Aajisai, Park Circus Area, Kolkata

Restaurant Name: Aajisai, Park Circus Area, Kolkata
Phone: +919836621119
Address: 5th Floor, Quest Mall, 33, Syed Amir Ali Ave, Lower Range, Beck Bagan, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700017 West Bengal India
Time: 12:00 Noon – 09:00 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 1,600
Cuisines: Japanese, Sushi
Facilities: Breakfast, Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Full Bar Available, Seating Available, Mall Parking, Romantic Dining, Table booking recommended, Kid Friendly, Indoor Seating

You can easily call me a kuishinbo with no shame when it comes to Japanese cuisine. It is the Japanese art form of gluttony, for the uninitiated. And the cravings hit me anytime of the year, especially these couple of months just before the islands in the Far East are sprinkled with the small, delicate pink sakura at the advent of spring.

In Kolkata, unfortunately, there are just a couple of places, which some authentic Japanese food. I have always wondered why Bengalis with all the love of their lives for fish or meat, never developed a knack for the classic sashimi, sushi or the sukiyaki, shabu shabu hotpots or yakiniku. Japanese cooking actually involves a lot of ingredients that are hard to come by outside of Japan, it is coveted by chefs and connoisseurs across the world for its freshness and unique treatment; is not easy to imbibe or imitate and darn expensive to procure throughout.

We order out to the edgy-chic high end mall restaurant, Aajisai this week, to rekindle a quintessential lzakaya experience inside the sanctity of our home. On second thoughts, it may not have been the best of ideas in recent times.

Aajisai, Park Circus Area, Kolkata: Food

The menu in Aajisai is snobbish and extensive. The Teppanyaki plates and sushi conveyor belt definitely call for dine in, impossible to match up in delivery, both in quality and flavours. Also be warned, you’ll get thrown off by the pricing, especially in these Covid-stricken circumstances where survival of the fittest and finest is looming at large.

We want to resort to the basic pubbing practice or the Izakaya style of eating to keep things simple and delivery friendly. It can essentially be described as an enjoyable sharing experience of a general stream of diverse small plates of snacks, often had while drinking. We pick Hourensou chips (₹ 350), Lotus root nigiri (₹ 280), Ebi ten roll (₹ 480), Chicken gyoza (₹ 600) and a Pork katsu toji don (₹ 900) for substantial support.

Plus & Minus:

The sealed kraft paper delivery bag brings in the dishes home, in plastic disposable trays, making things easier for individual serving.

First, our house favourite Horenso chips, the delicately batter drizzled Japanese arrow-shaped spinach leaves, milder and slightly sweeter than our local Indian variety, comes in a heap of deep fries with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. Next, the two pieces of the thinly sliced, overly fried lotus roots in thick batter, laid over a cluster of vinegared rice nigiri hit the palate with the zest of wasabi, pick-led ginger and soya accompaniments. The four cylinders of Ebi ten maki or tempura fried prawn sushi rolls in nori and sushi rice drapery, add crunch and bloom with a pinch of wasabi, dipped in
soya and gari, the pink pickled ginger cleansing and refreshing the palate. The steamed and pan grilled set of five, chicken gyoza or Japanese pot-stickers served with a hot chilli garlic house sauce fail to impress with flavours or texture in the chicken minced dumplings. The final disappointment hits hard with the pork katsudon; the simplicity of a donburi or bowl of rice topped with a pork katsu or cutlet simmered with onion, eggs, mushrooms in a savory broth, with spring onions and daikon topping, cannot save the dish from being a mushy mess. The best katsudon is when the katsu manages to stay crisp even after absorbing all the simmering broth. This seems like a failure in delivery and should definitely be a DIY for final assembly.