21 October 2010

Foco Lychee Drink & Woktastic Veggie Sushi [by @NLi10] (Birmingham Uni Canteen)




It's finally back to school time for us lazy (part-time) Post Graduate students so I'm exposed to lots of new foods to confuse and confound the taste-buds. Last student year I got quite into the little sushi boxes from the Spar which were less likely to cause the post-lunch snoozies that I tend to suffer. As the canteen has been redone (and Spar had a massive queue) I decided to look at the hot foot on offer in the new sections and instead picked up some of their pre-packaged offerings.

The sushi box is a £3.99 size which isn't bad for what you get, but is more expensive than the other one I used to have as it has more items. The fare is mostly rice based with pepper, cucumber and other veg inserted, the only unusual things being the egg-topped rice one and the one that is in some kind of batter. As you can tell I'm a sushi fan but not one who knows the technical terms for any of the things. I know of the existence of a California Roll but have no idea what that is - it may be the small ones on the right.

It’s a nice meal really, and while it has none of the zing of the Woktastic live Sushi-go-round experience on offer in Birmingham city centre the flavours are good and you get two soy sauce fish, a wasabi paste, and the ginger to round it off.

I was expecting the Lychee drink to be a little sweeter in line with the Rubicon juice, but this was much more similar to the fruit itself having understated tones and being really refreshing. This made the meal a very light and fragrant affair with only the occasional tang of wasabi and soy standing out.

While it was a good meal I don't think that £5 every-day for lunch is a good idea, but as a once weekly treat it's a good go-to choice if it's available.
by @NLi10

2 comments:

Ciaran Murphy said...

Hi there, I like your blog.

Just thought I'd fill you in on the sushi: the little ones on the right aren't california rolls, they are called hosomaki. California rolls look a bit like the ones on the bottom left, but they have crab sticks in them.
The egg one is called tamago. You might remember those little virtual pets from the 90s called Tamagotchis, that's where they got the name (tamago is japanese for egg.) Tamago sushi is notoriously bad in boxes like this and is best avoided, it doesn't keep very well in a fridge and is best enjoyed fresh from a quality sushi restaurant where it's a totally different experience.
As for the piece in batter, the correct name for it escapes me but I can tell you that it is a piece of tofu.

Hope that helps!

Take care.

cinabar said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to go through all the sushi descriptions, it is really appreciated.

So glad you are enjoying the blog too. :-)