Category: Did You Know?

What do you call a piece of sushi that isn’t a roll? At our Lynnwood sushi restaurant, the non-roll sushi is mostly going to be nigirizushi (literally, “hand-formed sushi”). Often called “nigiri sushi”, or just “nigiri” in English-speaking countries, these are the pieces of sushi with that classic, old-fashioned, fun-sized-candy-bar shape. They consist of an elongated clump of sushi rice, often mixed with a dash of wasabi, topped with a strip of fish, tamago, or another ingredient.

When a nigiri sushi is topped with roe, shredded seaweed, or some other loose topping, a thick strip of nori will be wrapped around the rice to create a bowl-like structure on top and hold the topping in place. When this happens, it is called gunkan-maki (“warship roll”). Try out your nigiri favorites today at Wild Wasabi!

Are you still fumbling your chopsticks? Don’t worry! Chopstick proficiency is not required at our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant. However, eating with chopsticks can be a valuable exercise in manual dexterity and cultural immersion, so, should you ever wish to master the chopsticks, try following these simple directions:

The first step is to hold your sticks correctly. The first chopstick should rest beneath your thumb, braced by your middle finger. Pick up the second stick on top of this one, holding it more or less like you would a pen. A beginner should start out gripping the sticks closer to the tips, and then hold them further back when he or she develops a proper gripping motion.

Pick up your food by holding the sticks at a forty-five degree angle with your dish. Practice applying proper pressure with your grip, strong enough to hold the food and yet not so strong as to cause the sticks to “scissor”. You may want to hold your food under your mouth for a while as you gain confidence in your technique.

Good chopstick use comes down to practice, so try it out the next time you come to Wild Wasabi. After a meal or two, you should be chop-sticking with the best of them!

When people are introduced to sushi, many are trying the supermarket varieties. This is unfortunate, because it’s a poor representation of the kinds of proper sushi you can find at a quality place like our Lynnwood sushi restaurant. If your only experience with sushi came plastic-wrapped out of the corner store’s take-out aisle, here’s why you should give our favorite Japanese fare another chance.

Quite frankly, there is no substitute for fresh sushi. Supermarket sushi generally cannot be made fresh, because it has to endure sitting on the shelf for longer than is strictly advisable for raw fish. This is why you’re mostly going to be finding only cucumber rolls and California rolls with imitation crab in your supermarket. Neither of these contain raw fish, and neither of these deliver a properly satisfying sushi experience.

When you get sushi fresh from a restaurant, you’ve got a better selection and better ingredients. In addition to fish, you’re also getting fresh nori. Nori used in supermarket sushi is dried and processed, robbing it of much of its taste and better qualities. Only the nori in a proper, fresh sushi can contribute to the overall experience, rather than detracting from it. So if you need to give sushi a second chance, get yourself down to Wild Wasabi; we’ll serve it up right for you this time.

Do you know how to eat sushi?  The answer may surprise you.  Even if you’re a veteran of the sushi menu at our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant, take a look through this list of simple sushi-eating pointers to see if there’s something that you could be doing to enhance your dining experience:

• Sushi is traditionally a finger-food!  Though there are some fusion rolls covered with sticky sauces and roe that you might want to use a utensil for, it is perfectly acceptable to eat most sushi with your hands.

• Don’t use your ginger as a condiment!  A slice of ginger is eaten between pieces of sushi in order to cleanse the palate.  Eating it with your sushi is only covering up the delicate taste of the rice and fish.

• Always try to eat an entire piece of sushi in one bite.  This is the best way to enjoy the the sushi’s full bouquet of flavors, and also a good way to avoid having the sushi fall apart in your hands.

• If you’re eating nigiri sushi, put it into your mouth so that your tongue comes into contact with the fish.  This may be counter-intuitive, but it gives you the best flavor.

• Don’t use too much soy sauce!  This can break down the sushi rice that is holding your sushi together, and it can also be seen as an insult to your chef.  If you’re eating nigiri sushi, remember to dip the fish in the sauce, and not the rice.

• Be careful with your wasabi!  It can quickly overpower the rest of the sushi.

From its ancient origins in Asia to our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant, the history of sushi is a long and interesting one. It is believed that sushi’s origins go back to the eastern regions of Asia, where fish was packed in rice as nothing more than a means to preserve the meat. After a fish was cleaned, it would be stuffed with uncooked rice and doused with rice wine in order to ferment the meat. This rice would actually be thrown out before the meat was eaten.

It was eventually discovered that the fermentation of the fish could be sped up by adding vinegar to the rice. This is where we get the term “sushi”, which is an archaic word which translated to “vinegar rice”. After this, sometime during the early nineteenth century, vendors in Edo first came up with the idea of serving the raw fish of sashimi with the vinegar rice that used to get discarded. They sold this dish in the streets, where it quickly became popular as a sort of urban “fast food”. This was the first Edo-style sushi.

Sushi remained largely the same until it was introduced to the States in the 1970’s. In an effort to appeal to American sensibilities, sushi chefs began to get creative and brought whole new innovations to their craft. This was the start American, or “fusion”-style sushi, which has exploded in popularity across the worldwide sushi scene. You can join in on this ever-developing history today with Wild Wasabi!