Oishii, oishii, oishii.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was hosting his cousins from Japan and wanted to show them all the wonders of America.
He did, and they enjoyed it. But, at the end of a 90-degree summer day spent walking from north campus to south campus and back to Grand River Avenue, a little bit of home was all they needed.
Which brings me back to oishii, oishii, oishii. "Oishii" means tasty in Japanese. And the impressively authentic food at East Lansing's Omi, 210 M.A.C. Ave., made the young Japanese women forget their goals to speak as much English as possible, for a few minutes.
My first experience at Omi was quite the same. I'd never eaten sushi before, I'd never had to use chopsticks before and I was a little nervous.
But the modernistic appeal of Omi's atmosphere was relaxing. The blue and silver walls gave me a fresh and clean first impression - something very important when you're about to consume raw fish.
Each course is served with miso soup (popular Japanese soup containing tofu) and salad. The salad dressing looks like creamy Italian but tastes far from it. It's delicious.
After the soup and salad, came the first entree that we ordered. The name of the dish was "Tempura Mori," and it consisted of fried prawns, fried squash and fried green pepper. I don't mean "fried" like you get at McDonald's. It wasn't greasy at all, but it was phenomenal. The shrimp were at least five inches long each, and tasted fantastic when dipped in a dish of soy sauce.
Next came the "sushi combination" platter, featuring seven pieces of sushi and six California rolls, covered in bright orange fish eggs. The seven pieces of sushi, which is, of course, raw fish, consisted of salmon, tuna, eel and some other fish I have no idea what the name of it was.
My favorites were the salmon and the tuna, both of which were flavorful on their own, but dipped in my wasabi and soy mixture were a jolt of exotic flavors.
In between sushi samplings, I'd take a little piece of pickled ginger, which is the pink stuff on your plate next to the wasabi, the green stuff. The pickled ginger is incredibly intriguing. It's extremely flavorful, but not too overwhelming. It's nice to use it to clean your palate between fish samples.
I savored the California rolls, which consists of rice, seaweed, avocado and crab meat. Then, I tackled the California hand rolls, a tight seaweed wrap of all the ingredients above, also covered in fish eggs.
I was pretty nervous about the fish eggs, but honestly, I couldn't even taste them. My mouth was so awash with strange flavors I've never tasted before that I think I was on sensory overload.
It's funny how unappetizing sushi sounds. But, it sure looks pretty. And when you get it at the right place, does it ever taste good.
I was extremely full after eating at Omi, but I didn't feel bloated and didn't need to be rolled out of the restaurant as I often do after eating at an American or Italian restaurant. Five hours later, I was still completely full. The portions aren't huge at Omi, but they are sufficient. Sushi isn't something that should be scarfed down. It should be soaked in a soy and wasabi mixture and savored.
Besides, if you're anything like me, your first time using chopsticks won't allow you to mow down on your food. It takes a while to get even a lush California roll in your grip.
There's a few sushi places around, and you might be tempted by a sign that says "$0.99 Sushi, here!" But, don't. In Mid-Michigan, there's just no way Japanese food could be inexpensive.
Prices: average
Atmosphere: attractive
Food: delicious
