Shima Sushi: A Bainbridge Restaurant With Japanese Flavor
Visitors to Seattle who yearn to experience a ferry ride may want to combine the trip with lunch at a Bainbridge Island restaurant. Shima Sushi Bainbridge, located just off Winslow Way, provides Japanese cuisine with an emphasis on organic ingredients.
The restaurant is small to the point of feeling a bit cramped when you first enter, but hallways lead to more rooms filled with additional seating, allowing Shima to incorporate more patrons than would seem possible at an initial glance.
The low-key décor seems a little worn around the edges, but it's the wear of long and pleasant use, rather than feeling neglected or rundown.
The lunch menu, like its larger dinner counterpart, features both noodles and sushi as well as other familiar Japanese dishes. Plenty of vegetarian entrees as well as a range of meat and seafood make it easy for even picky eaters to find something they'll like. Desserts include green tea cheese cake and mochi ice cream.
An impressive tempura bar features a range of ingredients including many items not usually found cooked in tempura batter, such as beets, lotus root and geoduck, as well as the more traditional kabocha squash, shrimp, and eel. Transfat-free rice oil is used for cooking the tempura, which will please the health-conscious, who will find much to appreciate at Shima.
Shima takes its name from a region in Japan's Kyushhu Island, which is the birthplace of chef/owner Takashi Asakawa. Asakawa focuses on organic and local produce, preferring wild ingredients whenever possible.
HelloSeattle tip: Despite the similarity of names, the food at Shima Express, the quick service counter next door, doesn't live up to the quality of Shima Sushi itself.
Posted on Mar 22, 2011 by Cat Rambo
