Perhaps my biggest surprise at Sakura Mandarin, though, was the sushi. Ever wary of the multithemed Asia-plex, especially when it dabbles in the specialized field of sushi, I'd sooner eat chicken's feet and duck tongues than raw fish in Chinatown.
But the vivid-colored platters and fanciful rolls coming from sushi chef Edison Wang's glass case were impossible not to notice. Wang is a recent arrival from Manhattan's Sushi Samba, and his "French-style" maki rolls often incorporate fruit, pastel-colored soy wrappers, and large plates artfully painted with sauce.
As I nibbled my way through a series of his signature creations, I found them to be as tasty as they were gorgeous. The Angry Dragon brought spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, and papaya inside a roll topped with miso-sweetened crab salad. The Monster Roll tucked cucumber and shrimp tempura beneath slices of spice-dabbed tuna flanked by two dips - a honeyed green wasabi mayonnaise, and an earthy red momiji spice.
My favorite, though, was Wang's latest version of the Sakura, a teardrop-shaped roll clad in pink soy paper and pinwheeled atop a sauce-scribed "stem" like the petals of a flower (Sakura is "cherry blossom" in Japanese). Stuffed with spicy salmon, mango, and avocado, it also harbored the surprise of shredded dried pork, a sweet and chewy ingredient that tastes something like pork-flavored cotton candy.
It was a bit odd, perhaps, and Wang has since replaced it with crunchy onions. But as I savored this curiously tasty example of Chinatown-Japanese-French fusion, I couldn't help but be intrigued. My little friend with the duck kazoo was still giddily quacking at me one table over. But this was one plate - and one Chinatown newcomer - that I don't plan to back away from anytime soon.
Next Sunday, Craig LaBan goes in search of hardshells in Chesapeake Bay crab country. Contact him at 215-854-2682 or claban@phillynews.com.
