1. The first step on the way to sushi adventure is the choice of the best sushi restaurant. This is especially important for a beginner. A poorly prepared fish can ruin your first experience and discourage the desire to try sushi again, especially if you are not a special seafood lover. You can experiment more with where you eat when you have some positive experience with sushi, but when you start, choose a reliable start. If you are not sure if the restaurant is good enough, ask your friends or read the reviews. If you are going to try sushi in Yerevan for the first time, then you can safely stop your choice at the sushi restaurant Ako Sushi.

2. Get acquainted with the main types of sushi. In most sushi restaurants you can order sashimi, nigiri, maki and temaki.

•    Maki Sushi is also called "sushi rolls". Typically, maki sushi includes one or two types of fish and vegetables, swirled with rice in a sheet of algae and cut into pieces the size of one bite. This is usually the best choice for people who at first can be squeamish about using raw fish.

How to eat sushi-maki? Pour into the saucer only a small amount of soy sauce: if necessary, you can always add it later. A large amount of soy sauce is taboo in serious Japanese lunch etiquette. In addition, if you pour the sauce in large quantities, then perhaps you suspect that the fish is old and needs some "adjustment" before you try it.

•    Nigiri is a piece of raw fish over rice in oval form. Nigiri, as a rule, is lightly flavoured with a small amount of wasabi and soy sauce before they come to your table. The ritual of eating sushi is quite specific. First, you need to use your chopsticks to turn Nigiri on a plate on your side. Then you need to take and soak the side with the fish in soy sauce, leaving the side of the rice dry. Voilà! All is ready! After you have bitten off a piece of Nigiri, bite off a small piece of ginger to refresh the taste of the land before the second round.

•    Sashimi is a piece of raw fish cooked on a plate without rice. In general, eating sashimi has the easiest way, but it may not be suitable for a beginner. Many people agree that while eating sashimi you should add wasabi to soy sauce, then dip Sashimi into the finished mixture. Nevertheless, at first, it is recommended to dip Sashimi into soy sauce and only then add wasabi to the middle of the fish. Then you need to raise Sashimi with the help of chopsticks and allow the surplus soy sauce to drain on the saucer.

•    Temaki sushi type is very similar to Maki sushi, but the difference is that the ingredients roll into the shape of a cone, which you hold and bite as if eating tacos. When holding Temaki in your hand, never put it back on the plate and do not eat it with chopsticks. Dip into the soy sauce top of the Temaki with rice and ingredients or pour the soy sauce on top of the temaki so that the sauce does not stack off its top.

This is all you need to know as a beginner before you try yourself in the new role of sushi guru! 

Also stay in touch and very soon you will learn about the culture of eating sushi and about the rules of etiquette in sushi bars.

Bon Appetit!

Ako Sushi, 11.09.2018