As someone who eats the same few foods every week, sushi was something I was a bit nervous to try. Sushi is a traditional Japanese dish and made its first appearance in the U.S in the year 1906 at a restaurant called the Kawafuku Restaurant. Sushi has rapidly gained popularity and there are now over 4,000 sushi restaurants in the country. Emily Bolger stated, “I was 13 when I first started eating sushi. I always had a bland palette and one day decided to branch out and try something new”. Sushi can come in many different forms, from a simple roll to poke-style sushi bowls. The most popular types of sushi rolls are California rolls, Spicy Tuna rolls, and Dragon rolls. There are tons of different combinations of ingredients to try. There is anything from eel to tuna to salmon, and basically any other seafood you can think of!

For my first experience trying sushi, we went to a small restaurant located in Chalfont called Hachi. Samantha Kiwak talked about Hachi saying “Me and my family order from there all of the time, it’s one of my favorite places”, so it sounded like a great place to start. A large variety of sushi contains raw fish, which was another element that was very new and interesting to me. I am not a big seafood eater to start, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to like some of the options. After some recommendations, I ordered a California roll and a Mango Avocado roll. Both options were simple and definitely a good choice for someone who has never experienced the texture of Sushi before. The Mango Avocado roll contained no fish and had a surprisingly sweet rush of flavor. The combined feeling of the rice and the softer feeling of the mango was odd at first, but I quickly got used to it and even enjoyed it. After trying the simpler options, I decided to branch out and taste something with more flavors. I tried an Angry Dragon Roll, which was spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, king crab, avocado, spicy and sweet soy, and wasabi aioli. I had no idea what to expect when I took the first bite, but it was much better than what I expected. There was a slight crunch on top, and the two sauces added something amazing to the flavor. I didn’t mind the flavor or the texture of the tuna or shrimp that I was nervous about at all. 

After we passed around the eight different rolls, we ordered we agreed on two winners. Drum roll, please…The Out of Control roll and The Angry Dragon Roll. The Out of Control roll is made up of tempura shrimp, mango, avocado, spicy crunchy Kani, nori-coma, sesame-soy paper, and sweet-chili aioli, was one of our top picks, along with the Angry Dragon roll which is mentioned above. If you are someone who has never tried sushi before and are looking for something new, I absolutely recommend it. The environment of Hachi is quiet and relaxing, and the presentation of the dishes is gorgeous. Don’t be afraid to try more flavors than you think you’ll like it turns out better than you expected.