SASHIMI for tonight!

Konichiwa! This is writer Jasmine♥

Do you like to eat Japanese food and all these fresh sashimi and sushi? I do!

        There is a Japanese restaurant called “Izakaya Mai” at San Mateo. Even though it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to drive to San Matel from San Francisco, there are still a lot of people heading to “Izakaya Mai” for its delicious and yummy Japanese food. “Izakaya Mai” is a restaurant more likely to hang out with friends with eating some small dishes and drinking a cup of sake. However, “Izakaya Mai” is not only selling sashimi and sushi, but also providing bento box and dinner set. I am going to introduce and share to you the dishes we ordered this Friday night. It was such a great and relaxing dinner in “Izakaya Mai”!

        Appetizers—Spicy Crab Salad

        The spicy crab salad is the starting dish of the night. The salad is with whole bunch of crab meat and crab egg. The sauce is traditional Japanese sour sauce and it is not very spicy. Most importantly, it opens up everyone’s stomach. This salad is so delicious and you can really feel the taste of sea.

        Appetizers—Sashimi Combination

        I am a big fan of sashimi! I love to eat any kind of sashimi and I order sashimi every time I go to Japanese restaurants. And of course, we ordered the dish of sashimi combination and it includes three pieces of each tuna, salmon, octopus, and other sashimi you can see from the picture. The sashimi is really fresh and each piece is really thick!

        Appetizers—Uni Sashimi

        Uni is one of my favorite sashimi. I usually go to supermarket and buy a live uni and open it up at home. The uni sashimi is not really 100% fresh but I think it is due to the room temperature. However, it is still about 80% fresh and it tastes like marshmallow because uni is just melting in your mouth.

        Appetizers—Ankimo

        Ankimo is a must-tried dish. It is fish liver and it tastes awesome! Ankimo is really special in Japanese restaurants because it is not as common as other sashimi you see from any other Japanese restaurants. As a result, I was a little bit surprised to see the choice of Ankimo on the menu. The fish liver is really thick and it tastes really well. If you are a sashimi-lover, then you must try this one.

        Sushi Special Roll—Spider Roll (Soft Shell Crab)

        Because we ordered too much sashimi, we ordered some special sushi roll to eat. This sushi roll is called Spider Roll and it is a roll with soft shell crab. Soft shell crab is a really common dish in Japanese restaurants and it is a kind of small fried crab that you can eat everything of it. This roll puts soft shell crab into sushi style and it is a great combination of rice and the crab.

        Grill—Calamari Steak

        As you can see from the name of the dish, this one is called Calamari Steak. It is basically thick grilled slices of calamari with special dressing and sauce. The calamari is really tender and it is a great choice to warm up your stomach after eating too many dishes of sashimi.

        Appetizers—Amebi

        Amebi is the Japanese words for sweet shrimps. This dish is another sashimi dish but it is a little bit different because it is shrimps! The head of shrimps are fried and you can eat everything of it, just like the soft shell crab. The shrimps are very fresh and it has similar taste of uni that it will melt in your mouth.

        After all these sashimi and seafood dishes, I am going to share the other part of the dishes we ordered that day.

        Donburi—Tanin Don

        This donburi is called Tanin Don and it is basically beef and egg over rice. First of all, there is whole bowl of rice at the bottom. Secondly, there are slices of soft and tender beefs in the middle. Finally, there are eggs and soy sauce on the top. If you don’t eat that much of sashimi and seafood, you can try the donburi. Of course, there are more choices of donbrui on the menu of “Izakaya Mai”.

        Fried and Boiled—Korokke

        What is Korokke? Korokke is fried potatoes! It is very yummy especially with the sauce. BUT be careful! It is fried potato, in another words, it is super hot so watch out your tongue.

        Fried and Boiled—Chicken Kara-age

        Chicken Kara-age is a very common fried dish in Japanese restaurants and it is fried chicken. The fried chicken in Japanese style is very tender and juicy.

        Fried and Boiled—Miso Kon-nyaku

        This dish is pork and eggplants cooked in miso sauce. It is a little bit saltier but it is good to have something heavy taste after all sashimi dishes. The eggplant is really delicious because it absorbs every miso sauce. You can order this dish and also a bowl of rice and it will be perfect!

        Fried and Boiled—Mix Tempura

        You have three choices of tempura at “Izakaya Mai”. You can either order veggie tempura, shrimps tempura, or the mix tempura. The Mix Tempura includes 2 shrimps and veggie of broccoli, yam, pumpkin, and carrot. Don’t forget to mix the radish into soy sauce before you eat it.

        Noodle—Chanpon

        Chanpon is a ramen dish with pork and seafood broth. There are a lot of vegetables, oysters, shrimps, tofu, and also some meats. The broth tastes well and it is a good idea to have a bowl of hot noodle soup in cold weather.

        Grill—Sanma(Grilled Pike)

        Sanam is one of my favorites of grilled dishes. The fish is really fresh and it is grilled evenly that every parts of the fish is just perfect. Remember! To put some lemon juice over the fish to make it taste even better!

       

        Wow! We only have 4 people and we ordered so many dishes. Foods in “Izakaya Mai” are really delicious and Japanese traditionally. It is definitely worth for you to drive all the way to San Mateo and enjoy a relaxing night with your friends and families at “Izakaya Mai”! Stop thinking What To Eat Today! “Izakaya Mai” is your best choice of the day.

        Address: 212 2nd Ave San Mateo, CA 94401

        Phone: (650) 347-2511

        PS: It is really difficult to find a parking at that place, so plan your trip ahead of time!