What is Oshinko?

If you prefer not to consume meat, you need not be left out at Wild Wasabi’s Lynnwood sushi restaurant. Even if you eschew the flesh of fish, there’s no reason that you can’t enjoy a real sushi experience! Our menu has a number of vegetarian options, including the exotic oshinko.

Even if you’re not familiar with the name, you might recognize the oshinko roll for the distinctive, bright yellow brick of vegetation rolled up inside it. This is the oshinko, a pickled Japanese radish. An acquired taste for many, these radishes have a strong flavor that goes well with the mild taste of the rice. They can also be well complemented with soy sauce and wasabi as your particular tastes may dictate. Try this popular vegetarian option at Wild Wasabi today!


Tonkatsu: and Early Piece of Japanese Fusion

Are you bringing a Japanese-food first-timer with you to our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant? Try recommending a classic tonkatsu dish. Even for the more unadventurous of Western diners, this well-loved pork cutlet is a surefire thumbs-up. Many find it to be one of Japan’s most “familiar” dishes, most resembling the kind of fare you might be used to finding at a common US diner. Indeed, this is exactly the genesis of the tonkatsu in the first place.

Tonkatsu is thought to have first come about at some point around 1890 in Ginza, Japan. Though the details are obscured in history, it would seem that there was a restaurant in the area that was known for serving food inspired by European cooking techniques. Though the idea of “katsu” had existed for a long time, the deep-fried “tonkatsu” was a true novelty. The first tonkatsu dishes were actually eaten with a fork, which was a practice that was all but unknown in Japan at the time! Come down to Wild Wasabi and try a taste of early Japanese fusion for yourself.


The Benefits of Salmon

Who doesn’t love salmon? If you’re a fan of this delicious pink fish, then you’ve got a friend in Wild Wasabi. Not only is salmon a classic sushi topping, but our Lynnwood sushi restaurant enjoys a special sort of relationship with the fish that comes from operating in the Pacific Northwest. It is for this reason that we are happy to offer you salmon and salmon roe in much of our sushi so that we might all enjoy its fine flavor and impressive health benefits.

Salmon is not your average fish. It is one of the healthier substances you can hope to consume. Representing both a fatty fish and a low rung of the food chain, it comes with a high dose of the crucial omega-3 fatty acids without exposing you to a high mercury content. On top of this, salmon is a lean source of protein and a great supply of many nutrients; a single four ounce serving of salmon can provide you with excess of your entire daily value of vitamin D, as well as half of your requirement of vitamins B2 and B12. Make salmon a bigger part of your diet today, with Wild Wasabi!


A Brief History of Tofu

Tofu has an important presence in our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant. But have you ever stopped to wonder about the origin of tofu, or how it became such a significant part of Asian cuisine?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know for sure when or how tofu first came about. It is said that it was the brainchild of a Chinese prince named Liu An around 164 BC. However, it was a common practice at this time to credit the significant inventions of others to important political figures. Whatever its origins, it is clear that the tofu production methods we know today were standardized as early as the second century, BC.

It’s likely that tofu spread from China along with Buddhist philosophy. The vegetarian principles of Buddhism made it necessary to provide followers with a meat-free source of protein. Tofu was therefore able to gain a strong foothold in Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries, where it has been a huge part of their culinary traditions to this day.


What is Sushi Rice?

Have you ever heard somebody talk about “sushi rice”? Indeed, not just any old rice can go into the sushi here at our Lynnwood Japanese restaurant. Traditional sushi-style rice is a mixture of rice and vinegar, which serves to give sushi its flavor and consistency. Technically, this rice is a more fundamental part of sushi than the fish itself, as the word “sushi” literally translates to “vinegar rice”.

The practice of packing fish in vinegared rice goes back hundreds of years. For a long time, fish was packed with rice in order to preserve it, with vinegar later being added when it was discovered that it could hasten the pickling process. This rice was actually discarded when the fish was eaten, and was only coupled with the fish as a dish during the Edo period when traditional, Edo-style sushi first came about.