Sushi Sensation
Sept 2011

Capital Style

By Shelley Mann

Bexley has to have one of the most charming downtown strips in Central Ohio. It’s that perfect blend of old and new—the historic Drexel movie theater and a Graeter’s housed in an old drugstore sit next to modern art galleries and a sparkly Jeni’s.

And Moshi Sushi is the neighborhood’s new crown jewel, occupying the Bexley Gateway development’s highest-profile spot. The wedge-shaped little restaurant is cozy but chic, with white tablecloths and a pressed-tin ceiling. A narrow patio offers seating overlooking bustling Main Street. It’s open for lunch and dinner on weekdays and dinner on weekends.

The chefs work their magic behind an expansive sushi bar filled with all sorts of gorgeous, gem-hued raw fish, and bartenders create specialty cocktails from behind a tiny actual bar with a couple of stools.

A starters menu is filled with winning options, like the colorful green-and-red Seaweed Special ($3.95), a small duo of emerald green seaweed strands and wasabi-spiked crab salad. The Asari Miso Soup ($4.50) is a nice take on the traditional Asian appetizer, brimming with Manila clams, spinach and scallions.

But the most interesting and delicious of the starters is the ingenious Sushi Panini ($8.95)—the sandwich version of a sushi roll. The crunchy “bread” is actually rice patties encrusted with crushed walnuts and panko, then filled with avocado and your choice of spicy tuna, crab or salmon.

The sushi roll list is a little on the quirky side, with Americanized combos like the O-H-I-O ($10.75) filled with deep-fried avocado, cream cheese and sweet potato, the mozzarella-topped Italianese ($12.95) and the Banana Roll ($7.95), made with cream cheese and avocado.

Skip the pricey Moshi Roll (an $18.95 king crab-based roll topped with seared kobe beef), but definitely try the Hurricane Roll ($16.95), a pretty cucumber-wrapped concoction of whitefish, tuna, crab, salmon, seaweed salad, avocado and tobiko dabbed with a spicy mayo sauce.

Moshi has a long list of wines, sakes and Japanese beers, plus fruity cocktail creations (all $9)—including several made with Ozeki sake. Try the Rising Sun (sake mixed with orange juice and grenadine) or the Tokyo Rose (Belvedere vodka paired with Ozeki and Midori melon liqueur).

The Mango Mousse ($4.95) is a surprisingly delightful dessert. The sweet slice has a consistency that’s halfway between cheesecake and ice cream, with just the right amount of sweet mango kick. Topped with whipped cream and fresh berries, it’s a very refreshing end to a very refreshing meal.

Kitchen on a roll with fusion cuisine
May 12, 2011

Dispatch.com

By Jon Christensen

In a little more than a year, Moshi Sushi Bar has become an anchor of the Bexley Gateway development.

The sushi-centric menu continues to evolve an unusual vision of Asian fusion cuisine.

The sushi panini ($8.95) is a creative adaptation of the panini shtick. Instead of a couple of slices of bread or a wrap, two square patties of sushi rice are encrusted with ground walnuts. After being flash-fried, the crisp patties sandwich a choice of tuna, crab or fresh salmon.

The ingenious twist, served with a sweet soy dipping sauce, should appeal to those who have doubts about raw sushi and want a little cooking.

The fish also receives a bit of cooking with the redoubtable "scarlet craze" sushi roll ($17.95). The interior includes avocado, toro (a fatty tuna) and green onions. The ingredients are wrapped in a thin coating of sushi rice.

The roll is wrapped with white tuna and regular tuna - both pounded thin - and given a pass under a broiler, searing its top and adding a grilled flavor.

Served over a thin bed of ponzu hot sauce, the dish features a lot of seafood and not much rice - which explains the price.

The vegetable sushi roll continues to be one of the best in town, with bright flavors from the wider-than-average assortment of vegetables, including burdock root, oshinko, kanpyo, cucumber and avocado.

In keeping with the eclectic nature of the menu (which includes a Korean dish), pad thai ($11.95 with a choice of shrimp, chicken, beef or vegetable) is available. It's well-prepared, with plenty of fried egg and a noticeable chili pungency in the sweet sauce. The shrimp version uses fresh-tasting tail-on seafood.

