Sakura Japanese Restaurant
40 Pleasant St., Portsmouth, N.H.
603-431-2721
All major credit cards accepted
Handicapped accessible
Lunch: Tuesday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5-10:30 p.m.
It's not hard to find good sushi anymore. There are plenty of places for quality fresh, raw fish, and delectable Japanese dishes.
In light of the explosion of good sushi restaurants north of Boston, we sushi lovers have the right to demand more. We don't want good sushi. We expect great sushi.
In Portsmouth, Sakura has been around for more than 15 years, serving some of the best sushi in the area. The restaurant features an extensive menu of unique dishes for those interested in more than California rolls.
We visited Sakura on an icy cold night, and were pleased with the warmth of the place. Not just the heat, but also the comfort. Sakura is a cozy place for a date but also manageable for families with children. It is a little off the beaten path, located in the old Custom House on Pleasant Street. It is classy enough for a nice evening out without ostracizing those who have trouble understanding the menu or feel like wearing jeans.
Pay attention to the specials. Our favorite dish of the evening was not on the menu, but is generally featured as an appetizer each night. The tuna age ($8) was a tasty, spicy cooked dish flavored with chili sauce, vinegar, ginger, and more. It was potent and memorable.
If our stomachs had been more expandable, we also would have tried the yamakake -- tuna sashimi with Japanese yam ($6) -- or the deep-fried, marinated chicken ($5). There are about 20 appetizers to choose from.
Sakura's sushi was fresh and tasty. We actually sat at the sushi bar, and annoyed the chef with questions as he prepared our rolls. He didn't seem to mind, and willingly told us about the fish we couldn't identify in the bar's glass case.
Our favorite choice from the sushi menu was the alligator roll ($12), a hearty dish best to share, that featured shrimp tempura wrapped with freshwater eel and avocado. Next in line was the spider roll ($11), which featured soft-shell crab, avocado, and a spicy mayonnaise. Sakura also does well with classic, less complicated rolls. The unagi eel roll ($5.75) was filling and sweet, and the philli roll ($6.50) with salmon and cream cheese also was just right.
We ordered the sushi to share with a cooked entree, but the fish could have stood on its own, especially for us. For those with big appetites and focused on just sushi, we recommend trying the "sushi love" entree ($54), a large assortment of sushi that comes with miso soup and more than 30 pieces of sushi and rolls.
Our entree, the chicken negima ($16), was not what we expected, but a pleasant surprise. The dish was served in the form of small bites, which is exactly what we needed after so much sushi. The round, thick chicken pieces were stuffed with scallions and sauted in teriyaki sauce. It was an easy dish to share and poke at with chopsticks.
I was thrilled to see a dessert menu at Sakura. Oftentimes, sushi restaurants don't do dessert beyond a green tea ice cream or coconut ice cream. But here, you get a few more options. We tried the banana tempura ($3.25), which was most memorable for its whipped cream.
The fried bananas were OK, but we agreed they were not what we needed or wanted after a full sushi meal. We might have been better off with the daifuku-mochi, a rice cake with sweet red beans ($2). Or, maybe most Japanese restaurants know something I don't. Maybe after consuming pounds of sushi, one should stick to green tea ice cream or skip dessert altogether.
MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN 