Japanese in Detroit: Menu

The sushi bar is the heart of Tomiko DeMeere's serene restaurant which celebrates its 10th anniversary in June. The full array of Japanese dishes includes teriyakis, tempuras, noodles in broth and yakitori, with a gourmet dinner for two ($46) offering a chance to sample many dishes economically. Dining is Japanese style in the tatami room or at Western tables. ****

The basics of Korean cooking are garlic and sesame. The bicultural selection ranges from broiled eel to tempura and sushi, spicy hot to coolly elegant. Try a raw fish dish or have marinated sirloin (bulgogi) barbecued at your table. A horizon-broadening selection of ten side dishes in wee white bowls accompanies every dinner. Alcohol is served.****

Sharaku is the most authentic Japanese restaurant in metro Detroit, offering 25 daily-changing appetizers, including catches of the day, and a relatively short list of entrées. As in Japan, the decor is spare, blond wood, and meals are served with a minimum of pretension — just artful arrangements of the food and garnishes themselves. For sushi, you may want to branch out and try rolls of dried squash, burdock, ume shiso (green tea), natto (fermented soybeans) or orange clams.The chef’s choice “sushi deluxe” will come with 10 lovely nigiri pieces plus a roll, also with crunchy pickles of radish turned bright yellow and cucumber now purple, and a delicious opaque broth with the most delicate of scallions, still crisp. At the back of your menu, look for a long list of liquors (shochu) distilled from different grains: sweet potatoes, barley, rice, buckwheat or potatoes (the most popular). Takeout available for sushi only; party platters also available (minimum $25 order).

Take Sushi is tiny and busy, serving several varieties of Japanese beer, offering sushi to eat in or to go

Wasabi's bibimbab is best served in a dolsot, a heated stone bowl. Chef Seonghun Kim tops a big pile of white rice with little piles of julienned beef and vegetables, mostly cold, and a fried egg. Squeeze on the gochujang, a chili-based hot sauce, and mix it all together. It’s huge and infinitely satisfying on a cold night. The other famous-to-Americans Korean dish is bulgogi, which here is marinated rib eye. The marinade includes not only sake, ginger and various fruits but Sprite! Salmon teriyaki overdoes the sweet sauce, but beef, pork or chicken katsu are great, breaded and fried and served with a mixture of ketchup, butter, sugar, chicken broth, tempura mix and bottled tonkatsu sauce. Sushi in all the usual varieties is offered, artfully done and of excellent quality. Some entrées are served with a heap of fresh fruit, and all come with a small carrot or cucumber salad and a heartier-than-average miso soup, with seaweed. For dessert, Japanese ice cream is the best bet, especially green tea flavor.