On the search for the best sushi in Connecticut brings us to Ginza Japanese Cuisine in Bloomfield (and Wethersfield).
We tried a lot of options here, and surprisingly the ones that won out were the sauce based sushi rolls.
I’ll explain.
A first way to tell the quality of a place is to try their sashimi. This is fish unadorned.
Single origin, as it were.
The sashimi appetizer
This comes with three types of fish, tuna (bottom right), salmon (top left), fluke (bottom left), and a type of bass.
That bass is interesting, as you normally see the first three only in sashimi appetizers.
But notice the color of the tuna, it’s bright pink, not deep red.
That means the fish has been gassed with carbon monoxide.
It’s not dangerous, and safe to eat, and is mostly done just to improve the shelf life.
Which can be problematic, as it’s harder to tell how old the fish is.
That being said, all of the fish had a very fishy taste, not the freshness one normally wants. Not a great start.
The Rating: Sashimi Sampler:
5.5/10
Next it’s time to see how they do their rolls. An unadorned roll to start, unfortunately I chose the tuna roll…
It’s often common practice in sushi restaurants to use rolls (makki) to hide lower quality cuts of the fish.
In this tuna roll, the fish was very sinewy, almost pulling apart at times in thick strings.
But, it’s still a tuna roll, so pretty good (again, notice the pinkish color).
The Rating: Tuna Roll
6/10
Next, if you want to judge a sushi place, you can order a super crazy fancy roll.
Some places have lots of fun with these, they are usually comically large and filling.
So we went with the angel roll.
Peppered tuna, tempura crunches, topped with eel, salmon, avocado, spicy mayo, eel sauce, and honey wasabi.
Minus the tuna, sounds fun, right?
The problem here was the tempura crunch.
The crunch wasn’t spaced out at all, making large dry pocket in the middle of each piece.
The peppered tuna was very nice, and the layers of fish on top added some good flavor. But one of the best parts were the sauces on top.
If it weren’t for those dry pockets of tempura, this roll would have been much better.
The Rating: Angel Roll
6.5/10
So why feature the eel avocado roll?
Quite simply, it’s the best of the bunch.
The eel has a deep meaty flavor to it, with lots of salt taste too (as sea eel should).
Overall, it was really satisfying.
I’m sure part of the pleasantness was the eel sauce as well, which is a little less sticky sweet than at other places.
Though I didn’t get a picture, the spicy rolls (e.g. spicy salmon) are super solid as well, with minimal mayo, lots of fish and sriracha).
The Rating: Eel avocado roll
7.5/10
The recommendation:
Stick with things that have sauces incorporated into them.
Ginza does those sauces incredibly well, so take full advantage.
https://www.instagram.com/eatthisct/
Located in: Nail Art, Wintonbury Mall
Address: 14 Wintonbury Mall, Bloomfield, CT 06002
Open everyday at 11:30am
Menu
Phone: (860) 242-8289