We made another trip to the suburbs, this time to New Jersey, for a visit to Megu Sushi, 300 Young Ave. in Moorestown — and further proved our theory that ethnic cuisine in slick suburban shopping centers can give similar downtown restaurants a serious run for their money.
The Moorestown restaurant is one of three Megu locations in New Jersey and, judging from the food, there could easily be another two or three locations in its future. This location has calming and minimalist décor that lends itself well to the theme of the restaurant. Megu Sushi strikes a nice balance between americanized Japanese dishes and the more visually complex dishes for adventurous diners. For mainstream tastes, the hibachi chicken ($16) is a solid dish of seasoned chicken, rice and fresh grilled vegetables. The Japanese wonton soup is amazingly good ($6), brimming with crunchy vegetables and exceptional dumplings with a meaty filling that is hand-chopped and hearty, instead of the finely minced stuffing that is more commonplace.
Those dishes are great for introducing your average diner to the restaurant. Yet it was the more aggressive dishes that lit a fire under our palettes … literally. But in a good way.
These dishes had more advanced presentation and flavor combinations. The live-scallop sashimi ($MP) was visually dazzling with a slow-building spicy flavor. It was like Poseidon himself sent us an elegant piece of the sea for our dining pleasure.
Equally spicy and texturally complex was the tuna tartare ($11.95), which has a potent kick and the added wow factor of toasted seaweed to make things interesting. The spicy squid ($8.95) was pleasantly tender in a kimchi sauce that lingers long and hot on the tongue.
On the sushi menu, the Godzilla roll is aptly named. Most sushi restaurants have a Godzilla roll on their menu and interpretations vary. Megu’s version ($9.95) is the most decadent version we’ve experienced. The crispy roll was drizzled with spicy and sweet sauces and topped with two different kinds of caviar. It might seem like overkill, but it’s a very tasty slab of a sushi roll.
Dessert came in the form of tempura-fried ice cream ($6), whose creamy, crunchy-glazed goodness was a nice way to end a sushi feast.
Even though it’s located way out in the suburbs, Megu Sushi isn’t too far east for an excellent taste of the Far East.