japanese food in chennai

                                                      Have you ever thought why  the japanese have the longest lifespans and have a cancer rate less than most other people .  At  least according to the sushi chef  from Japan  its because  they eat sushi  ......

I saw  a  program in TV on japanese cooking and from then on i  wanted to taste  it  .In kerala we have  no japanese restaurants  so  the next closest places other than Japan is  Chennai and Bangalore  .  Since we had a  meeting  at chennai  yesterday  ,  i  could  visit  the Japanese Restaurant Teppanyaki at  TTK  road  in chennai  .  Btw  : (鉄板焼き, teppan-yaki^?) is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food )

My  cousins  who  had  already tasted japanese  food on their abroad trips and the rookie thats me  went to  this  restaurant  in Chennai.  I had  read in the internet  that  though  this style of japanese food involves some cooking  they  also serve  the "SUSHI"  and "SASHIMI "  which is essentially  Raw food .  Vegeterians dont read further  .... Sashimi is essentially  raw  fish or meat  which is procured and  handled in such a way that  it is  fresh  .  And paradoxically  fresh  fish  especially salmon ,tuna , squid  etc  are  tasty and even a delicacy  .  Of  course  you can totally  disagree with me  ..... but  the entire  country  of japan is behind  me with their samurai swords .   And  believe it or not  , Sushi and Japanese food  is  one of the popular cuisines in the world   .  If  you  are planning to try japanese food , for  a moment you should  not  go with the preconveived notion that fresh fish stinks or its not tasty  etc etc  .....  The restaurant  Teppanyaki  in Chennai  was at TTK  road  (dont ask  me  where it is  .... my  cousins drove me there....i  too  google  it  ) .

It  had an upmarket feel  ,  nice parking spaces and  a  cute  restaurant  in two floors  the  bottom serves  thai cuisine  and the upper floor serves japanese cuisine  . We were escorted  by  a  man in a black  dress (?  Ninja  )   to a  table where two  japanese people were having food  .  The tables centre was occupied by  a  large  frying pan  about  4  feet  x  3 feet  with a  japanese chef  on one side .  I examined the weapons at my disposal  the chopsticks  neatly laid in a small  marble piece .Soon  they started ordering  ,  no  complications there  as  i  wanted the famous SUSHI  .  And assorted sushi  means there is no confusion  .  An assorted SASHIMI was also ordered . As i explained earlier Sashimi is raw fish  delicately cut  in small pieces which is served with tender ginger  , wasabi  and soy sauce  .  Sushi is raw  fish but here it contains vinegared rice and tenderly packed .  The  dishes arrived in around  twenty minutes  .  It  was beautifully garnished  as i was wondering  whether some of the sashimi  (? salmon sashimi )  was part of the garnishing as it was presented beautifully  . It seems they have  a  special set of knives for preparing sashimi  .....

I wanted  to  enter carefully just like a  non swimmer  enter  the water through shallow side . My shallow water was prawn sashimi  as i knew prawn will never taste  bad  with my cooking experience  earlier (fresh prawns  i used to eat while preparing  prawns nariyalwala in the guise of tasting  the dish  a few months ago )  .But  to my  shock i found  its already finished  by  my experienced cousin who was adept  in the art of using chopsticks  .  Ok  so  what to do  Sushi  is  waiting and  except prawn all sashimi is there  and  i  started with sushi  ... I thought the vinegared rice will save me if fish didnt taste good . But it was fantastic  .... Who told  chopsticks should be  used with one hand ...., Its  survival of the fittest and  once i tasted  the  tasty sushi  .. I had one piece each of  salmon ,tuna and red snapper sashimi  .... Excellent    .....No taste  of "  Raw  fish  "   .  Its  raw  but  not slimy,  no smell  .....  and the combination  of  wasabi ,soya  is  killing  ....(killing means excellent)  .  Anyways with chopsticks used  as i like it  (kerala style  )  there was no problem in eating  sashimi  ....

I  forgot  to tell about Mr. June  (not the  month  ,but  our  great  japanese  chef  who was  making japanese  omlette,  fried rice japanese style etc  for us  ).  He  started with  some throwing  tricks  in which he threw each egg and it exactly landed on his cap and another one in the edge of his  spoon etc  ...It was fun watching  him make the fried rice  and  tender  loin  ....a  steak  which he  sliced  and  fried it  in Teppenyaki style  . Added a few sauces  and it was  very delicious  .  Fried rice was not spicy  compared to the typical indian chinese  ...Mr.June  further entertained us with his card tricks  and according to him he can calculate how much  ones wife  loves  you   ...

Last  but  not the  least   .....the  price  .....  Japanese food  in india  is expensive  .  The  total bill  for   four people   came to rs 4600  .  And still  our stomachs were only  half full  .....  No  wonder  the japanese live long  ......

P.S :  Japanese food  is generally  more expensive  than other  cuisine  but more so in india  ...But  i  feel  its a different experience  from the  usual  spiced  up , overcooked food  we  have usually  .....Anybody wants company  to eat japanese  food  in chennai , mumbai or bangalore  ....  im  game .....In mumbai  its  at Shiro  , near  hardrock cafe  ,  Worli ,Mumbai  and  Bangalore  at  Edo  .....

Disclaimer  :  There  is  a  risk of fish  parasites  in improperly  prepared  sushi  as well  as  mercury poisoning  in some  sashimi  ....  so consumption is  at own risk  ....