I have been continuing my search of Austin, and found a couple of interesting places of note that I thought I’d review.
The first is Asahi Japanese Store on Burnet just north of Koenig. It is a store that carries only Japanese groceries and gifts, and is manned (womaned?) by Japanese speakers. It is a small, out of the way place, but it has a lot of unique Japanese treats you will not find anywhere else. I found some berry and mikan daifuku, and while I couldn’t eat the whole thing, I found it a very interesting experience. I shared some with my coworkers and they found them just as delicious.
The other place I found was Kura (Kula?) sushi on Airport just south of Lamar. It is the most authentic (definitely the most modern) revolving sushi place I’ve ever been to, and the only one I know of in the Austin area.
When you walk in, you are walked to a table or bar chair, which has its own touch screen. You can take sushi out of the little containers that trundle by you, or you can order special sushi to order on the touchscreen. Special order sushi arrives on a second conveyor belt just above, right to you. If you put in enough plates, there are also little cartoons and at some point something they call a “bikkura pon” (basically gachapon without the gacha) will drop out. I apparently didn’t order enough sushi to get a toy. Maybe next time.
Bikkura, by the way, is a play on the word “bikkuri”, which means “surprise”.
Is it the best sushi I’ve ever eaten? No. But it was decent and edible, and to be honest, the experience was exactly like a real Japanese sushi place I saw on YouTube – and that one was in Japan. So it is cool to have a little bit of the Japanese experience here in Austin, even if it’s just a sushi place.
I have a list of sushi and Japanese cuisine places I want to try, and will review them as I do. I’ll also review products from the stores as I get a chance.