was still in the buffet area. Of course, if it was on my plate, on my table… So, here it goes!

So, here is your sushi and maki to start. Pretty much grab what you want. I noticed they replenished these pretty fast once they run out. Of course, that also runs into a catch-22 issue: what if there is an unpopular one? Would that be standing there forever?

They also has sashimi. Some of the pieces were oddly cut (almost as strips) but, otherwise, it wasn’t too large or too small. Of course, if you wanted more, it was just a matter of coming back and grab more pieces.

Yup, they have oysters as well! I don’t recall the exact oyster type (I did not take a picture of the specie/origin). More on that later.

Yup, they got snow crab legs as well! Just like the oyster, I will get back to the crab in a moment. Beside them was some kimchi rolls… Korean dish in a Japanese restaurant? Well, it won’t be something new, considering that some of the sushi restaurants found here in Vancouver are also Korean. Did I mention there were three Korean channels in the hotel room but no Spanish one???

Hot items from the grill… Yes, they had a grill on site, right behind the counter where I snapped these pictures. In general, these were hot, given they were cooking small batches and fast turnaround.

Once again, yup, similar to grill in the previous picture, they also have fried items. The interesting twist? They will fry items to order. In the picture above, there was some fried soft-shell crab.

Wow, it does not end there! There were also hot dishes in the form of large fish (which you can then take some morsels), more crab, some pork, ribs and even clams! In general, they had something for everybody.

And, when I said “something for everybody”, that includes dessert. In addition to small squares, they will also make crepes to order.

And here are some of the items I took, including (from the top picture) “okonomiyaki” (stretching the definition of it, of course), mussels, mushroom, (from the middle picture), beef and tuna tataki in the rolls, snow crab, oysters, (from the bottom picture) some pieces of fish and crab cake.

In general, there were some decent items but most of them went sideways, if not thumbs down. Most of the sushi/maki pieces were lacking that vinegar-y taste and were dry, something expected after they were sitting there for some time. The grilled items were above par, specially if they just came out; however, even then, they were overcooked. In my case, I took one of the scampi/shrimp and, it was good, just slightly over done. The hot items were decent, specially if the fact they have been sitting there for a while is taken into consideration. In fact, I was surprised the clams were still plum and juicy! But the fried items were pale in comparison. The soft shell crab was mushy and barely had some taste to it. How can anybody fail with a fried item?! The desserts (I had a couple of cubes) in general were decent, though, again, it suffers from the fact it has been sitting there for a long time under a cold plate.

Now to the two items that I would have certainly “attacked” in a buffet: the snow crab and the oysters. In both cases, they failed. While you could easily extract the meat from the legs and had some liquid in it, it was devoid of any taste. It is as if they were thawed, then re-frozen and re-thawed. Not a pretty scene… As for the oyster, it suffered a similar fate. Now, I am not an expert in this matter but I thought it had absolutely no taste in it and, in one case, something gritty at the bottom. It was when I saw them shuck the oysters that I found why: after they “break apart” the top shell, they dunk it into water before placing them into the buffet. As a result, most of the liquor was stripped in the process… Heck, the oysters in the motoyaki dishes found here, despite it has been baked and obliterated with tha mayo “sauce” on top, tasted better than the ones served!

Overall, I found they offer some interesting dishes (again, clams) but not a place I will recommend or come back. No, it wasn’t that bad; rather it is just that I am not their target market. Instead, I prefer to fork $30 for a well prepared one (like the one I had in Scottsdale at Pure Sushi) than have such a unlimited access to a large variety of dishes. Still, I am sure there will be people who prefer this and, I guess, that is the reason why it was highly rated. Compared to Vancouver? I will have to put it above places like Sui-Sha-Ya….

Tagged under: Japanese • New Jersey • Sushi