Wooden ships full of sushi
Siori Sushi Bune.
I’m proud to say that I’m a tinkerer – that species of gadgethead who delights in clever machinery and likes to take stuff apart just to see how it works. I have spent happy hours working on cars, bicycles, clocks, and other broken machinery, and given my culinary interest it’s no surprise that my kitchen is festooned with odd cooking tools.
So when I first heard about sushi bune places, the ones where sushi is delivered to you in little boats sailing a stainless steel sea, I was charmed by the idea. Sure, it’s just a way of dressing up what is basically a conveyor belt, but it combined mechanical novelty, sushi, and that Japanese cuteness thing, so I had to go see how well it worked.
On my first visit Siori Sushi Bune I decided to dine entirely from the boats. It was an interesting but frustrating experience. On the upside, it was all about instant gratification – if something looked interesting, you just picked it up and tried it. The downside was that if you liked what you chose, you couldn’t order it again because you had no idea what you just ate. You could narrow it down a bit because you were charged according to the color and size of your plate, but except for eliminating some items based on crockery you had no clues.
The experience was also unusual because of the almost complete lack of interaction with the staff. Once I had ordered sake and water, I was left alone to partake as I pleased, though my water was refilled promptly and it took only a wave to bring a staff member over when I wanted something. If you are a misanthrope who doesn’t like human interaction much, this could be the dining style of your dreams.
I’m gregarious by nature and like to talk to the itamae and find out what fish they recommend, so this was not my idea of heaven. It wasn’t a bad meal; I was there when the place was busy and new plates of tasty stuff passed by regularly – but the cute delivery method didn’t make up for the lack of contact and knowledge of what I was having.
Perhaps, I decided, it would be more fun with a larger party. I returned with my wife and daughter, and we requested seats where we could talk with the itamae or order from the boats that went by. We were dining a bit late, and there were only a few items in the boats when we arrived. We picked two – shrimp in a rice paper roll and several kinds of fish topped with a tangy, slightly citrusy sauce – then ordered a tataki salad and some rolls from our server.
We also chatted with an itamae about what he recommended that day – not an easy task because the boat mechanism and the glass roof over it placed considerable distance between us and him. He suggested a few items and gave a telltale pause when we asked about another, following the code of giving faint and hesitant praise rather than actually being negative about anything. It’s the very kind of subtle but valuable communication that I had missed on my previous visit.
Our tataki salad arrived while the chef was making our sushi, and it was the highlight of the meal – fresh mizuna and baby greens lightly dressed with ginger and miso, topped with a generous portion of albacore sashimi. This salad is a refreshing hot weather favorite, and an absolute delight on an unseasonably warm evening. It was beautifully presented and very tasty, one of the best I’ve had anywhere.
The sushi we had ordered – salmon roe with quail egg and toro tuna – arrived next. We had asked for it nigiri style on vinegared rice, and it was what we expected – a good-sized but not excessive portion of fish, served with just a whisper of wasabi. (I’ve been to a few places where the chefs are a bit to exuberant with the hot stuff, and I appreciate a place that just lets you taste your fish. I also like that it is served as a generous bite size; too big and you have a mouthful of fish, too small and it’s not satisfying.)
The two rolls we had ordered were unusually generous in size, so that along with the salad and nigiri they were a meal for three people. We had selected the “Yellowtail Lover” and “PJ” rolls, the former being, yes, various permutations of yellowtail tuna. Most Americans grow up with a “all tuna is just tuna” attitude, a residual of the days when most of us got it from a can and served it in a casserole. There are subtle differences in flavor and texture that were apparent here, and we enjoyed the rich, meaty texture and subtle flavor.
The PJ roll was the ever-popular California roll with salmon on top, as enjoyable to Japanese fusion lovers as it is an offense to purists. We’re not purists and liked it just fine, though we were mildly curious about whether it has been invented by someone named PJ, named in honor of someone with those initials, or just celebrated the idea of wearing pajamas. Alas, nobody could tell us.
For dessert there was mochi ice cream, available in chocolate or strawberry flavor. Chocolate always seems too rich after sushi, so we went with the lighter strawberry flavor and were content.
Our bill for three with green tea and a flask of sake was $75.00, modest for a sushi evening in the South Bay. The sushi boats had been enough of a novelty to attract me, but the items we had actually ordered were the ones that would bring me back – they have a variety of cooked items that looked interesting, and I’m going to have a hankering for that tataki salad again on another warm evening. The gadgethead has seen the toy and played with it, the sushi lover in me will be back for the food. B
Siori Sushi Bune is at 231 S. Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach. Open daily for lunch and dinner, street parking only, wheelchair access OK. Phone 310-406-3376. B