March 23, 2007
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi

1705 Chestnut St, Philadelphia 19103
At S 17th St

Phone: 215-564-3306
Website: none

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Eel Roll – eel, cucumber ($6.99)

Edamame Salad ($3.99)

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Sushi is the one food I can eat for meals on end without any sign of palate fatigue. I would eat it more frequently if the best stuff (Toro!) wasn’t so pricey and the cheap stuff wasn’t so substandard.

The man, AKA my boss, sent me off to class last week to sharpen my skill set. For lunch one day, I decided to try Tokyo–the colorful menu on the restaurant’s front really drew me in. All of Tokyo’s sushi and salads are pre-made and packaged in to-go containers in their refrigerators. The noodle soups and hot rice bowls are prepared when ordered. I picked up an eel roll and an edamame salad, paid the cashier, and ate them on the premise.

The eel roll consisted of 12 pieces, which is fairly generous. Sadly, the ratio of rice to eel was 5:1 and the sweet eel sauce was skimpy. The eel roll was one step above the Costco California rolls with imitation crab meat that my mom used to buy me before I became The Gastronomer. The edamame salad was well seasoned and pretty good minus the pale green (read: old) endamame.

Tokyo is a prime example of substandard, inexpensive sushi. Save your pennies for the good stuff or head over to Ajia for sushi that’s palatable and won’t break the bank.