Picture the scene. A Saturday morning lie-in followed by a trip in to town to do a little shopping. It’s a cool but sunny day and you arrive just about in time for a spot of lunch. Nobody wants to shop on an empty stomach, right? There are so many places to eat in Cambridge that we are often spoilt for choice, and we have a tendency to revisit old favourites. Luckily there are always new places springing up and the one we happened to pass was one that we had been promising to visit since it opened last year.
Sticks n Sushi is a successful restaurant group from Denmark offering a range of Japanese style cuisine including sushi, yakitori sticks form the grill, tempura, salads & miso, and billing itself (according to the messages on the staff shirts) as a sushi restaurant for those who don’t like fish.
I am normally not overly keen on any restaurant whose menu includes pictures of each dish, but unlike the seaside greasy-spoon establishments normally typical of the genre, this menu is beautifully photographed and presented. This was not just a menu, it was food porn! I am assuming that I was not the first customer to sit just enjoying an extended period of flicking through the menu as the server was happy to set us up with some spicy miso whilst we tried to decide what else to order. A word to the wise though. Those in the know drink the delicious soup straight from the bowl – they do look at you a little odd when you ask for a spoon!
For the rest of our lunch we ordered the Ebi Bites (left foreground – tempura shrimp, miso aioli, chilli, lime & coriander), the Kani Korokke (crab croquettes with wasabi Caesar – top right) and a dainty little platter called Man Food (middle). The Man Food Platter is a section of sticks – pork belly, chicken meatballs, emmental wrapped with bacon, chicken with chilli and teriyaki and panko duck breast, served with spare ribs, edamame and a serving of rice. It all came out looking beautiful (just like in the menu) and it tasted better than it looked. Obviously I had to rely on my cow-juice tasting specialist when it came to the cheese, but I was assured that this also passed muster. This is a place which caters for all tastes offering a number of vegetarian menu items with vegan options also available, so no need for anyone to miss out.
This was a good sized lunch for two, and whilst it wasn’t what you might call cheap eats, it was a real treat for a sunny Saturday lunchtime. The staff were friendly, attentive and efficient and I think we will definitely be returning in the near future. There are so many more pretty pictures to try. Luckily as with any specialist photographic material, it is also possible to view it on the internet!
Short but sweet – until next time!
MC
Flying Spatula 