Takoyaki ($2.50); Unagi tamago ($9.90); Aburi salmon sushi ($9.90)!
Japanese delivery / takeaway — takoyaki balls + unagi tamago sushi + aburi salmon sushi. Circuit breaker Friday dinner spread, $22.30 total.
Good Friday dinner — pivoted to Japanese delivery / takeaway during circuit breaker. Couldn’t sit down at a sushi spot, so we built a small spread at home with takeout from a Japanese chain.
We ordered:
- Takoyaki (6 pcs) — $2.50
- Unagi tamago sushi — $9.90
- Aburi salmon sushi — $9.90
Total: $22.30 for the spread.
Takoyaki was the snack opener. Six round balls of dashi-and-flour batter cooked in those signature half-sphere takoyaki pans, with a chunk of octopus inside each, topped with bonito flakes, takoyaki sauce, kewpie mayo and a sprinkle of dried seaweed. The bonito flakes wave from the heat — that little dance is half the appeal. Crispy outside, custardy gooey inside, mild octopus chew.
Unagi tamago was the platter dish — alternating slices of grilled unagi and sweet tamago over short-grain rice, brushed with sweet kabayaki sauce. The combination of smoky-sweet unagi against the pillowy sweet egg block was the kind of comfort sushi that we always default to.
Aburi salmon sushi was the indulgent pick — torched salmon nigiri with a mayo drizzle, char marks on top, the fish gone half-cooked from the broiler so the texture went creamy-tender rather than raw-firm. Sweet sauce on top, slight smoke finish.
$22.30 for a Japanese takeaway spread that scratched the sit-down sushi itch was a fair deal in lockdown.
Circuit breaker dinners forced us to build at-home spreads from takeout. This one worked.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Strong Japanese takeaway dinner — would re-order.
