Sushi Thai Garden

Sushi Thai is one of those college classics for me, one of those Asian-fusion restaurants where it was always safe to go because everyone could find something they liked. It made sense then, when a few of my college friends were in town they said that they wanted to go there for dinner. Sushi Thai has a casual atmosphere that seems to invite young folk (aka broke college kids or recent college grads), young families, and the occasional date here and there. It's interesting: I wonder what the opening of Phila Fusion did for Sushi Thai's business, it being right next door and a fancier version of Asian fusion and all...

We walked in and were immediately greeted and seated. The staff there are all extremely nice and accommodating. They were very patient with us, there was so much catching up to do that it took us a while to figure out what we wanted to order. I know I can speak for everyone when I say that we were all unbelievably hungry and had one thing on our mind: sushi. And lots of it. I started off with a bowl of miso soup since there was a definite chill in the air that night.

Their miso soup hits the spot. It's not too salty and has plenty of tofu and seaweed, my two main qualifiers for good miso soup. 

For my sushi I ordered a Spicy Tuna with tempura flakes and a Dragon Roll. 

To be honest, I order tempura flakes for spicy tuna rolls for two reasons: first, I like the crunchiness and second, it makes it slightly more interesting if I know the roll might not be the best. If you like the texture of tempura you should try it next time you order sushi and see if you like it! The Dragon Roll was pretty exciting - shrimp tempura, asparagus, avocado, scallions, and masago. The crunch of the shrimp tempura and asparagus paired with the smoothness of the avocado...wow. The Dragon Roll definitely one of my favorites, hands down. 

My friend ordered an interesting roll called the Salmon Tempura Roll, where the entire roll was fried.

The roll tasted great, but the fact that it was warm took some getting used to. Maybe because it was warm it didn't have that classic freshness that sushi normally has. Especially since the cooked salmon taste was the main focus. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I don't think I would order it if I was specifically craving sushi. 

My other friend got a BOAT...something I've always wanted.

How could you not want your meal in one of those? Talk about presentation! This particular boatload of sushi was the Vegetable Sushi Combo. This comes with four pieces of vegetable sushi, a cucumber handroll, and a vegetable roll. This would be a good option for those who are not so into raw fish but want to try sushi. That and what better way to turn you on to sushi then to have it served on a boat. Can you tell I really want a boat?

Last but not least, the Chicken Himmapan.

This dish was chicken with pineapple, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, carrots, cashews, and Pik Pow sauce. I love having cashews and pineapple in dishes, it always seems to kick it up a notch. The presentation with the pineapple is pretty cool, though I bet those huge chunks made it slightly difficult to incorporate with the rest of the meal...you have to cut everything up into little pieces just to get a proper bite sized portion! 

Though I almost always end up getting sushi, there are a million different ways to go at Sushi Thai. Since there are so many different cuisines offered, everyone in your party is bound to find something on the menu. I think what I said in the beginning perfectly sums up Sushi Thai: it's safe. Not particularly amazing, yet not horrible, just safe.