Review #1: Sushi Kawa

Sushi Kawa advertises itself as "Full Bar Asian Fusion" - they serve all manner of Japanese and Chinese foods, with a few Thai dishes thrown in. It's also right down the street from our current residence, but we felt like staying in. Luckily they offer delivery, although it must be a minimum of $28, and only for the immediate Groton area.

This time, I couldn't help but go with my traditional favorite, the chirashi-don! My visiting mother picked out Seafood TomYum soup, and my husband ordered some chicken lo mein. My mother and I also sampled some blue crab avocado dumplings from the sushi appetizer list.

The small delivery box for my sushi was similar to how you might pick up supermarket sushi - attractively displayed, bento-box style. It was delivered to us - quite quickly, too - in a separate bag from the hot foods. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting anything very fancy with delivery, but I was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful arrangement!

I sampled some of the dumpling my mother & I had ordered first - there was a tad bit of spice and
breading to the crab at the center of the avocado, so it was rather like a cool avocado crabcake. Very delicious, and a worthy appetizer, since one dumpling  was enough to fill the palm of my hand!

Mom's soup was very flavorful, and full of so many seafood goodies! Mom was nursing a cold at the time, so hot soup was her saving grace. I stole a bit of scallop from her for good measure.

The sushi in my chirashi-don was cool and refreshing and flavorful - just the way I like it! At first I was surprised that they also included octopus, but then I remembered just how close we are to the coast. Interestingly, the octopus sushi was sandwiched between thin slices of lemon, and upon trying it, I found the lemon had enhanced the flavor greatly! It was fresh enough that the texture wasn't overly chewy, too - it was the first time in a long time that I'd enjoyed octopus so much! The restaurant also included tamago sashimi - it was a tasty and welcome addition to the other sashimi available.

I was so sad when I took the last bite of my meal - it was one of those dinners that you wanted to go on savoring, no matter how full you got. My mouth still waters thinking about it, even though it was less than a week ago. I'm very interested to go and visit the restaurant itself now - and I'll be sure to review something new and tasty then, as well!

Sushi Kawa
507 Gold Star Highway (Rout 184)
Groton, CT 06340
(860) 448-0465

Review #1: Ju-Sushi

Just before Thanksgiving, we decided to have a sushi day - myself, my husband, my mother, and my daughter. We were excited to discover Ju-Sushi about 20 minutes away in Mystic. They also have a pickup only location in Groton! (That's where I'll do my next review on this place.)

Small building, simple decor, only a few seats, sushi selection is EXCELLENT! Offers $1 Nigiri pieces, as well as udon and ramen. Also offers catering!

I ordered the Cherry Blossom Roll and a Calpico. My mother ordered a Million Dollar Special Roll and my husband ordered Seafood Ramen. ( I almost ordered my Chirashi-don standby to test, but I wanted something new.)

For such a small place, it stays hoppin'. It must be doing something right! We had a long wait, since a lot of orders came before ours. Paul's seafood ramen came first - whole baby octopus and mussels on top of other tasty bits! The broth I tasted was wonderful. I didn't try my mom's roll but it did look yummy. But mine looked prettiest of all: 

The Cherry Blossom roll is listed as a California roll with asparagus, tuna, tobiko, flowers and a special 'cherry' sauce. The flavor is so creamy and yet so light, and the sauce is tangy, fruity, and spicy ( there had to be wasabi in there)!  Because the chef was handling so many orders, I was a little afraid the dish would be a little warm, but no! Everything was still cool and refreshing - just the way I like it!

And what a surprise! The owner, after our long wait (they were terribly busy today), brought us complimentary green tea mochi ice cream after our meal! My daughter Marlena got to try some too: 

This isn't a place to come for intense atmosphere - it's made for quick order and pick ups, with only a few seats inside and out. Even with most of the plating happening in styrofoam, the presentation is still attractive and eye catching. If you're absolutely jonesing for fresh sushi in the New London area of Connecticut, Ju-Sushi is a great place to go!

Ju-Sushi

27 Broadway Ave.
Mystic, CT 06355