It’s been a bit since an All-Asian round-up, with, of course, dumplings!
Lazy Panda, Mansilla 2767, Recoleta – A relatively new spot here in Recoleta – takeout and delivery only. In fact it might be delivery only – I’ve never seen the front doors open, but have seen the delivery guys coming and going. Ordered up a double batch of dumplings (120 pesos each) – boiled and potsticker style. Could have gone with just one order – identical dumplings and the small amount of browning on the potsticker ones didn’t make a huge difference. Decent filling – pork and green onion – nicely made dough. Dipping sauce of soy and vinegar came with them. Their menu is almost entirely noodle stir fries, fried rice variations, and a selection of omelettes, interestingly enough. A short selection of “specialties” – four of them – including a pretty good almond chicken. Certainly a huge portion (300 pesos, plus 100 for rice, the latter a bit steep). This all was enough for dinner one night and lunch the next day and still having a little left over for a snack. Garners a Recommended.
Asia Nikkei, Arribeños 2415, Barrio Chino (Belgrano) – A little spot at the far end of Chinatown offering up a mixed Japanese and Chinese menu. At lunchtime they have a dozen combos available that mix sushi, springrolls, wontons, and a few main courses in various mashups. They also have a full menu of both cuisines. Pork gyoza were good, but no better than that, a touted order of 5 came with 6 – had they been better, that would have been a nice plus (110 pesos). I think the biggest issue is that they lined the steamer basket with foil, probably to make it easier to clean, but it also meant they didn’t steam evenly. From their creative sushi side, a panko roll – salmon and prawn, wrapped in nori, then in rice, then breaded in panko crumbs and fried (210 pesos). Actually quite good, though the dipping sauce was far too sweet and resorted back to the gyoza dipping sauce of soy, vinegar, and sesame. On to a main course of kung pao chicken, which turned out to be just cubes of chicken dusted in cornstarch and fried, with some bell pepper, carrot, and onion. No garlic, no ginger, no chili, no peanuts. That ain’t kung pao. Still, it was nicely made, and they happily provided me with a small bowl of chili oil, which at least gave it some heat. And, for 280 pesos, it included the rice at no extra charge. Then again, it’s not a huge portion. Still, I was overall satisfied with lunch and if it weren’t that there are far better options in Barrio Chino, I’d happily eat there again.
Namida, Bonpland 2275 (Palo Santo Hotel), Palermo – Taking over the dining room from French brasserie Topinambour in the Palo Santo Hotel, which closed early this year, this new spot focuses on “contemporary nikkei” cooking. Since nikkei cooking is pretty much an invention of the last 15-20 years, I’d have to say that’s kind of redundant – all nikkei cooking is contemporary. They haven’t done a lot to change the decor – some different paintings and display items, and they no longer put white tablecloths on the tables, and there’s still a quite lovely garden if the weather’s nice. The guests, other than myself, all seemed to be from the hotel, and wandered in in various forms of dress. I’ve never quite understood treating a hotel like you’re at home, especially when you go into the public areas. It’s one thing to wander in semi-dressed if you’re staying in a hostel or B&B, but a hotel ought to command a certain level of at least putting all your clothes on.
The food is… okay… no, that would be generous. The gyozas were well made, filled with pork and garlic chives, a nice touch (220 pesos). But they’re cooked in some sort of oily, brownish sauce that clings to them and was, while not unpleasant, at the least, odd. The soy and garlic chive dip on the side had been reduced down to a thick sludge. On to the sushi. Setting aside a misunderstanding – they offer all their creative nigiri sushi in pairs, and there are eight of them on the menu. They all run about 100-120 pesos per pair. There’s a note at the bottom that you can pick any four for 200 and some pesos and any six for 300 and some, which would be a generous discount. And I said something to the waitress about just essentially doing a double on the four-some. She laughed, and scribbled on her pad. When I got the bill, I was charged individually for all of them, and asked her about it. She replied that those combo prices would have been a single nigiri of each type, not two, and since I’d said I wanted a pair of each, she couldn’t apply that price. That makes more sense price-wise, it just would have been nice if she’d have made it clear, or even said, hey, you could get one of each for those prices and then order a roll or something. (Which I had anyway, or, a half-roll.)
But, back to the sushi itself. The fish was all fresh, but that’s about where it all stopped being really good. You can see they’re all sloppily presented – different sized pieces of fish paired together, just shoved on a slate, no attempt to be neat about it, sauces slopped over them. And the flavors, while interesting combinations, were just out of balance. None of them were bad, but none of them tasted like they were made by someone who understands flavor, seasoning, or balance. And the rice was not holding together, it just fell apart when I tried to pick up most of the pieces. All in all, I wouldn’t go back, it’s a hard pass for me, both on price and quality.
The Grand Sushi, Aguirre 130, Villa Crespo – Another delivery spot that popped up on the radar, and another touting nikkei style creative sushi. An order of salmon gyoza – which turned out to be small fried empanadas, filled with salmon (195 pesos for 6). A little dry, but good flavor, and the soy, vinegar and sesame dipping sauce was good. A mix of sushi from their regular and fusion menus – four pieces of octopus nigiri (145 pesos), four of their eponymous Grand Sushi nigiri, which was supposed to be white fish of the day with their house special sauce, turned out to be salmon with guacamole (170 pesos), their Lima nigiri of lightly torched salmon with lime (170 pesos), and a classic salmon skin roll (300 pesos). All quite good, I was just disappointed in not getting the white fish and not being informed they were going to sub in salmon. I’d have probably ordered something different. Big, big plus, when you order sushi rolls, they have an option to select whether or not you want cream cheese on them (I, of course, selected “no”). Overall, Recommended.
