Sushi Kyo

Zach and I finally decided it was high time we saw Sideways. It was playing at The Big Picture, so we wanted to grab some food in Belltown before the movie. For the first time in about two years, I have been craving sushi. I think I just burnt out on it, but now I want to eat it everyday. I looked on Sushi Finder and found out about Sushi Kyo. It had some mixed reviews, but it was close to the theater and trying a new restaurant sounded fun.

Despite the bad ambience ratings, Sushi Kyo was actually pretty cute. Very mellow with a somewhat nondescript decor, but comfortable. And empty. When we got there at 7pm we were the only people in the restaurant. We started with the agedashi tofu and I’ve never seen it so beautifully presented. The sauce was great, but the breading on the tofu was a little strange. Kind of gluey and viscose, but not unpleasantly so.

We then kind of went nuts on the sushi and ended up with a giant platter:

• Maguro – The tuna tasted slightly fishy to me and the texture was a little dense, but Zach thought it was fantastic.
• Smoked salmon – Pale, beautiful pink and packed with salmon flavor. Really great.
• Inari – I haven’t tried a lot of this, so I can’t compare it to anything, but it was sweet, sticky and good.
• Crab – This was so good that both Zach and I did the food dance in our chairs.
• Amaebi with roe – I’ve always had the regular, cooked Ebi and after trying Amaebi I was left wondering why I wasted my time with the cooked stuff. The shrimp were sweet and succulent. I loved the extra crunch that the roe provided.
• Saba with shiso – I’m not a saba or shiso lover, so I let Zach have both of these. He thought they were incredible.
• Salmon skin roll – Fishy in a good way. The rolls had a great crunch from the bit of carrot that was in the roll.
• Unagi – Broiled eel is always a favorite of mine and this one was great. The only bad thing was that I had saved it for last and it was cold by the time I ate it. Next time we’re getting two orders—one to start off the meal and one to end it.

Overall, Zach and I were blown away by the quality of the fish. I thought it was a little pricey (almost $80 with tip… but I guess we did end up getting two bottles of good sake…), but Zach felt it was worth every penny. He said it was some of the best sushi he’s eaten in Seattle. We’ll definitely be back soon—they have lots of interesting rolls that I would like to try.

Oh, and the movie was… ah… well acted? I found it to be incredibly depressing.