Zen Sushi Japanese restaurant
Restaurant: Zen Sushi – Japanese restaurant
Address: Kämp Galleria II Floor, Pohjoisesplanadi 29
Telephone: 09 671367
Internet:
Prices: Lunch >8 euros, sets >10 euros, single dishes >2 euros
Food: Good, fresh, and neatly done sushi
Service: Fast and friendly
LOCATION
Zen Sushi fits like a glove to the atmosphere of shopping center Kämp. It is clean, spacious and has lots of windows so expect to be observed by passing by shoppers. Try to get that piece of sushi into your mouth with dignity and under any circumstances, don’t make yourself a fool by fumbling with the food - focus to those chop sticks! You have been warned, now you can go and eat at Zen Sushi, it’s right there in the center anyway.
HISTORY
The same Finnish-Japanese couple that is associated with Ichiban sushi restaurants runs the Zen Sushi. I have already lost count on the number or locations of Ichiban, but that much I know that this restaurant brand has been around. Zen Sushi has the feeling of upsizing from the old. The couple has experience on running a sushi restaurant and looks to me like they now want to take the concept a step or two forward.
INTERIOR
Great looking place that to my opinion accommodates some Feng Shui lessons. Ordering counter faces the door and divides the space in two. On the back the sushi chefs can work uninterrupted and there is lot of room to go around as the tables are sprinkled far and wide, retaining harmony though. Good idea to cover the lamps with almost transparent fabrics, this further extends the clean overall impression of the place. Eating utensils are single packed and plates and cups are cheap pottery that e.g. China is full of. However it all looks pretty impressive and Finns that are only familiar with Iittala’s clean forms will think that everything is so fascinatingly original. Good job here, less is really more and one can also save up with the set up costs.
FOOD
To be perfectly honest with you, we (my wife and I) don’t actually have much factual knowledge on sushi, we just used to go these great sushi buffet styled restaurants in Taiwan. It was really great, lingering among made-to-order-chefs and checking who is making what. Oh, my poor belly was stuffed to the max after those nights. So because of this we just take different sets from the menu and some soup.
It didn’t take more than a moment to get our orders in and then just few minutes to get our sets to the table. I guess there was this window of opportunity for us, as we just made it before lunch hour ended. Pretty fine selection but as with other Finnish sushi restaurants, there still is serious problem with variety. Salmon is the fish of choice for a Japanese restaurant in Finland that wants to keep the costs down. Makis’ they had too and that is understandable, because they don’t often don’t need any fish to bring flavour. With these two secret weapons, Zen Sushi is able to introduce fairly decent price level and ok quality. Miso soup was also tasty and abundant, but we could hope to get more Wasabi and ginger with our portions. Green tea was available separately and one could go and take refills, but we didn’t really need to. Tea was bit plane, but as Finns are accustomed with their Lipton, there is little chance for a restaurant to educate them.
SERVICE
Not a single bad word for personnel. Everything happened in a flash and there was all the time a friendly waitress in sight. This probably changes during the rush hour, but all in all quite remarkable level of service for a restaurant in Finland. I can recommend this place, just remember those shoppers that casually linger by.
Address: Kämp Galleria II Floor, Pohjoisesplanadi 29
Telephone: 09 671367
Internet:
Prices: Lunch >8 euros, sets >10 euros, single dishes >2 euros
Food: Good, fresh, and neatly done sushi
Service: Fast and friendly
LOCATION
Zen Sushi fits like a glove to the atmosphere of shopping center Kämp. It is clean, spacious and has lots of windows so expect to be observed by passing by shoppers. Try to get that piece of sushi into your mouth with dignity and under any circumstances, don’t make yourself a fool by fumbling with the food - focus to those chop sticks! You have been warned, now you can go and eat at Zen Sushi, it’s right there in the center anyway.
HISTORY
The same Finnish-Japanese couple that is associated with Ichiban sushi restaurants runs the Zen Sushi. I have already lost count on the number or locations of Ichiban, but that much I know that this restaurant brand has been around. Zen Sushi has the feeling of upsizing from the old. The couple has experience on running a sushi restaurant and looks to me like they now want to take the concept a step or two forward.
INTERIOR
Great looking place that to my opinion accommodates some Feng Shui lessons. Ordering counter faces the door and divides the space in two. On the back the sushi chefs can work uninterrupted and there is lot of room to go around as the tables are sprinkled far and wide, retaining harmony though. Good idea to cover the lamps with almost transparent fabrics, this further extends the clean overall impression of the place. Eating utensils are single packed and plates and cups are cheap pottery that e.g. China is full of. However it all looks pretty impressive and Finns that are only familiar with Iittala’s clean forms will think that everything is so fascinatingly original. Good job here, less is really more and one can also save up with the set up costs.
FOOD
To be perfectly honest with you, we (my wife and I) don’t actually have much factual knowledge on sushi, we just used to go these great sushi buffet styled restaurants in Taiwan. It was really great, lingering among made-to-order-chefs and checking who is making what. Oh, my poor belly was stuffed to the max after those nights. So because of this we just take different sets from the menu and some soup.
It didn’t take more than a moment to get our orders in and then just few minutes to get our sets to the table. I guess there was this window of opportunity for us, as we just made it before lunch hour ended. Pretty fine selection but as with other Finnish sushi restaurants, there still is serious problem with variety. Salmon is the fish of choice for a Japanese restaurant in Finland that wants to keep the costs down. Makis’ they had too and that is understandable, because they don’t often don’t need any fish to bring flavour. With these two secret weapons, Zen Sushi is able to introduce fairly decent price level and ok quality. Miso soup was also tasty and abundant, but we could hope to get more Wasabi and ginger with our portions. Green tea was available separately and one could go and take refills, but we didn’t really need to. Tea was bit plane, but as Finns are accustomed with their Lipton, there is little chance for a restaurant to educate them.
SERVICE
Not a single bad word for personnel. Everything happened in a flash and there was all the time a friendly waitress in sight. This probably changes during the rush hour, but all in all quite remarkable level of service for a restaurant in Finland. I can recommend this place, just remember those shoppers that casually linger by.
posted by Jarkko @ Sunday, April 03, 2005
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