Nozomi Japanese Restaurant
Japanese cuisine served the right way
Sashimi: Maguro (Tuna) and Sake (Salmon)
With the promise of quality fish, sashimi was a must try. While we can’t profess to be experts on good fish or bad fish, it was clear from the taste that the raw fish was fresh and of quality. The salmon and tuna were cut into sizable pieces and melts into your mouth when eaten. It also didn’t have a bad smell nor did it taste as fishy – which are usually good indicators of fresh seafood.
Nigiri: Maguro (Tuna) and Sake (Salmon)
Nigiri is a hand pressed sushi with thinly sliced raw fish topped over vinegared sticky rice. The vinegared sticky rice added a hint of sweetness and tang to our rice while allowing the salmon and tuna to dominate with its fresh and natural flavours. Just a small dip into the soya sauce and a smidge of wasabi tied the dish together.
Crispy Salmon Maki
This dish was wiped clean from the serving tray just minutes after it was brought to our table. This was absolutely yummy goodness and a dish too good to share. The maki had a delectable fresh salmon filling, topped off with goldenfried, crispy rice flakes and tempura and a spicy sauce on the side that was just so good. We’d recommend this any day.
Chicken Gyoza
A portion of the Gyoza has 4 pan fried dumplings stuffed with minced chicken and served with a special ponzu sauce – a tangy soy sauce. The dumpling wrappers are made inhouse and they were some of the thinnest wrappers we’ve eaten. They were also very generous with the chicken stuffing so even a portion of 4 dumplings was quite filling.
Crispy Volcano Salad
The crispy volcano salad is a theatrical dish which had a lot going on (hence the name volcano, we presume). The salad has tempura prawns, crispy crab stick meat, iceberg lettuce and apple mixed together in a creamy spicy mayo dressing and topped off with a heap of tobiko. It’s a fun dish that is very rich, and we would have better enjoyed it as a standalone order.
Matcha Ice Cream
Nozomi makes their own range of ice cream flavours and we couldn’t resist trying it out for ourselves. The ice cream is very creamy and we loved the soft undertones of the matcha flavouring in our ice cream.
Service
Nozomi operates with a team of
9 staff who are all very polite and accommodating. Our server was cheerful and friendly; ensuring a seamless process of having our order prepared to be served one after the other. He would also constantly top up our pot of green tea when it ran cold and would occasionally stop by our table to ensure everything was alright.
Overall
It’s always a good dining experience when the food matches your expectations, and we enjoyed our dinner at Nozomi. As promised, the fish was of quality and the food remains authentically Japanese. As a new restaurant in the Colombo food scene, we hope that Nozomi continues to offer consistently good food in the future.
Restaurant Tip: Nozomi is BYOB!