Having grown up in California, I am very accustomed to fish, despite not particularly loving it.
I’ve been out with family who’ve had sushi but was never willing to try any. So, I decided to try something different by going to Shangri-La Sushi & Teriyaki.
I should have tried it sooner.
Located at 841 West 6th Ave, the restaurant is small and unassuming, but with seating that wraps around the restaurant, they make the best of the small space.
From grilled eels to bento boxes, the menu was extensive. After talking to the waitress, I decided on the sushi bento box with an iced tea.
What caught my attention wasn’t the décor, but the music they played continuously that set the atmosphere wonderfully.
I was brought my miso soup quickly. Warm and sweet, the soup was a good start.
After giving myself some time to quickly relearn how to use chopsticks I was pleased with how soon they brought out the food.
The box came with five pieces of sushi, the miso soup, a garden salad, pork gyoza dumplings and some California rolls.
For nearly $19, it was expensive, but I got a good variety of food, especially for someone who had never tried sushi before.
In usual fashion, I had the dumplings first, which were dripping with sauce and wonderful. The pork was well cooked, and the dumplings were put together nicely.
The California rolls were mainly rice and avocado with some salmon. They were also very good. The box didn’t come with rice, which I would have liked to have, but since the sushi was wrapped in rice it more than made up for it. The sushi, composed mainly of salmon, tuna, and tilapia, was good on its own, but paired really well with the tea.
My mom always made me order my food well-done for fear of getting sick, so it was very different to eat raw fish.
I didn’t particularly like the texture of it, but that’s more of an aversion to fish than an issue with its quality.
I made the classic mistake of having too much wasabi and consumed the cucumber salad in an effort to cool off. It was good, if somewhat plain.
If you ever find yourself wanting to try a variety of Japanese seafood, I couldn’t recommend anywhere else but Shangri-La.
