Porter Square Exchange Mall
Masa’s in Porter Square Exchange Mall serves some really awful sushi
Being the kind-of-poor college student I am, I’m a huge fan of cheap food. Really cheap food. Under ten dollars for dinner, say.
But I am not a fan of really crappy food. Especially not bad sushi. It makes the sushi-lover inside of me cry. My only consolation was that my non-sushi-eating-friend thought it was reasonable, and was not turned off of the concept of sushi altogether. If only he knew the true joys of unagi!
The sushi in question was found at Masa’s Sushi Bar in Porter Square Exchange Mall, replacing the old Kotobukiya Sushi Bar. There used to be a Kotobukiya grocery store here as well, but they were driven out by the university demons that be to make room for a Lesley bookstore.
I think this incident points to the questionable judgments of Yelpers at times. They didn’t mention that the shrimp on my scorpion roll ($7.50) would be like a stringy strip of limp cardboard. Or that the unagi nigiri (eel), normally a no-fail mouthful of melty deliciousness, wouldn’t be heated through, flavorful, or cut from a particularly unchoice part of the fish. Well, it was only $1.50 per piece.
At least it didn’t cost me very much.
Scorpion Roll at Masa's Sushi Bar
Eel nigiri at Masa's
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Find it!
1815 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
Joys of Japanese Food – Cream & Azuki Buns, Unagi Nigiri, Salmon Terayaki, Spicy Eel Roll
Porter Square Exchange Mall is a veritable heaven of cheap Japanese food, with everything from that strangely sweet, addictive Japanese curry, octopus dumplings (takoyaki), giant bowls of ramen, and of course, sushi. My friend David, a fan of Japanese food, had never been here, so I knew it was ripe time to introduce him to all that is delicious in Porter Square.
Spicy eel roll
Salmon teriyaki - the vegetables were pretty atrocious
He insisted on Blue Fin, the classiest establishment here. (I wrote an entry on my visit back in February.) He had salmon terayaki and unagi nigiri and I had spicy eel roll along with two of the nigiri (delicious). I had a bite of his salmon (excellent), although I found the spicy eel roll tasty but not too remarkable.
UNAAGIIII
The unagi was where it was at. As I wrote on 3 Buck Bites:
Glistening, wrapped in a belt of seaweed, lying seductively on a snowy white bed of sushi rice. Then pop one in your mouth and ahhhh, heaven! Cherubs! Harajuku girls! So reliable. Blue Fin’s unagi come generously portioned and warm, so make sure to eat them quickly for maximum pleasure. (Not like that’s a real challenge.)
Afterwards, I couldn’t resist the siren call of dessert: a cream and azuki stuffed bun.
Cream and azuki bun
action shot
David struggles with the awesome feat
