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Giapponese Sushi is billed as a fusion restaurant, but the seemingly slight American and Italian influence is only enough to make a few of the menu items look out of place (delicious nonetheless).
If you forgive the mild misrepresentation, Giapponese won’t let you down when it comes to the fish. Chef-driven restaurants (in the vein of 112 Eatery, Lucia’s, etc.) deserve extra kudos simply because the food always takes priority, and Chef/Owner Henry Chan makes sure his seafood rivals anything served at downtown sushi joints.
With Chan away, Chef Mike Popovich took great care of us while we spent the afternoon sipping sake (never too early for a chilled, milky glass of nigori sake) at the sushi bar, which has a surprisingly chic, modern feel for a restaurant sandwiched between Dunn Bros. and Dino’s Gyros.
After a cup of miso soup (which was good, but lacked the cubed tofu we like so much), we couldn’t be persuaded to eat anything except fish. This was not for lack of other, probably very tasty options, but simply because, when at a sushi restaurant, we eat fish like it’s our job–and in this case, it actually was.
To start, we tried the exceptional New Style Sashimi appetizer, a five-fish medley, flashed with hot sesame and olive oil, which just barely cooks the outside of the raw pieces. The finishing touches (ponzu sauce, schichimi pepper, fresh ginger and scallions) add even more flavor to the buttery fish.
The recommended Lava Roll was equally impressive–an inside-out roll made with shrimp tempura and avocado inside, wrapped with big eye tuna and finished with a spicy lava sauce and scallions. It had that lingering heat that erupts on the tongue for a few seconds (or hours).
We also ordered the Samurai Crunch, another inside-out maki with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, tobiko and avocado inside, tempura flakes on top and drizzled with sweet unagi sauce. Admittedly, it wasn’t as thrilling as the aforementioned eruption, but we loved that the roll was lightly sprinkled with fried tempura flakes as opposed to smothered in them–enough to give it a crunch without making it taste like junk food.
To top off the fish frenzy, the chef set down some elegantly plated tako, or octopus, sashimi, wrapped around cucumber strips and topped with lemon. This cleansed our palates as much as the pickled ginger on our plates, and we soon delved into dessert.
After debating between the special plum or lychee sorbets, the green tea ice cream or the traditional Italian tiramisu (one of these things is not like the others…) we decided on the mochi, ice cream wrapped in a rice flour shell, available in strawberry, mango, kona coffee. green tea, azuki, double chocolate and vanilla. It’s the only ice cream that you can pick up and bite like an apple, and we managed to get it all over ourselves like six-year-olds.
While the sushi was fabulous, Giapponese also prepares Kobe beef specials often, along with their sesame-crusted tuna, udon noodles and mango chicken. If we hadn’t been so into the sea creatures, we might have tried the Kobe beef rib eye, served with smashed taro with essence of shitake and grilled asparagus.
If you’re in the ‘burbs and on a budget, Giapponese hosts a happy hour on weekdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., with a mile-long list of menu items priced $2-5, $2 sake bombs and $4 saketinis. As for the rest of the bar, the sake list (we tried the Yuki No Bosha Nigori Akita Ginjo) would hold its own next to most spots in the city–and it doesn’t hurt that they have Sapporo and Kirin Ichiban on tap.
Annie D'Souza is the brains (and brauns) behind Metromix's 24 Hrs Notice. She is also the editor of local culture blog, The Suggestion Boxer. She lives in Minneapolis, works on the Internet and usually picks "What Would You Do?" by City High for karaoke.
