Japanese cuisine is possibly one of the most famous in the world. With its variety of flavours, interesting presentations and calming ambience of its restaurants, it has achieved much popularity across the board.
Possibly one of the closest ways to experience authentic Japanese cuisine here is at the famous Nihonbashi restaurant, owned by Darshan Munidasa. The word ‘Nihonbashi’ stands for ‘Japan Bridge’ a vital bridge in Tokyo that acts as a zero-marker to all. Japanese cities. Mr. Munidasa’s mother being Japanese and father being Sri Lankan, he has managed to bridge the two countries –preparing delicious and authentic Japanese food in Sri Lanka.
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| Darshan Munidasa |
On June 28, this year, Nihonbashi celebrated 14 years. And to celebrate this Mr. Munidasa came up with a unique concept -- ‘Thousand and One Sushi.’ The beginnings of this concept started in 2002 when he introduced a 5x5x5 matrix sushi menu at the restaurant’s outlet, at Odel. “I wanted to build on this and came up with the idea of a 10x10x10 matrix,” he said which resulted in 1000 different combinations. The 1001st combination will be named soon!
The menu is mayo-based and will therefore be a non-raw sushi ensemble. If you dine at Nihonbashi, you will be given a small piece of paper to fill in your name and mark the three different combinations you would like -- the categories being ‘main,’ ‘veg’ and ‘dressing.’
Sushi is rice in vinegar and you can try this wrapped in various types of fillings like Teriyaki Chicken, Grilled Prawn, Crab Stick or Smoked Salmon with a combination of vegetables like Iceberg Lettuce, Baby Corn or Spring Onions. The dressings range from Wasabi Mayo, Tabasco Mayo to Karashi Mayo. You can decide on your combination, all at a price of Rs. 250.
One of the main ingredients at Nihonbashi is tuna fish. “Only a few Japanese restaurants buy tuna whole,” Munidasa said, adding, “We are the only Japanese restaurant outside Japan that uses whole tuna.In February this year, the well known BBC series Odyssey featured Nihonbashi which was chosen by the British celebrity Chef Rick Stein.
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