Welcome to a brand new blog post! I went to Blue Sakura a couple of weeks ago, so I thought that I would tell you all about my time at the restaurant.
Blue Sakura is a Japanese based restaurant, that opened earlier this year within the Arena Quarter/Merrion Centre in Leeds City Centre. At Blue Sakura, you can choose from either the a la carte menu, or the all you can eat menu that starts at £18 per person.
I went with my good friend, Alex. I had seen the creation of Blue Sakura, due to my student accommodation being a two minute walk from it. Due to this, I had lusted over checking it out to see what the atmosphere and food was life. I finally bit the bullet when I saw Alex and we both love Japanese food and Sushi, so we thought why not.
The decor screams inspiration from Japanese gardens. Not only with it's crisp yet elegant features such as tiling and glass tables, but with a big pink Sakura tree that is surrounded by a blue background. If you're not sure what Sakura (I say it like sack-u-rah but obviously I'm English and I apologise if I'm butchering the pronounciation of it.)
As soon as we sat down at the table, we were told how to order. You have five dishes per person and you have six rounds. If there's 2, you can order up to 10 dishes per round and so on. The way that you order is via a big electronic tablet on the table. You scroll through the menu, choose the dishes that you want and click confirm and within about five minutes, they come to your table. Just like that. You can also order your drink in the same way. You have six rounds, so 30 dishes per person? Challenge accepted.
Honestly, we ordered pretty much 3/4 of the Lunch Menu, so I thought that I'd list as many as I can remember and just talk about what I thought of them. (I also paid for this out of my own money, so the opinions within this post will be true and isn't sponsored, therefore I did the Lunch Menu, but if Blue Sakura want to invite me for the Dinner Menu, I would definitely say yes.)
Here is some photos by Alex of the amazing food that I enjoyed.
Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
I always get Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup at a Buffet. I don't care what else they have to offer. If they don't have a good Chicken or Crab and Sweetcorn Soup, then they're already in trouble in my mind. I loved this, slightly creamy yet still fresh. The sweetcorn added sweetness and crunch. I just loved it. I can drink this by the bucket load, even if it does burn my mouth from rushing to have it due to being greedy.
Miso Soup
I love Miso Soup. This was perfect. Chunks of creamy tofu that soak up the deep broth with strips of healthy Seaweed. Definitely a good first dish to start off a massive buffet with. If you've never tried Miso Soup before, I urge you to.
Seaweed Salad
This was a new one for me. I'm not a massive salad eater at restaurants. I kind of loved this though. It created a refreshing palette cleanser whilst eating a lot of Sushi. I loved the crunch from the vegetables and the slight softness from the seaweed. It was a great salad and I would definitely recommend.
Tofu Pocket Nigiri
I love Tofu Pocket and is normally one of the items that I get when I go to Yo! Sushi sometimes. I loved the slight texture difference from the exterior to the interior. The sweetness of the Tofu Pocket also went really well with the Wasabi that Blue Sakura have to offer.
Cooked Egg Nigiri
I wasn't sure how I felt about this one at first as I had never had Egg on top of Sushi Rice, but, it was amazing. The soft silky egg against the slightly starchy rice was fabulous. Oh and if you had Pickled Ginger with it to cut through some of the richness, then it would make it even better. (it made me love the Nigiri more.) I loved these and would definitely have these again and again.
Salmon Maki
I love Salmon. I rarely have it due to the price of it, but, boy do I love it when I do get to enjoy it. The freshness of the Salmon went really well with the more sort of nutty taste of the rice. I love Maki as you can just pop it in your mouth. These were fabulous.
Flying Fish Egg Gunkan
So I'm not the massive fan of the texture of Fish Eggs, but by the third one, I understood why they were there. They added an element of freshness and texture. I enjoyed this one, but it took me a couple of them to finally make my mind up on whether I enjoyed them or detested them.
California Roll
I love a good California roll! Crab Meat, Avocado and Cucumber always work in my opinion. I loved the crunch of the Cucumber against the smoothness of the Avocado with the slight sweet yet meaty rang of the Crab Meat. Honestly, I love Crab Meat in anything.
Golden Dragon Roll
This roll comes with Flying Fish Eggs... As I said, I'm not the massive fan of Fish Eggs, but I honestly think it was needed in this to add some texture. It also added a deep flavour to the Roll which made me love it a bit more.
