sushi/japanese: i recommend SUSHI FUJIMORI X KOUMA AT SHERWOOD HOTEL

Sushi Fujimori すし藤森 x Kouma at Sherwood Taipei 
No. 111, Minsheng E. Rd, Sec. 3

Pop up - April 30- May 3, 2016

MRT: Zhongshan Jr. High

Visit reviewed: 5/2/2016

Sushi Fujimori's husband and wife team from Tokyo did a special menu for a few days at @thesherwoodtaipei's Kouma restaurant. One or two pieces/dishes were a tad too salty for me, but overall, I was really happy with the sushi. The seaweed, soy sauce, rice all selected by chef Fujimori and brought from Tokyo. His wife makes the cooked items in the set, and was formerly at three starred Michelin restaurant Kanda, when they met. After work, she and her coworkers from Kanda would eat at Sushi Fujimori, and eventually she and chef fell in love and got married, and now they work together at Sushi Fujimori. 

A few favorite bites from that day's lunch- uni, crab, amaebi and toro temaki. 

My friend who invited me didn't manage to get seats at the sushi bar, so we were seated in one of the private rooms. We thought we weren't going to get to interact with Chef Fujimori, so it was a pleasant surprise when a wooden cart was rolled in and he deftly made and presented a couple nigiris to start the meal for us. It gave us a feel of what it would be like to dine with him at the sushi bar in Japan and made the experience 100x better, especially since he was so friendly. I unfortunately didn't catch all the names of the fish since the waitress didn't know them in Japanese/English and told me that I would get a list at the end (which never appeared) so I got as many as I could. 

Pea soup

Akami (tuna)

Kinmedai and clams 

Shelled fresh crab is always such a treat.

Amaebi (sweet shrimp)

Steamed winter melon

Uni with tomatoes, edamame and jelly. So good and refreshing 

These pieces were marinated in kombu, and with the additional soy sauce were a bit too salty for me, especially the chutoro. 

Seaweed steamed egg chawanmushi. They said that all the saltiness was from the fresh seaweed.  

Tamago to end the meal 

Loved this toro handroll! Attention to detail like making sure the seaweed is crisp, the rice is the right texture and adding sesame seeds and finely minced pickled cucumbers gave it a unique crunch. Still thinking about it now. 

I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and this meal made me excited about all the good eats I'll be hopefully having soon. Thanks JC for including me and for the treat!