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Scratching a niche

Dejvice restaurant serves sushi for an everyday budget
Restaurant Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 10th, 2007 issue

Sakura

Nám. Svobody 1
Prague 6–Dejvice
Tel. 774 785 077
Open daily 10 a.m.–
10 p.m.

Food **
Service ***
Atmosphere **
Overall **

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Chef Ju Jan Manh and his surprising tempura roll.
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FROM THE MENU

Miso 80 Kč
Spring rolls 80 Kč
Tempura king prawn 240 Kč
Sashimi 130–290 Kč
Nigiri 60–150 Kč
Temaki 120–180 Kč
Maki (6) 100–190 Kč
Uramaki (4)120–240 Kč
Tempura crunch rolls (4) 110–160 Kč

People often trot out the old “landlocked country” excuse to pardon kitchens in this city for their feeble understanding of seafood.
Yet Millhouse sushi recently underwent an impressive renovation. Its sibling, Sushi House, opened in Karlín. Le Patio turned over part of its space to a sushi chef. Gozen, a purely Japanese restaurant, set up in Prague 5. Even Tesco sells ready-made “just add fish” sushi kits.
Evidently someone knows a little something about fresh seafood. And, just as clearly, quite a few locals crave blankets of salmon, surf clam and the like, draped over beds of sticky rice.
Sakura, the latest entry into Prague’s growing list of Japanese establishments, fits into a rather useful niche.
It’s not the best sushi in town. Special concoctions, such as inside-out rolls, tend to be oversized and faulty — collapsing if not finished off in one mouthful. Avocado and a surprisingly loutish interpretation of “krab” salad team up to pummel rainbow rolls into submission. Described as “hot” for some unknown reason, these are each striped each with a different slice of sashimi, hence the colorful name.
Near-flavorless nori contributes almost nothing to constructions of maki. The tuna is delicate, but not singular in flavor. Furrows of white fat streak the salmon, setting unmet expectations for rich, bold taste. Flying fish roe are firm and clean, although in popping they leave behind little indication of seafaring days.
Nigiri servings, meanwhile, are occasionally hobbled by little flaws upsetting, perhaps, only to purists.
Missing? The faint twinge of vinegar and that slight, vaguely piercing spread of wasabi between fish and rice. Traditional presentation should require nothing more than a quick tap in soy sauce, if that suits the palate.
Mind you, few of these faults sink the restaurant. Overall, in fact, Sakura ranks favorably with most of the city’s sushi operations. And there are compelling twists.
The so-called tempura crunch rolls are an example, I imagine, of what vendors might inflict on uramaki at the Alabama state fair — but it works. Chefs create an inside-out roll, dredge it in batter and dump it quickly into hot oil. This creates a tempura shell without putting too much stress on rice and filling. So the soft shell crab version, for instance, features a mellow crust and delicate, malty, almost sweet meat center.
Skin rolls stand out as well, thanks to strips of salmon skin sautéed until they shrivel and tense into chewy, candied bits with the texture of fried lemon zest and a taste at once sweet, salty and fishy.
The menu includes overflowing temaki cones and sashimi in the usual array, as well as soups, salads and starters.
Spring rolls, an unusual item on sushi-laden listings, feature crisp lettuce and a neat honeyed rice-wine vinegar dipping sauce soothed by gentle slivers of almond. But the inclusion of krab causes them to wallow.
The miso is spiked with an abundance of cubed tofu, seaweed — still rather bland — and shallots. Too much salt douses most of the broth’s favorable, fermented base flavor. But there’s a sweet, earthy, resilient form underneath the stinging brine. The presentation of tempura tiger prawn includes the hollowed-out head, reassembled to the massive fried body. Unfortunately, on one of my visits, the husky, bitter tinge of heavily used oil weighed down its ethereal crust.
If all of this sounds familiar — good and mediocre, innovative and flat, the usual problems of consistency we’ve all come to expect in Prague, particularly where raw fish is concerned — keep in mind Sakura’s unique niche.
A trip to Sushi Bar or any of the other sushi joints of any repute will often set you back considerably. Here, though, it’s possible to order enough to satisfy one’s craving for sushi at 600 Kč per person, including a couple beers.
Sakura is no better and no worse than most of the city’s Japanese restaurants. But it’s priced for return visits.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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