Red Dragon Roll
Even though this Roll had a good amount of heat, and I'm a wimp when it comes to heat I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was spicy but fresh from the Cucumber and Avocado that was in the roll too. The Salmdon mixed with the heat added some texture and made the roll feel more luxurious.
Pumpkin Croquettes
These are another staple that I get at Yo! Sushi. I love them! These were slightly crunchy but slightly creamy on the inside. I would have loved more Pumpkin in them, but, I'm greedy like that. These were fabulous!
Deep Fried Tofu In Teriyaki Sauce
Sadly, I wasn't the biggest fan of these. I love Tofu, I love deep fried food, and I love Teriyaki, but when paired together... No. I just think that the batter may have needed to be a bit crispier or that I'm just not the biggest fan of creamy Tofu being deep fried. I'm not sure. I loved the Teriyaki sauce though!
Vegetable Gyoza
Gyozas are fabulous and so were these. Slightly crispy on the outside and warm and steaming on the inside. I would have loved for these to be a tiny tiny bit crispier for me so I could get the full texture contrast fantasy moment that I love, but on a whole, I enjoyed these. These went fabulously with the Soy Sauce that is on your table to enjoy.
Yakitori
These were amazing. If you don't know what Yakitori are, then, they are pretty much charred Chicken Skewers drenched in Teriyaki Sauce. When I say drenched, I truly mean drenched. Ugh, I could have these over and over again.
Gyu Kushiyaki
The Chicken ones were nice, but oh my god, these were something else. I think that the deepness of the beef just workd extremely well with the complex Teriyaki sauce.
Ebi Kushiyaki
If you're not sure of what Ebi is. Ebi means Prawn. I loved these Skewers but I also love Prawns in anything and everything really.
Chicken Bun
I like a good Bar Bun. It was massive. The bun was fluffy and creamy, the Chicken was tender and the veggies were bright, refreshing, and, crunchy. Ugh, I could eat 10 of these.
Chicken Katsu Curry
I'm still not sure with this one. I liked it but the smell of it was making me a bit nauseous. I don't know if its because of the amount of food I had already devoured or just the smell but it was alright. I think if I had this earlier on then I would have felt a bit better about it as a dish.
Crab Meat Tempura
I'm still not sure on this one. I love Crab. I love Tempura but I wasn't enamoured by this sadly. I just think that batter wasn't;t as crispy as I was expecting thus not creating that much of a textural contrast.
Chicken Wings
So, okay. I'm picky with Chicken Wings, I hate most things that start with Buffalo, so if you serve me a Buffalo Wing and expect an amazing review, well then it might have to be very amazing. These were slightly charred and crispy. I liked them, but I kind of think they would have been better with maybe a Wasabi Mayo or maybe a Japanese style BBQ sauce. (Like Okonomiyaki BBQ sauce?)
Korean Fried Chicken
I love Korean Fried Chicken. If you ever get to go to Ox Club in Leeds, then please try their Korean Chicken for Brunch. Weirdly, this wasn't spicy at all. Sour, yes, but spicy? No. Yes, we got the Mild version, mainly because I was expecting a lot of heat from Mild. My fault, I know. The chicken was fabulous though.
Blue Sakura Salad
Sadly, I didn't like this that much. I love Avocado, Cucumber and Lettuce, but on its own, there's only so many forkfuls you can have before admitting defeat and moving onto another dish. I loved the smoothness of the Avocado, against the Lettuce, but it got a bit too cloying in the mouth. A good palate cleanser though!
Spring Rolls
I love Spring Rolls. I love Summer Rolls. I love all the rolls. Sadly, I wasn't in love with these though. These weren't my favourite, but they were a good dish to slowly munch on mindlessly whilst chatting.
Spicy Tuna Crispy Roll
Okay so these were amazing. I am a wimp with spice sometimes, so these were quite spicy in my opinion. Saying that, the crunch in the middle made you want to go back for more and more. I would happily eat thee again and again. Bring me all the Crispy Rolls!
Deep Fried Breadcrumbed King Prawn
These were Alex's favourite. They ended up ordering about three platefuls. I loved them. Crunchy and spicy on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside. Sadly. I was full from all of the delicious food, so I didn't have that many of them, but I would definitely go back for them.
Have you been to Blue Sakura Leeds? Let me know down below! What's your favourite type of Sushi? Let me know down below!
Click here to check out Blue Sakura.
Thanks for reading!
Jamie x
This review was not sponsored. I paid for this with my own money. All views, ramblings and opinions are non-biased and my own.
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