Mogu Sushi

Mogu Sushi
13322 39th Ave
Flushing, NY 11354
$$
Menu

Sushi and Japanese restaurants are not exactly common in Flushing so I can see why Mogu Sushi is one of the most raved about sushi places in the area. This small and modest sushi joint is far from the bustling Main St. and Roosevelt Ave which kind of explains why this place is not the first option in lunch plans.

It’s important to note that their bathroom is next door to the left of the restaurant. So access requires exiting and going up the stairs next door.

After dining here, I feel that Mogu is similar to the typical Chinese owned sushi restaurant. That means you can expect a lot of crazy-named sushi rolls and combo meals.

I do like that they have comfortable chairs both at the bar and tables. However seating is limited since it is a small restaurant.

Wasabi Cracker

If you ever tried those wasabi crackers from Asian supermarkets, then this is just that. These are crunchy seaweed cracker chips with a bit of wasabi in between. The dish ($6.99) consists of 3 pieces of said crackers topped with a fried ball of spicy tuna and various types of tobiko on top. Flavor-wise its nothing special.

Note: Tobiko is flying fish eggs and the different colors are based on what ingredient it was used to dye them. Red is the original color, squid ink makes them black, a certain citrus fruit (yuzu) makes them yellow, and wasabi makes them green.

Mogu Pizza

The Mogu Pizza ($8.99) resembles more like a scallion pancake and even tastes like one. It’s filled with real crab meat however so that makes it quite tasty.

Hamachi Kama

One of the best parts of the fish is the collar. The Hamachi Kama ($9.99) is a grilled yellowtail collar. There is plenty of meat but challenging at times to scrape it off the bones. Personally I prefer the more flavorful collars of salmon.

Aegean’s Roll

This pink unorthodox sushi roll is the Aegean’s Roll ($11.99). Inside there is tuna, salmon, shrimp tempura, and avocado. If you want to taste fish, this is not for you. Way too much going on.

Osaka Duck Roll

Their most popular appetizer might be the Osaka Duck Roll ($8.99). The duck roll tasted like roast duck and I would say its the best of the dishes we ordered. However, there is not much meat and is filled with lettuce.

The quality of Mogu Sushi is a step above those fusion sushi restaurants but its not an authentic Japanese restaurant. I can see there is effort put in preparing the food as each dish is plated beautifully. However, each dish is on the pricier side for the amount  you get. 

 

Nori Nori – Closed (Now Spring Shabu Shabu Buffet)

Nori Nori
136-20 38th Ave 2nd Fl
Flushing, NY 11354
$$$

Lunch
Monday–Friday: $17.95
Saturday, Sunday & Holidays: $19.95

Dinner
Monday–Thursday: $29.95
Friday – Sunday & Holidays: $31.95

Being one of the first Japanese Buffets in Flushing, Nori Nori received a lot of hype at start-up. Now that a few years has passed since that grand opening, this buffet has shown to serve just average food at prices that are high for Flushing’s standards.

There is a limited selection of sashimi but an acceptible amount of rolls and nigiri. Expectantly, they lack flavor and occasionally you even get uni but these seemed discolored and lack the sweet oceany taste of sea urchin.

The weakest food type of the buffet are their hot dishes. On paper it sounds good (cod, short ribs, steamed clams, mussels, fried shrimp, stir fried flower crabs, crab cakes), but they are all over cooked. Any fish was cooked to the point of dryness, the crab was fried until the meat became strands of crab jerky, and the crab cakes was made with only shrimp and imitation crab.

The snow crabs are very salty as if they were boiled in a salt water bath. The raw shellfish were decent but gorging on buffet oysters and clams is a risky move.

I do like Nori Nori’s raw bar serving procedure. It is the first buffet that I saw that the cold seafood (snow crabs, raw oysters and clams) were not self-served. Instead, the shuckler serves only a couple of each to you at a time. This is vital in the Flushing buffet scene as people usually hoards all the seafood for themselves. This method at least help makes sure there’s enough for everyone. However, if you are going with a large group, you are going to get a lot of seafood between your party (with more to spare) anyways.