Midwest Sushi for the Common Man
Top 5 Best Local Japanese Restaurants in Columbus, OH
September 14, 2010

AssociatedContent.com

By Isaiah

The photo you see in the image library is, quite possibly, the richest bowl of miso soup I've ever experienced. Moshi Sushi Bar is expensive and there is a bit of a wait for your food. On another day any of the preceding restaurants would have pushed Moshi to the number two spot, but every morsel of food I ate was so incredible. A sweet potato roll shouldn't work. They can be too sweet, the consistency should force the roll to fall apart if it sits too long. Moshi makes generic rolls taste five star. This is what's most important about going to any restaurant. No one wants to eat something that they feel they could make themselves.

Price comes into play when talking quality versus quantity. The rumors are true, the large rolls, are larger elsewhere [Haiku and Diaspora come to mind], and if you are paying for yourself and another, four rolls and two dishes could set you back $50 to $60 easy. However, Moshi combines great food with great ambiance. The music is always chill and you don't have to talk over it to whisper to your sushi eating partner. The ambiance didn't scream family, but it did scream special.

Moshi Sushi Bar is for special occasions and days when a burger or pasta just won't do. Places like these are rare in Columbus and a working stiff, like myself, values the great staff and service.

Best New Restaurants 2009
Amid the grim news about restaurants in 2009, we found green shoots of hope: the debuts of seven places that do it right, including one—Third & Hollywood—that does it better than the rest. May 6, 2010

Columbus Monthly

By John Champlin and John Marshall

Moshi Sushi Bar
2152 E. Main St., Bexley -- 732-0641

Bexley needs more good restaurants, and this place helps fill in the gaps. Besides sushi, the menu offers other Japanese food, Korean items and pan-Asian goodies. All of them are well-executed and tasty. You can’t go wrong with the sushi or the many kinds of creatively named rolls. But our favorite items include a roasted cod glazed with sweet miso, the fatty tuna tartare garnished with caviar and the seafood salad (sparkling fresh shrimp, octopus and fish in a lemony dressing on a bed of crisp green seaweed). Soba noodles in a stout broth are delicious and the short ribs rich and tasty. We really like the setting, especially because of the big windows facing west that let in the sun.

Moshi Sushi Bar, one of the top 5 Best Sushi Restaurants in Columbus, Ohio
April 22, 2010

By Brandi Macon

If you ever wanted to know the 5 best sushi restaurants in Columbus, Ohio, here’s your chance. These restaurants are hidden jewels in this terrific town of friendly folk. If you haven’t been to Columbus yet, consider going there on your next vacation. You might be surprised at what you find.

Moshi is one of the best sushi restaurants is this quaint little sushi bar on Main Street. It’s not bad on the wallet or the pallet. The ambiance is pretty cool and makes you feel comfortable as you eat. 2152 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH 43209. (614) 732-0641

Moshi Sushi Bar on abc 6
August 19, 2009

Click here to view video

Get Served: Moshi Sushi

By Stephanie Laird

Moshi Sushi Bar specializes in creating contemporary Japanese cuisine with traditional techniques. This chic, modern establishment is located on the corner of Main and Parkview along the Bexley Gateway.

In addition to an extensive sushi selection, Moshi has a full menu of Japanese-inspired dishes. All in all, it's an enjoyable place to have a refreshingly light meal and/or a few drinks in a casual and contemporary atmosphere.

Food

The sushi selection here is superb, featuring several traditional nigiri and sashimi moshi varieties, standard rolls and numerous house specialty rolls.

Along with your menu, diners receive a checklist of offerings from the sushi bar, so you can mark off what kind of rolls you want. Some of the standard rolls include: California, dragon, caterpillar, tuna, rainbow and spicy scallop (ranging in price from $3.50 to $10.50).

Descriptions of the specialty rolls are included on the back of the sushi check list and include the O-H-I-O roll (avocado, cream cheese, asparagus, sweet potato deep-fried in walnut panko in sweet miso sauce), the Bexley roll (cream cheese, smoked salmon, avocado, kayawari, spinach rolled in tempura batter) and the Italenese (tomato, tuna, shitake, cucumber and tempura batter topped with mozzarella cheese in tomato mayo sauce).

If you're in the mood for something other than sushi, Moshi has you covered. Their appetizers include seafood spring rolls, crispy tofu, carpaccio in tuna, whitefish or Kobe varieties and a seaweed special.

One of the specialty dishes Moshi is known for is the Shabu Shabu—thinly sliced Kobe beef, tofu, shitake and assorted fresh vegetables served with a pot of hot kelp broth and dipping sauces. In addition to their specialty dishes, the entrée selection includes blackened miso cod, tofu steak, moshi fish and chips, and ginseng-braised short ribs.

