Bushido Izakaya in Mt. View recently switched to a new executive chef from Ki Sushi, Isamu Kanai, who has a lot of experience working in restaurants in Japan and San Francisco. Now gone is our personal favorites such as soft shell crab Po’ Boys for lunch and the California Roll Dip with Nori seaweed chips for dinner. Chef Kanai’s focus is on sustainable fish so we felt it was time for us to check out the new menu.
We started with a drink that looked good on the menu: Okinawa Splash (Ginger Sky, pineapple juice and a splash of peach). The drink was pretty, but it was way too sweet for our liking. The waitress whispered to us that this is the least sweet drink on their menu, so it will likely be our last cocktail we order there. We asked her for more soda water and even with the addition, there was just no saving the drink:
We ordered their Vegetarian Gyoza filled with cheese and mochi since it sounded different. They were really more like fried wontons filled with a glutinous rice cake mixture:
We tried to figure out what cheese was mixed in with the mochi since it wasn’t really evident in taste or view. It was definitely different but good:
One of the new menu items we were keen to try was their House Specialty Okonomiyaki which is a savory pancake filled with shrimp, octopus and calamari that arrived sizzling on the cast iron dish:
We could have switched to sake or soju, but decided that Sapporo draft beer was the right choice:
The Albacore Toro Tataki Seared Sashimi was really good. The fatty tuna belly was served with garlic chili oil, ponzu sauce and topped with a slice of jalapeño and micro herbs:
The Kurobuta Pork Buns were very tasty steamed buns stuffed with a slice of pork belly, lettuce and carrots:
We will definitely come back to try more menu items such as ramen, sushi and skewered yakitori. Unless you like your drinks really sweet, we would recommend staying away from ordering their cocktails. Stick with drinks from their extensive sake list or beer.
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