Itadakimasu in Beijing - Sushi Yotsuba

I typically don't eat fish. Don't like the smell, don't like the taste, don't like the texture. Don't even like the look of fish. ( yes yes... I have lots of phobias. watever right?). An ex-colleague in Singapore once asked, "So what would happen if we take you to a fish market and slap you with a fish or two?" He was just sadistic.

My feelings for fish were challenged when we went to Tokyo earlier this year when a friend took us for sushi. It was all fish. I was real hungry. It is not nice to turn down a meal from your hosts. So I ate it...with a healthy dollop of wasabi of course. But as I chewed on toro sushi, I realised it really wasn't that nasty (except for the texture. That still freaks me out). The meal ended with me concluding Jap fish = maybe I can live with eating it.

Back in Beijing, my uncle introduced us to Sushi Yotsuba, a hole-in-the wall Japanese restaurant at 新源西里, which flies in fresh fish from Tokyo's famous Tsukiji market. So we headed there last night to sample the restaurant's delights.

There were set menus ranging from 110 - 410 RMB. The qty of food is pretty much the same across all prices - all sets come with chawanmushi ( steamed egg with a little mushroom, prawn, fish and chicken) and crab miso soup. There was a WHOLE flower crab in the soup. Soup was divine!

The main course of sushi was where the price differences lay. My 110 RMb menu came with sweet prawn, salmon, a small silice of conger eel, flying fish roe, tuna, sweet egg sushi. There were several others as well but as usual, I forget what I eat! Daniel's 210 RMB set came with 1 giant slice of conger eel, abalone, fatty tuna, tuna belly, yellowtail, sweet prawn, sweet egg, salmon, salmon roe sushi. Everything was fresh and of excellent quality! How would I know having hardly eaten any fish? For starters, no fishy smell and texture wasn't squishy. Daniel who's a great fan of fish (it seems all Teochews are) gives his thumbs up too.

Prices are not exactly steep but may be so by Beijing standards where you can get Japanese food for less. Still it was worth every penny given the quality . If nothing else, I would be back for the crab miso soup!

Sea snail, ginko nut and edamame starter is served to every guest

210 RMB set - Main course of sushi

Sushi Yotsuba
Tel: 10-6467 1837 ( reservations are a must! restaurant looks big enough for only 18 people)
Address: 新源西里中街2号楼南侧