Sushi that will float your boat
Tekeda Sushi Barul. Francuska 16aSaska KepaHours: 12:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.Telephone 633 9559 or 0606 236 050Reservations and credit cards accepted
When I was a kid, I used to get up early to watch an old black-and-white Japanese TV series about a do-gooder ninja who masqueraded by day as a wealthy feudal lord.
While Superman had his phone booth to change into his body stocking and underpants, this guy made do with a rickshaw, from which he emerged as a rather dashing figure in black. There was plenty of bad dubbing, flying star darts and acrobatic karate feats made possible with the dubious camera editing technology of the early 1970s.
Sadly I can't remember the name of this show, but the reason I speak of it is that last week, I visited Warsaw's newest sushi restaurant, Tekeda Sushi Bar. And from somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind, this rather handsome ninja leapt out.
I think I was half expecting him to walk through the restaurant's heavy wooden door, leave his Samurai sword and nunchakus at the coat rack, and order some warmed saki. Why? Simply because the atmosphere of Tekeda is 100% TV cliche ... and I loved it.
Situated on leafy ulica Francuska in the middle of Saska Kepa's embassy row, Tekeda has the spatial proportions of a postage stamp. There are just 20 stools around a black-granite horseshoe bar, in the middle of which stands a kimono-clad waitress. There are faux rice screens on the walls, a few tortured floral ikebana decorations and a circular mirror behind the bar. The bathroom is an adventure in itself: all black tiles and red grouting with the type of lighting that highlights every single wrinkle and blemish on your face when you try to touch up your lipstick.
But what makes this place really unique is the sushi presentation. Forget the excitement you experienced when you visited your first sushi restaurant where the sushi chugged around the room on a conveyer belt. Tekeda has gone one step closer to the absurd they have sushi boats that paddle around a flowing water channel cut into the bar.
I'm not usually a sucker for gadgetry, but this was great. I'm told they're "all the go" in fashionable North American sushi bars. As the water flows around, the little bamboo boats float by, joined with fishing line, and each with a plate of sushi on its decks.
When we arrived, we were the only ones there, but as the evening went on, a handful of other customers mainly embassy types and a few women who could pass as Vogue models dropped in and the boats appeared to float by at a faster rate. It's all a matter of supply and demand.
Like most sushi restaurants, this one operates on a plate-rate system however there were no prices anywhere, no menu and no wine list. In fact, when we wanted to order anything be it a glass of the only wine they serve, Galitera's Chilean chardonnay (zl. 26), or a bowl of miso soup the waitress picked up her mobile phone and called the kitchen just on the other side of the wall. We could hear the phone ringing!
With my inferior Polish skills, I asked the waitress how much the sushi was green Japanese characters on the plate cost zł. 10, red characters are zł. 15 and white characters zł. 20. A plate of tuna sashimi floated past with gold characters for zł. 25.
Armed with some essential gari (or pickled ginger), and my wasabi and soy sauce mixed, I was ready to begin.
I had some tekka maki (little tuna rolls). They were delicious. Next came a tuna maki rolled in toasted sesame seeds. Perfect. I adore sushi and this was excellent. I think maybe the best I've had in Warsaw. From this point on, it became a bit of a blur of ships and plates. I recall a very nice gunkan with ikura ... in English that's a little nori boat filled with rice and topped with wonderfully crisp and salty orange pearls of salmon roe, inarizushi those strangely sweet fried beancurd bags filled with rice, and my favorite, good ol' tamago (or omelette). David enjoyed the ebi (boiled prawns), butterflied and spread on a blob of rice, but spent the rest of the night waiting for another one to appear.
"It's a bit like waiting for Godot," he said as he watched an endless stream of ebi-less boats float by a good point. The variety of sushi was a little bit monotonous. The owner of the place, who got into sushi 12 months ago as a hobby (his regular job is in the hygiene business ... always reassuring when you're talking seafood), mainly focuses on sushi catering. He has an industrial kitchen on the outskirts of Warsaw, where his London-trained Polish sushi chefs whip up trays of nigiri, maki and gunkan until they are up to their elbows in rice and fish. The rice is imported from Japan, and the seafood from Norway and Germany. The factory also uses non-chlorinated water apparently important for flavor. And it is this sushi that is served in the restaurant. For purists who like it made on the spot, this could be a problem. As for me, I would have been none the wiser had I not telephoned the owner to check a few details. However, you can apparently order things like tempura or grilled sea eel at the bar, and it is made fresh on the premises.
I also asked the owner about the wine situation. He tells me Tekeda only serves wines that enhance the flavors of sushi, and at the moment, the Galitera chardonnay is the go. But he is considering adding some Australian wines and an American pinot noir.
Like most sushi restaurants in Poland, Tekeda is not cheap. By the end of the evening, our stack of 15 plates was an awful reminder that the bill was going to be big. I bet my ninja hero never had to worry about overdrafts on his credit card.
Dinner for three, including drinks, came to zł. 357 ($87).
From the menu:
California rollszl.15Ikura (salmon roe)zl.20Ebi (prawn)zl.20Tamago (omelette)zl.10Salmons nigiri zł.15Tuna makizl.15Tuna sashimizl.25Miso soupzl.15
