Hubbs and I stopped in for a quick bite at Mandala Iki over the weekend, attracted by the "Brown Rice Sushi" sign hanging outside the shop. We've not seen any other restaurant that offers this, so we were pretty psyched at the prospect of having healthy sushi (and not having to forego the rice).
When we arrived, I was struck by the bareness of the place. A sushi station at the back of the restaurant, with a kitchen tucked away behind said station. A flat screen TV on the wall, playing TSN. Booths lining both sides of the wall, and tables set up in a linear pattern in the middle of the room. A loaded bar (and till) at the front of the boxy restaurant, on one side. Everything was sort of simply laid out, and completely unpretentious. It felt efficient (must be Chinese owned, I reason).
Anyway, when we got our menus, I was struck again - this time by the affordable prices. I could hardly believe my eyes: rolls for only $7 - 9?!? I'm used to the outrageous Kamei Royale roll prices...you know, $14/roll. This was a pleasant surprise, but of course my skepticism kicked in and I wondered how good the food would be. The fact that the restaurant serves very traditional Chinese fare (congee, fried rice noodles) along with sushi was enough to make me a bit wary.
Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. We ordered 4 rolls (Crispy Lobster, Crispy Mango, Negitoro, Kits Rolls) and 2 pieces of toro nigiri, all with brown rice. When the rolls came out, I almost died of delight. They were sizeable pieces, fresh, tasty, and not greasy. When I read "crispy" I was expecting a bit of tempura overload, but they totally redefined crispy for me. I think they used sesame seeds or something, because all of the rolls (including the ones with a tempura shrimp inside) were not the least bit greasy. I particularly loved the Mango roll (a specialty) because the juicy sweet mango flavour was very prominently featured. The rolls each had its own distinct flavour, and the brown rice was sufficiently moist as to not seem like I was eating brown rice. The toro nigiri was fresh too, and a good sized piece of toro was offered; the fish wasn't as melt-in-your-mouth as some other specialty sushi restaurants, but for $1.75/piece I was willing to "settle" for this delicious giant hunk of tuna belly.
The best part (aside from the speed of service, due to a lack of patrons at 4:00 in the mid-afternoon) was the bill...a whopping $32! That was it!! Hubbs and I even had tea ($0.75/cup, not the best deal ever) and we rolled outta there with full bellies and not-so-empty wallets.
Will we be back? Hell yes! Probably on a semi-weekly basis, too. Next time I might also want to check out their "Chinois" food, since I have a serious hankerin' for some sweet & sour pork (also on their menu). Hubbs already has his eye on some of the other rolls, and of course he loves that Lobster Roll so he'll be back for it, probably even this week! ;)
Service: 3.5 out of 5
Food: 4.5 out of 5
Update
Hubbs & I came back here a few days ago, and I tried their ginger beef. It was, no word of a lie, the best ginger beef I've ever had. They used slices of tender beef instead of sticks of dry over-fried beef, and instead of deep-frying with a ton of batter, they used a light batter (I'm guessing made with cornstarch) and so the beef was crispy yet still soft enough to chew. The sauce had a good gingery kick to it, leaving my mouth on fire for a bit afterwards. Hubbs loved it too, and we ended up devouring the entire dish before our rolls even arrived. Next time I might try their sweet & sour pork. Even thinking about their food now is making me drool...yum.
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