Officially, he may be my little cousin but we were more like brothers growing up. Due to his parents’ weird working hours, we would have him at our house during the entirety of the school holidays and the two of us would wreak havoc across the neighbourhood.

We sold drugs, we sold women and we traded counterfeit Pokémon cards.

Ok, we only did one of those things and it had nothing to do with drugs or women (come on, we were both in primary school).

My little cousin LOVED trains. His best friend in the world was Thomas the tank engine and he absolutely loved taking train trips regardless of the destination.

Me? The only type of trains I like are sushi trains. Hell, I don’t even care if there’s no train, I’d love a sushi submarine.

Which is why my best friend decided to take me to Sushi E for an early birthday dinner.

Sushi E has been sitting on my wish list ever since it was chronicled by one of my favourite food bloggers, Pris of Food Porn Nation. I was sold as soon as I saw awesome Japanese tapas, fresh sashimi and some modern takes on traditional Japanese staples.

Let me try and sell you now (I swear I have no arranged marriage in place with Sushi-E. Speaking of, you know my old man has been trying to pimp me out to some of our family friends? He sends photos of me to them accompanied by a question mark than eagerly awaits responses. I wish I was making this up).

I think having sushi on my birthday is quickly becoming a tradition as it is exactly what I did last year as well (in fairness I was in New York but ). We were presented with a gorgeous platter of fresh and thickly cut sashimi.

My favourites were the salmon and the tuna because I’m as adventurous as a broken GPS. The soy mixture that the kingfish bathed in was also pretty sweet and I mean that literally. I actually dipped the other pieces of fish in the sauce and was given a scathing look by a waitress like I had picked an éclair out of the trashcan or something.

Please forgive me my dear waitress.

On any other night this would’ve been my favourite dish. The tempura that coated the tender Balmain bug was very light and crunchy. It served as a great contrast with the creamy avocado and the spicy mayonnaise (one of my favourite condiments along with any type of aioli, Vietnamese chilli sauce and McDonald’s Sweet & Sour sauce).

Miso read to go back to Sushi E for a second helping of everything I ordered. God dayum, I’m so hungry right now.

Anywho, the miso cod was pretty good. I still believe that Sokyo‘s miso cod is the undisputed greatest but Sushi E’s comes close. The fish flaked away and the miso flavour was quite mild which I enjoyed. However, avoid ordering this if you’re not a fan of gingers. Also, avoid if you don’t like the flavour of ginger as it is present throughout the dish.

I enjoy my pork belly fat. This may vary from person to person, but I generally prefer the layer of fat to be bountiful. I don’t want a lean piece of pork, seriously, pork that sh*t.

This belly right here was laden with the good stuff. The soft and tender nature of the pork belly was like eating a pillow minus the regret and hour of contemplation afterwards where you wonder what series of unfortunate decisions you had to have made to get to an instance in which you’re consuming a pillow for sustenance.

Huh. That got weird. Instead of wondering how you ended up with a pillowcase in your mouth, you’ll be wondering why you haven’t been consuming this pork belly on a daily basis. Oh and the sauce that bathes the tender pork? Order a side of rice or something and please use it all up. Broth that good deserves to be enjoyed, it should never be left over. Seeing it lie sadly in a bowl is like that one single friend we all know who’s an absolute gem and everyone always wonders why he can’t seem to get a girlfriend.

Yep, that single friend was me most of my life. Please drink the soup. Do it for me. Pls.

I was incredibly full after all the food but I just had to try the dessert. It was a pretty funky mix but it just worked. You had a combination as old as time with green tea and red bean. I thought the almond praline added a great mix of textures and crunch. The amaretto sponge was easily the weirdest ingredient as we originally thought that someone had just thrown breadcrumbs into the mix. It was a stroke of genius as the sponge soaked up the flavours of its surroundings.

Oh man, reminiscing about this dessert makes me want to sing:

Now I’ve got you in my space
I won’t let go of you
Got you shackled in my embrace
I’m matcha-ing on to you

Heh.

***

Here’s the TL;DR for everyone else who’s wondering what the E in Sushi E stands for:

– My little cousin is a nineteen year old superstar who just purchased his own house. He’s single, ladies.

– You’ve got to order the sashimi, san choy bow and fatty pork belly. I like them fat so it makes me seem in better shape. Sh*t, this is my food blog, my bad.

– Happy birthday to me. As my colleague told, there’s plenty more when you’re twenty four. I look forward to many more meals at Sushi E.

***

Sushi E, CBD

4/252 George Street, CBD

Opening Hours

Monday	12:00-3:00 pm, 6:00-10:30 pm
Tuesday	12:00-3:00 pm, 6:00-10:30 pm
Wednesday	12:00-3:00 pm, 6:00-10:30 pm
Thursday	12:00-3:00 pm, 6:00-10:30 pm
Friday	12:00-3:00 pm, 6:00-10:30 pm
Saturday	6:00-10:30 pm
Sunday	Closed

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