Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sushi of Seville and Madrid

Seville's take on Japanese cuisine was a bit more interesting and savory. The restaurant JAPO, which surprisingly charges as much as 14 Euros for a Caterpillar Roll (most of Seville is considerably cheaper than touristy cities such as Barcelona and the pricey island of Ibiza), boasts a hip menu with imaginative combinations.

Although the Caterpillar sounded intriguing with its ingredients of eel, apple, crab roe, cheese and eel sauce, I opted for the Galante Roll, which contains salmon tempura, mango, cream cheese, king prawn and chives (the chives turned out to be green onions; perhaps they ran out of chives?). Overall, this was probably the best-tasting maki I had in Spain, and I know it had something to do with the rice being seasoned properly at this restaurant.

In Madrid, you can get just about any kind of food from the Mercado de San Miguelfrom deep-fried stuffed mussels still on the shell to egg-and-anchovies-covered baguettes. And then of course there's the "Sushimarket" section with ready-to-go boxes of rolls. Next to cases of what appeared to be California and Philadelphia maki was the odd one out: a roll covered with seaweed salad mixed with chopped octopus and topped with citrine-colored tobiko. This one was unexpectedly potent, for the sauce had obviously been pre-mixed with wasabi. Inside the roll? Avocado. A nice hidden filler that softened the wasabi's sting, anywy.

When in Spain, go for the unusual Spanish food, not just the tapas--but try the Japanese restaurants. Just for fun. And don't expect much.

JAPO
c/Alvarez Quintero
45-41004 Sevilla, Spain
+34 954 56 0000

Sushimarket
Mercado de San Miguel
Madrid, Spain

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