Momiji, Seattle

1522 12th Avenue

Seattle, WA

 

Late in the summer last year, W and I headed down to Seattle to attend a baby celebration thrown by one of W's friend. It was gorgeous outside but extremely hot that weekend! The heat really tired us out so we decided to have an early dinner before retiring back to the hotel.

 

A quick search on Google maps brought us to Momiji, a Japanese restaurant that combines the stylish with the traditional, both in terms of decor and food.

We got lucky and scored a table in their beautiful Japanese-style courtyard during happy hour!

 Lychee Lemonade ($4)

On that warm evening, I started with a refreshing lychee lemonade.

Albacore Poke ($8)

We ordered exclusively off the happy hour menu so W and I sampled 5 different small plates for our meal. First came the Albacore Poke which had cubes of Albacore tuna, cucumber, and onion slivers dressed in a spicy soya sauce. I didn't expect it to be THAT spicy so W ended up finishing this bowl.

 Sushi Set B ($8) - Yellowtail, salmon, tuna, albacore tuna

Then, the 4 piece nigiri sushi set arrived. These were well prepared with the fish being fresh and rice seasoned just right. My favourite was the Albacore tuna because it is rarely available in sushi joints back home, and for $2 to boot!

 Unagi Roll ($6)

Continuing with sushi, we ordered the simple but yummy Unagi roll.  It had avocado, cucumber and a thin piece of the bbq-ed eel.

 Crispy Calamari ($6)

Another item from the happy hour menu was the deep fried calamari. It had a nice, light, crispy batter and was delish on its own, without the dipping sauce, too. The side salad helped keep things fresh and bright.

 Grilled Garlic Short Ribs ($7)

Lastly, we had the grilled beef short ribs. They were marinated in a sweet and savoury soya sauce, similar to a Korean BBQ sauce. They were tasty but W and I thought it could have been cooked a bit longer. It was also something that we could easily make on our own barbecue grill haha.... 

Nonetheless, we were very pleased with the sushi and the cooked dishes at Momiji. We loved the decor and ambiance, while the service was attentive and polite. The prices from happy hour was definitely the cherry on top though!