✮✮✮✮✮ │Japanese │$$$│Boston

Address: 352b Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

Call:  (617) 936-3282

Dress Code: Casual

Reservation recommended

Average Price per person: $$

Ever wanted to try something new in Boston? Let’s take a trip together.

Take a ten-minute walk from Chinatown, and you will encounter a modern structure with huge glass windows and a name, inscribed in a big black block, that says “Fuji at Ink Block.” The name sounds pretty foreign, you may say, as it mentions “Fuji,” which is the name of a famous mountain in Japan. Seeing the modernness and the foreignness come across each other, your interest is greatly triggered. So you walk in, an exclamation of “Wow!” jumps out of your mouth, and you discover that it is a Japanese restaurant.

The restaurant has a simple and modern interior design style. According to the founder of the restaurant, it is designed to be “a space where modern meets Japanese aesthetics.” The green sofa and the little flame of candles presents the traditional Japanese side of the setting. The gray and black walls and furniture adds modern concepts to it. A sushi bar lies against the wall on one side. Some modern light music plays in the background, mixing a relaxing sensation into the atmosphere. After seeing all these elements as you come in, you won’t even realize that you actually are in a Japanese restaurant. However, when the food with THE smell and the dish arrangement comes, the belief of being in Japan will pop up in your mind. You will feel like you have skipped a fourteen-hour flight and have arrived in Tokyo.

In the beginning, the waiter will come and ask you about what fish you would like to have on your customized sushi appetizer. Say you ordered a salmon sushi dish. The softness of the rice and the tenderness of the salmon meat fit perfectly together. With a little dip in the sauce that the restaurant provides for you, a different feeling starts to fill your mouth; the sour taste mixing with the gentleness of the sushi will win your heart immediately.

Unagi Kabayaki and the XO seafood Udon came after. Unagi Kabayaki has grilled Japanese eel over fried egg rice; it comes with a rich taste that collides with your taste buds right away. “This is fantastic!” is all you can say about this dish. By contrast, the XO seafood Udon wasn’t as impressive as expected. It tastes ok, but lacks the kind of deliciousness that hits your soul.

One of the most recommended dishes in this restaurant is the Ishiyaki Wagyu, which is raw premium grade Wagyu beef sliced into pieces and comes with a hot stone cooker. You can heat it to whatever temperature you prefer – the quality of the meat is brilliant, as indicated by its slightly high price, so no matter what you do with it and what sauce you choose to go with, you will not regret your choice.

Finally, the highly expected Sashimi Moriawase came. It consists of 15 pieces of raw seafood; you can see at least 6 different types of fish in the basket. Once you pick up a piece of it, you will be overwhelmed with the freshness of the seafood; it feels as if you are located somewhere in Japan, near the sea. It’s just a wonderful experience that you will never be able to resist.

Finishing up the food that remains on the plates, you are coming to an end of this trip. You pay the bill, open the door, and feel the cool breeze passing through your hair, now you are back in the Boston air again, back to reality. But the taste of Japan still lingers in your mouth – you can’t stop thinking about what you have just luxuriated in.

Our order:

Sashimi Moriawase – Regular* $36

15 pieces of sashimi (Chef’s choice of fresh raw fish only)

Tamago $5

Sweetened egg

Unagi Kabayaki $24

Grilled Japanese eel drizzled in sweet and savory teriyaki sauce over tobiko and egg fried rice served in a sizzling buttered clay pot, topped with nori, premium tobiko, and avocado slices

XO Seafood Udon $23

Shrimp, scallop, squid, peppers, onion, and tender Udon noodles

wok tossed in house XO sauce

Ishiyaki Wagyu* $40

Disassembled Japanese hot stone cooking of premium grade Wagyu beef sliced and

served with ginger, scallion, and your choice of ponzu sauce or teriyaki sauce

+Free appetizer of your choice (Sushi)

http://www.fujiatinkblock.com