Oishii means delicious in Japanese...

Yesterday I found myself in Chestnut Hill for a meeting that went a little longer than expected and as I got back into my car thinking that I shouldn't have skipped breakfast, I hit the GPS and discovered that the renowned Oishii was just 700 yards away! I hopped out of the car and hot footed it down the road.

And oh my - Oishii really is Oishii - it was only after I'd gulped down the melt-in-your-mouth spicy tuna hand roll, devoured the White Tiger Maki and forced down the crisp yet silky Shitake Tempura roll that I realised I should have taken a picture as it was all presented so beautifully. But I was too greedy. So here's a picture of my check instead.



For the photographer geeks, I was trying out my new and nifty little 35 1.8 DX lens - check out the narrow plane of focus, just used it on an Unwrapped photoshoot and I'm loving how I can get a super crisp sparkly look in the eyes and then gently blur everything else.

Anyhoo - back to the topic - as I sat there finishing off my diet coke with my hands resting contentedly on my rounded sushi-baby-belly I was reminded of the amazing trip I took to Japan earlier this year and how virtually everything we drank or ate was not only "oishii" but also visually stunning.

When your coffee looks like this, it's a little disheartening to come home to Starbucks...



At one dinner, we each enjoyed individual Nabe dishes (a sort of mini hot pot):



And some Japanese sushi - definitely more purist than the American style of adding all sorts of crazy, spicy, crunchy, fun things:



Maybe you're now thinking you're hungry? Just in case, here are my current top five Japanese restaurants:

1. Oishii, Chestnut Hill, MA
A new entry at number one. The Chestnut Hill location is definitely nothing to write home about from an aesthetic point of view (it's a tiny sushi bar that seats about 14 people in a row) but I have honestly never had such fresh and tasty sushi.
2. Okada, Wynn Las Vegas, NV
The last time we went to Las Vegas - a veritable smorgasboard of amazing restaurants - we ate here 3 nights out of 6 - it's that good.
3. Oysy, Chicago, IL
Mr H took me to Chicago for my birthday a little while back, we went to Oysy for lunch on Friday...and Saturday....and Sunday. Some might say we're creatures of habit...
4. Yama, Andover, MA
This is my favorite local sushi-go-to. The staff are super nice, the fish is always fresh (they have live scallops occasionally) and the sushi very creative. The Celtics Maki with tuna, salmon, avocado and tempura flakes is my favorite closely followed by the Spicy Salmon Maki.

Arigatou Gozaimasu

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