The family and I had eaten dinner recently at Wasabi (it’s one of our regular sushi places, although usually for carry-out) and noticed that they had a dim sum menu—and as you might have noticed lately I have been on a bit of a dim sum binge lately—well, as much as you can in Indy. We asked our server that night about it and he said it was all made in house daily until it ran out. We were intrigued.
We headed over there for lunch the other day with the intention to get some dim sum as well as a sushi roll. We got one of our current favorites—the Fantastic roll ($16). This is spicy tuna and crunch on the inside and topped with salmon, yellow tail and avocado. They always do this roll well, and the fish is fresh and buttery. If I had a complaint on this particular visit is that I didn’t get a lot of the “crunch” in the roll, and I like my crunch. I don’t know if they didn’t use as much of the tempura flakes or if they just went soft after being mixed in. But still, it’s a great roll and one of our regulars.
As for the dim sum, well….maybe there’s a reason most Japanese restaurants aren’t doing dim sum. We found it a bit disappointing. Well, the crab Rangoon ($3.99) was really good actually—they’re small pieces and are super light and crisp (and come out fresh and hot) with just a little of the cream cheese/crab filling so they didn’t get soggy. And for someone who has never been a huge fan of crab Rangoon, this was one of my favorite versions. (We order it a lot anyway because hubby is a fan). We would (and will) get it again.
Dumpling-wise though, there was something about the skins on the dumplings that was off—I don’t know if they got dried out before or after the dumplings were made, but they had a bit of a pasty consistency. They had told them they make them fresh everyday, but the shrimp dumplings ($3.99) didn’t exactly taste like it. The shrimp flavor was a bit fishy. I did like that they were smaller than a lot so you could really pop them in your mouth in one bite, but that was about it with these.
The chive and shrimp dumplings (they call them chive gyuza) ($3.99) were a bit better, but suffered the same pasty skin issue. The inside of the dumpling had a bit of shrimp and then mostly chive (and green onions I am guessing) and tasted mostly of that. I have had this type of dumpling many places—some use the chive/onion as a main ingredient and some more of a seasoning (with shrimp being the main ingredient). I prefer it when the shrimp is the main ingredient. This was not the case here.
All in all, I am impressed with the sushi served at Wasabi—they are consistently serving high quality there. I was excited by the dim sum idea when I saw it, but I think sticking with the more traditional Japanese cuisine is the way to go here.
Wasabi on 82nd Street
5025 East 82nd Street
Indy 46250
317/594-1188
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