As seen on on the Food Network's, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri • Best Sushi Aipono Award winner 2017-2019
SPECIALTY ROLLS: TNT Roll (MISO the Bomb), Miso Phat Roll, Rainbow Roll, 007 Roll, 69 Roll, Caterpillar Roll, Joy Roll
SASHIMI: Hamachi—Japanese Yellowtail Maguro—From the Big Island, a big eye / yellowfin Combo, 9 pcs Trio and 9pcs Local Trio
CHEF'S SPECIALS: Hamachi Kama, Ahi Poke Bowl Miso Butterfish, Miso Phat Omakase Chirashi Sushi
NIGIRI: Many options available
Azeka II Shopping Center, Kihei • 808.891.6476 Open daily 11:00am—9:00pm • Happy Hour 3:00pm—5:00pm
CHOPSTICKS ETIQUETTE
by Karee Carlucci photography compliments of Miso Phat Sushi
A
fter decades of sushi’s mass-popularity, many diners are still unsure of how to eat it properly and what to do with those chopsticks. Here’s an informal guide to good chopsticks etiquette and sushi bar do’s-and-don’ts: While it’s not expected that all Westerners learn and remember all the rules to sushi dining etiquette, you should at least try. At most establishments, wooden chopsticks (hashi) are presented. They come in one piece, and will need to be split in two. Once they have been broken, please do not start sharpening or rubbing them together - this implies that they are cheap and may insult the host. It’s best to lay them with their narrow, rounded tips in the hashi oki, a small ceramic block made for holding chopsticks, or put them in front of you on the placemat or dish with the tips pointing to the left. Lift plates with your hands and take food for yourself with the chopsticks, then set down or pass the plate. If you take food from a shared plate, use the reverse ends of your chopsticks to pick up food, rather than the ends which go in your mouth . Don’t bite into a piece of food and then replace the other half on your plate. Once you have picked up a piece of sushi, you should eat all of it. But here’s the catch, in Japan where the sushi is generally smaller in size, it is expected to be eaten in one bite. Here in America we tend to stuff sushi into super-size rolls, making it difficult to eat in one bite, so it’s
acceptable to take more bites. Even though it’s tough for a novice to pick up some foods with chopsticks, it’s a no-no to stab your food with them, and an even bigger faux-pas to shovel rice in your mouth with the chopsticks attached to the edge of the bowl. And, don’t leave any rice after a meal, it’s considered especially rude. So what about “disintegrating” sushi? Why does it start falling apart when you dip the rice-side into the shoyu (soy sauce), and on its way to your mouth you find dark flecks of rice littering the table and your clothing? It’s because of the rice dipping. The Japanese understand that the purpose of soy is not to flavor the rice, but the fish. Therefore, nigiri sushi should be dipped fish-side into the shoyu. As you may have guessed, using chopsticks as drumsticks to beat a tempo or tap them against the dishware to call attention to yourself is totally uncool. Good sushi should be savored slowly. It can be seductive in eye-appeal with its texture and colors, and should dissolve in your mouth in a sublime explosion of flavor. Sushi-making is an art, continually evolving, so sit back and enjoy! Now that you know the basics, try your expertise at one of our many excellent sushi bars such as Kobe's Japanese Steak House's Oku's Sushi Bar in Lahaina and Three's Bar & Grill and Miso Phat Sushi in Kihei! MENU-MAGAZINE.COM | MENU
62