bear in the city day 1: a mushage of flavors - Fusia

Betty and I hit up the Big Apple for the All Points West music festival and to visit my dear cousin. We had a direct flight from Columbus to LaGuardia and took a bus into the city to meet him. We were starving when we arrived so we decided to check out a Thai spot called Fusia. The place was contemporary and nice on the inside but our attention was directed to reviewing all the wonderful menu items. We decided to split the chicken sate and I ordered the shrimp wanton soup and Volcano roll for my meal.


small but colorful picture of the chicken sate



bad picture of extremely tasty shrimp wanton soup


beautiful Volcano roll: shrimp tempura & cucumber topped with spicy tuna and red tobiko aka flying fish roe

The shrimp wanton soup was incredible. Great broth, plenty of free floating shrimp and 3 shrimp wantons at the bottom of the cup. This was a promising start to the meal.

The chicken sate was plated beautifully and got me geeked about my main course the Volcano roll. The chicken was seasoned enough to be tasty on its own and the peanut sauce took the taste to the next level.

When the Volcano roll arrived -- it's beautiful plating got me that even more amped to devour the whole plate. I quickly got my wasabi and soy sauce mixture together and took my first bite. I took my time chewing the roll and scrutinizing the taste. The mixture of textures was great - you have crunchy shrimp tempura, crispy cucumber, soft tuna, and juicy roe...but the flavors were underwhelming. The tuna had no character -- it tasted like it was mixed with something else that created a tuna pulp of sorts that really took away from the distinct taste I normally expect and love from tuna. Rather than a marriage of flavors from the shrimp tempura and tuna it was a mushage of blandness. It took some work to finish the rest of the meal but Betty and I still had a great time catching up with my cousin and enjoying the fact that we were in NYC. Fusia was fun to try and I really enjoyed the shrimp wanton soup. Their sushi unfortunately was weak sauce -- especially for an item that was the chef's special. The experience there made me appreciate my favorite Columbus sushi joint - Akai Hana even more. Fusia did have me wondering what NYC restaurant has the best sushi -- I'd settle for better sushi then Fusia. Any suggestions for when Betty and I are there next?