Curious Notions

Last weekend, for one last night of birthday festivities, some old coworkers and Neville treated me to Kenichi, a sushi restaurant that’s been holding its own in the Warehouse District of Austin for quite some time now.

We had reservations at nine but did not get seated til 9:45. A lot of people were complaining. A few points off for that. It’s a pretty bumping place, people dressed to the nines, grabbing drinks and sushi before a night of partying, I’m sure. So our dinner party was the ONLY mixed ethnic party, which we found kind of funny as we were in an Asian restaurant. Lily and I were the only two Asians.

When we were finally seated, it took a long time for us to even get our drink orders in and then much too long to receive them. Service was pretty bad. We hardly got any attention. They forgot the energy drink Neville ordered with his vodka, and also gave Lily’s order to Neville and then charged us twice for it. Luckily, we were in good spirits and were chair dancing to the music. The music was R&B and hip hop from the nineties. Perfect for our age bracket of 25-30.

We had Spicy Edamame to start and oh my goodness that was delicious. Edamame was sauteed with Sriracha, chili oil, and Japanese spices. I don’t think I can have regular old edamame again. I ordered my usual Escolar and Unagi, and tried their Hawaiian roll. Hawaiian roll: blackened Yellowtail with pineapple, asparagus and fresno pepper, rolled in edamame paper. I’ve never had sushi with pineapple nor have I tried edamamae paper. It was pretty good. I also tried Neville’s Japanese Bagel and it’s the first sushi roll I had with strawberries! The Japanese Bagel had cream cheese in it and I can’t remember what else but the strawberries and cheese did give it a very contemporary and unique taste to it that actually works, not like the white chocolate sushi I had at Imperia.

Overall, the sushi was good if you’re in the mood for something not traditional and more experimental and trendy. I am interested in coming back for maybe happy hour. It was an alright experience, Kenichi. I was just happy to be spending some time with some of my favorite people.