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Sakura House in East Quogue brings local diners back time after time for sushi with fresh ingredients and a relaxed, family friendly setting.
According to Yulan Tang, daughter of the restaurant’s owner and sushi chef, Ken Tang, Sakura House’s Japanese cuisine beckons repeat patrons from as far away as East Moriches.
“Our customers say our sushi rice is the best,” Ms. Tang said in a recent interview at the restaurant.
The key is good temperature control and adding just the right amount of lemon vinegar to the rice to give it a unique taste. The Tangs make the rice and cook the vegetables daily for the freshest possible food.
Claiming that the Sakura House sushi rolls are “twice as big as other restaurants’,” Ms. Tang and her father both said that Sakura House is a great place for families, because of the moderate prices and the stress-free dining experience offered there.
Mr. Tang never imagined he’d have a career as a sushi chef. When he was a young man going to college in Tokyo he needed a job on the side to pay for school, and so he learned to make sushi. His subsequent successful career in the trade was neither planned nor expected, but 13 years after Sakura House opened, the restaurant is still buzzing with customers.
Appetizers at Sakura House range from $4.25 to $7.50 and include vegetable tempura—an array of batter fried vegetables with tempura sauce; gyoza, or Japanese dumplings, fried or steamed; ika maru, grilled squid with teriyaki sauce; and negimayaki, or thinly sliced beef rolled around a scallion.
The only soup offered is miso with tofu, seaweed and scallions. Mr. Tang said that the soup is very popular and customers always comment on its quality.
Salads offered include, among others, a green salad with ginger dressing and mixed vegetables; seaweed salad with sesame flavored dressing, and a seafood salad. Prices range from $2 to $5.50.
Entrées include tempura, teriyaki and sushi options with rice, soup and salad with the meal. Tempura selections range from $9.95 to $14.50 and include vegetable, shrimp, chicken, squid and fluke.
Teriyaki ranges from $11.50 to $12.90 and includes beef, chicken, salmon, shrimp, seafood and pork. Also, beef negimayaki is available as an entrée.
The sushi bar includes 13 options of entrée-size portions of sushi. The most popular option is the sushi and sashimi combination for $19.90, Mr. Tang said. It consists of one piece of tekka (tuna), yellowtail, salmon, fluke, shrimp and tuna sushi and three pieces of tuna, salmon, fluke and octopus sashimi.
Other options include the sushi deluxe for $14.90 with an assortment of pieces; the maki combination for $10.95 with one California roll, one tekka roll and one salmon roll; and “the love boat” for $28.50, a sushi combination platter for two.
At Sakura House there are 29 options for sushi rolls served in the traditional form and cut into six pieces or served inside out and cut into eight pieces. The Sakura House Roll for $7.50 is the restaurant’s signature dish and is made with tuna, yellowtail, fresh salmon, avocado, scallion, asparagus and caviar, rolled inside out.
The mix tuna roll for $4.95, made with tuna, asparagus and caviar, rolled inside out, is another customer favorite at the restaurant. Other popular choices include the American dream roll for $6.50, with shrimp tempura, caviar, avocado, cucumber and egg; and the kappa maki, or cucumber roll, for $3.
Sashimi is also served a la carte for $1.25 to $2.75 per piece, including tuna, fresh salmon, scallop, octopus, striped bass and more.
Lunch specials are featured on the board daily and Ms. Tang said that a number of noodle specials will be added to the menu in winter.
In addition to lunch and dinner options, Sakura House offers catering for all occasions. Patrons can bring in their own large platter and Mr. Tang will artfully arrange sushi and sashimi on it. The catering menu features 10 choices that range from $25, including six rolls, to $48 for 40 pieces.
540 Montauk Highway, East Quogue, NY; 653-9382
Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
No credit cards accepted
Reservations suggested on weekends
Handicapped accessible
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