The flavors of the land of the rising sun

THERE’S this cozy nook in the lobby of Radisson Blu Cebu that’s devoted to everything Japanese in terms of food and drinks, with 15 different kinds of sake (alcohol content ranging from eight to 15 percent) and two kinds of Japanese beer. Everything? Well, not quite really, because it has also a wine list that is not Japanese. But everything else is really Japanese, thanks to its chef, Jefferson “Jeff” Yalung who has devoted the past 10 years of his life learning how to prepare Japanese food.

Chef Jeff, from Nueva Vizcaya, is an IT graduate who went to Manila looking for work and found it in Karate Kid—not as an IT employee but as a cook. He worked there for a year and went abroad to the United Arab Emirates where he chose to work in Japanese restaurants. In the various Japanese restos he worked at, he made sure he would learn more about Japanese cuisine and spent most of his free time with Japanese chefs, seeing how they worked. It was there that he learned how to fillet fish, how to prepare the sauces and marinades, and, in general, how to prepare Japanese food which one can now savor at Radisson Blu’s Sushisake.

Sushi is vinegared rice combined with various ingredients like raw fish, vegetables, meats and even fruits. Chef Jeff knows how to make more than 200 kinds of sushi of which he has more than 53 original ones, some of which he cannot do in Cebu because the type of fish is not available here. At Sushisake, his must-try signature dishes are Dynamite Roll (which seems to be most everybody’s favorite), Dragon Roll, Surf and Turf Roll, and a special California Roll. Chef Jeff can also make any other sushi one wishes to have that is not on the menu. He adds that most of his sushi recipes are slightly spicy and sweet.

Sushisake also offers sashimi—salmon, tuna, octopus and grouper. And for the VIPs, it prepares a special Sushisake VIP set beautifully composed of salmon, tuna and grouper sashimi on a bed of daikon radish placed under a ring of ice, plus nigiri (a type of sushi which is raw fish on vinegared rice) of salmon, grouper and tuna, plus a spicy salmon roll.

Aside from sushi and sashimi, one can have a whole Japanese meal starting with salad and soups, and all the way to dessert, with Japanese tea on the side. For soup one can have miso or clam and for salads, there is a choice of daikon, kaiso or kani. Dessert is somehow westernized but with a distinctive Japanese flavor: Yuzu Tart with Sake Meringue and Green Tea Ice Cream, Sesame Seed Panna Cotta and Coconut Ice Cream, Mocha Ice Cream with Fresh Mango and fresh cut fruits.

Sushisake is open only from 6 to 11 p.m. Chef Jeff starts preparing for the evening at around three in the afternoon and if there’s someone around 4 p.m. who wants to dine there at that time, he can sometimes accommodate. The place, in one corner of Radisson’s lobby beside its bar, is small and can accommodate only 21 persons. There’s a communal table good for 12 (communal meaning there could be separate groups of one, two, three or more sharing one table), five seats by the counter and four low tables.

To dine at Sushisake is to savor not just Japanese cuisine but also to experience the Japanese sensibility and sense of beauty.