Aug 10, 2006

Genki Sushi

> Location : G/F Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Rd.,
Admiralty
, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Japanese rotary sushi
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : http://www.genkisushi.com.sg/

So what exactly is rotary sushi? i remember the first time i saw a rotary sushi restaurant was in japan. i thought it was the coolest thing in the world, haha. okay okay, i still haven't explained what it is yet. rotary sushi is a type of restaurant where different sushi and dishes are put on top of a conveyor belt which goes along where the customers are sitting so they can reach out and pick and choose what kind of sushi they want to eat!

the place i went to in hong kong is at admiralty (technically central but it's like on the boarder i believe). it's walking distance to pacific place plaza and also there are other locations too. the place is called genki sushi. as you noticed from the plates, they are different colors and seem tacky. but they are actually color coded to indicate the different prices of the plates. yellow ($9 hkd), green ($12 hkd), purple ($15 hkd), red ($20 hkd), blue ($25 hkd), mix ($35 hkd). when you get the check, they just count how many plates you ate in respective of the colors and calculate your bill that way! you can also order your sushi through the waiters especially items that aren't usually on the conveyor belt such as hand rolls.

within your reach in every seat is ginger, wasabi, green tea powder, hot water dispenser, and soy sauce. to be a little more specific, you don't order your green tea through the waiter. as you can probably figure it out by now, there's a built in hot water dispenser at your seat, you just take a scoop of green tea powder and put some water in it! very easy to use and you don't need to always wait for your waiter to get water refills.

variety wise, genki sushi isn't the greatest but still most of the fish you could typically want you can get. built to be more of a come and go type restaurant and economical for people's pockets. yet for the price you pay compared to the quality you recieve, it is a pretty fair trade. comparing to some of the regular sit down japanese places, fish quality wise, genki will lose for sure. but like i said, the business isn't design to compete that way. lets just say, compared to a good amount of sit down's in southern california, the quality of genki sushi is on par if not a bit better! which says a lot about the freshness of the fish here in hong kong compared to the states.

this actually is my second experience at genki sushi. anyways, this time, the following fish is what i had and most of them are pictured in this entry (btw, i will name it in japanese first and english after so you can tell the difference when you go to a place that only lists in japanese): sake = salmon, hamachi = yellow tail, kohada = gizzard shad, kajiki toro = swordfish, aji = spanish mackerel, amaebi = sweet shrimp, shiro ebi = white shrimp, gyu tataki = half done beef, hotategai = scallop. the quality of all the items are very consistent to each other. when i bite into all the fishes, they didn't melt in my mouth nor was it chewy. i say it was about right in the middle or about a bit above the middle. as i said before in my previous entries, when raw fish melts in your mouth (besides toro = fatty tuna), it indicates the fish is not fresh / has been frozen for awhile. therefore, fresher fish is more chewy. average to be about $15 hkd for two pieces of sushi, that's about $2 US. usually, in the states, you have to pay on average $3.50 to $5.50 for every two pieces. now if you do the calculation, it isn't that bad of a deal!

lets talk about some of the less common fishes in the states that i mentioned about. kohada or shad, is actually from the same category as saba (mackerel). it's a silver skin fish that is very high in calcium. the taste of it is similar to saba but lighter in taste. gyu tataki is basically half cooked beef. seemingly raw, it's fresh enough and cooked just enough to be eatable. a very unique tasting experience. a smoky sensation when you taste it. lastly, kajiki toro is sword fish. it looks very similar to yellow tail at first but you could tell there's a slightly darker appearance.

the last three photos right next to this is the water dispenser i talked about earlier along with the green tea powder and other things, the photo of the side of the restaurant, and lastly some items on the conveyor belt you can choose from.

besides sushi/sashimi, you can also get temaki (hand rolls), maki (rolls), various appetizers, drinks, and party sets to make ordering easier. it's a fun and unique experience to visit to a rotary sushi restaurant. that in itself makes it up for the lack of top-notch quality. however like i said multiple times, the business isn't designed to work that way, the quality is already better than most sushi restaurants in the states and even some sit downs in hong kong (sadly and these places are more expensive too), and comparing to the price you pay, it equates the quality which is definitely fair. in the end, if you ever get a chance, go try genki or other similar types of places! hope this helps / was entertaining. take care and good luck ~


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