Kidnapped! Hugo and Kinbote Take the Yucatan Yenta on a Late Night Joyride and Discover Merida’s Best Sushi

Avocado Roll at Sensei Sushi Bar

By the Yucatan Yenta

We were all starving, but decided to eschew the Centro and the usual Prolongacion fare for Fraccionamiento Francisco de Montejo, an unexplored area for me, where Hugo and Kinbote promised a surreally fabulous Thai-Japanese-Mexican pan-Asian inter-continental experience.  I generally detest any kind of national cuisine blend and since there is little relationship between Thai and Japanese food, this did not sound like a good time.

So I said to myself what I always say in such situations.

Hey, it’s only a meal. (Oh ye of little faith.  Have we ever let you down?  – Kinbote)  

We arrived in an ugly strip mall where there was a restaurant with the promising title of Laos. Unfortunately it had closed down due to a lack of interest in the surrounding neighborhood (what a surprise) but the chef came out to speak to us. He seemed to know his stuff and after listening to him for a few minutes I was mildly sorry that the place was closed.

I was even more mildly sorry that the place was closed when he informed us that next week, the place would be re-opening under a whole new concept.

“You ever been to TGI Friday’s?  It’s going to be like that.”

Oy.

We asked his advice on a good neighborhood restaurant, and he suggested Sensei, a Japanese place nearby. I groaned inwardly, as my experience with Japanese food in Merida has been a nightmare. Fried sushi, for god’s sake.  And cream cheese inside every single sushi roll.  How did that become a phenomenon in Merida? And my general rule is never, ever go to a Japanese or Chinese restaurant in Merida.

My grumbling ceased after we walked into a pleasant open room and I was hit by the pure, simple, and distinctively Japanese smells of fish, seaweed, and soy.

The menu was huge. My heart leapt when I saw unagi sushi on the menu. Unagi is eel, and it’s an acquired taste.

I really didn’t expect much. Maybe a piece of mackerel darkened with dye, or something frozen and badly rehabilitated.  Worse yet, maybe they didn’t understand the word unagi at all and it would turn out to be eggs, or the dreaded cream cheese.  (While Sensei offers a number of rolls with cream cheese [and a few with other cheeses like Brie and Gouda as well,] it offers plenty without, and you can always ask for any roll sin queso. – Kinbote) (Sorry Kinbote-  but Brie and Gouda in sushi is like putting vanilla syrup on steak or vinegar on ice cream – Yenta)

Other than that, we ordered a substantial representation of almost everything on the menu.

Unagi Sushi

To alleviate the tension, I must tell you that the unagi was perfect.  I was in heaven.  The sushi rice was prepared beautifully; sticky and fluffy, though slightly underflavored with the usual vinegar and sugar.

Kinbote and Hugo dove right in with their usual gusto, while the Yenta picked cautiously at everything.  The Yenta knew that if you didn’t think of this fare as Japanese food, but a derivative of some kind of native food that had been touched by a cargo cult, you’d be okay.  This cargo cult brought Philadelphia cream cheese to a naïve land, where it continues to be worshipped for its Japanese qualitites.  This attitude allows the Yenta to have a positive dining experience under the most trying of circumstances.

The Japanese food at Sensei wasn’t nearly as dreadful as the Japanese food at other Merida restaurants.  It was good overall, but not very Japanese.  Japanese food is impossible to replicate outside of Japan. Years of experience hunting down immaculate sushi experiences have taught me that no one but the Japanese can make Japanese food.  The lower priced Japanese restaurants in Seattle are owned and operated by Koreans who, though they have an exquisite national menu of their own, cannot provide a true Japanese culinary experience.

We had a plate of perfect maguro sushi (raw tuna).  The sushis were small enough to eat with one bite, which I always appreciate since it’s so hard to gracefully eat a sushi in two bites.  We also ordered an avocado roll and a dragon roll, which both turned out to be vastly superior to anything else I’ve discovered in Merida thus far.

The pork gyoza (dumplings) were slightly overcooked, which gave them an unusual crispiness. Gyoza is not meant to be crispy, however, the actual taste was delicious.  They served them with an odd-but-not-unpleasant sauce that I couldn’t quite pin down.  It was probably invented right there in Francisco de Montejo.

The Tempura Pile

The tempura was passable, but here again, it was not reminiscent of Japanese food.  Kinbote devoured it like a ravenous grizzly bear, but I thought it was soggy.  If you don’t use unimaginably hot grease and ice cold batter to make tempura, it doesn’t come out with that renowned feathery-light crispness that characterizes excellent traditional tempura. It sat on the palette, though, with the pleasant heft of fried onion rings at an American county fair.  (Kinbote agrees to disagree.  While it may not have been true Japanese tempura, these were no onion rings.  When I think of American onion rings I think of gritty, greasy, brittle orange batter that shatters between the teeth—nothing like the tempura at Sensei.)

"Donburi"

I ordered chicken donburi. Donburi is a rice dish that comes with different things on top. They didn’t have my favorite, oyakodonburi, which is vegetables, bits of chicken and eggs. Ideally, all is baked together in a clay pot so the juices from the food on top run down into the rice, and I can’t begin to describe how exquisite that is.   Sadly, nowadays it’s hard to find real donburi,even in the restaurants in the U.S. What they produce is simply a bowl of short-grain rice with ingredients placed artfully on top. In this case, there were crisp pieces of red and green pepper, a bit of onion, and pieces of skinless boned chicken obviously fried before being plunked on top of the rice bowl. And it tasted just like that. A bowl of rice with chicken and a few vegetables, cooked separately.   I decided that although it wasn’t donburi, it was a healthy, attractive and nicely flavored dish and I enjoyed it.  (I didn’t even taste the donburi.  I was still working on that tempura. – Kinbote)

Sweet and Sour Pork

They carry Japanese beer and sake. The prices are moderate, but it is definitely not a bargain restaurant.  The waiter was great.  He knew what everything was and was quick and capable.    All and all I’d say it’s the best sushi I’ve been able to scare up in this cheese-loving little town. Thanks to the adventurous Hugo and Kinbote. On my own, I’d never have dreamed of going to Francisco de Montejo.

In Francisco de Montejo at the corner of Calle 50 and Calle 61 (next to Domino’s Pizza.)

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And in Monterreal (close to Altabrisa) at the corner of  Calle 37 and Calle 18.

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Tags: Altabrisa, Francisco de Montejo