For the big finale, the dessert menu includes hazelnut almond cake, chocolate outburst and tempura banana and grilled apple flambé.

Drinks

Sushi and sake are a match made in heaven. You can find plenty of both here.

In addition to sake, Japanese beers are available, along with several wine selections. A full bar is located next to the sushi bar, so any concoction you want can be shaken up. The specialty cocktail menu features fruity drinks such as the berry blossom.

Décor

Slate stone permeates this eatery, giving it an under-the-sea vibe. Candles flickering in front of mirrors hang on the walls. along with other modern decorations and paintings. Windows wrap around the restaurant's exterior, and an array of elegant lamps illuminate the interior with a soft glow.

Even the rod iron chairs have a stone inlay adding to the continuity of the stylish scheme.

Service

The friendly staff is able to answer questions about the menu or sushi selection, which is ideal for those of you who aren't experienced sushi eaters.

If you come early, it's easy to find a seat, but reservations are recommended if you're planning on dining during the dinner rush.

Crowd

An eclectic crowd can be found at this Bexley venue. You'll see young couples and professionals to families to groups of friends out for the weekend.

Insider's tip

Grab a seat at the sushi bar and watch the skill and precision of the master chefs as they craft your meal. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions—your meal tastes better when your brain knows what your mouth is experiencing (at least it does most of the time).

And if you're all thumbs, there's no shame in asking for a fork! Those chopsticks can be frustrating at times.

Bottom Line

There are plenty of good sushi restaurants in Columbus, and Moshi fits right in with the best of them. If you're a sushi-lover who lives anywhere near Bexley, you should give this place a look.

Moshi Sushi Bar
A tasteful and elegant Japanese restaurant, featuring some excellent dishes, opens in Bexley

Columbus Monthly

By Jon Marshall

Published: December 21, 2009

The style that informs most Japanese restaurant décor in this country is simple and elegant, never luxurious or cushy. You know, clean lines and muted colors. That same understated style goes for Japanese food, as well; nothing is more important, including the sauce or seasonings, than the featured attraction: the fish, the meat, the vegetable.

And so, like many restaurants of its kind, Moshi Sushi Bar in Bexley presents a setting and a menu that is tasteful, and by so doing, it is a very nice restaurant indeed.

Now, it must be said that this is not an entirely Japanese menu; there are some Korean dishes. And a few items are borrowed from, or at least influenced by, chef Nobu Matsuhisa, whose eponymous restaurants known for his distinctive creations are found in several major cities. Take Moshi Sushi’s lovely cod with miso—a broiled chunk of the white fish bathed in and almost candied by sweet miso. At Nobu, it is made with black cod, but here the easier to obtain (and far less expensive) cod does just fine. And shades of Nobu can be found in Moshi Sushi’s toro tartare. The fatty tuna chopped into little cubes was stunningly garnished with salty caviar. Hey, why not copy the master?

Since “sushi” is the restaurant’s name, one hopes for the best. I sampled Moshi’s sushi in various forms three times and found it to be excellent. The fish could not have been fresher for Columbus, and the chefs knew their stuff. While Americans love rolls, such as spicy tuna roll, California roll and so on, I am not a fan of most of these inventions. But they were done well here. And there were about a zillion combinations, including all the ones you’ve heard of, as well as such things as Lost Treasure, Scarlet Craze and Banana roll (definitely not sampled).

The nonsushi menu covered several categories, so I will focus just on my recommendations. Among the starters, the sunomono (seafood salad in a lemon vinaigrette) was lovely to look at and just as lovely to eat. Served in a martini glass on a bed of bright green seaweed salad, the simple dish featured a perfect poached shrimp, a sliver of cooked octopus, a shaft of king crab and a slice of raw mackerel coated with bright red flying fish roe. The lemony dressing enhanced the fresh flavors of the seafood.

Also worth eating was something called sushi panini—little fried triangles of panko-coated rice patties filled with a choice of spicy crab salad, raw salmon or chopped raw tuna in a spicy mayo. I tried the rich and delicious tuna. I really liked a dish called crispy tofu, which were deep fried cubes of firm tofu, both naked and coated in panko, with a red chili dipping sauce.

There were soups and salads, including classic soba in broth, served hot or cold and topped with shrimp tempura. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, which gives them a hearty, earthy flavor. Favorite entrees included the aforementioned miso cod and a really tasty dish called ginseng braised short ribs; the ginseng was not much in evidence, but the braised ribs with little shiitake mushrooms, potatoes and dates were quite nice. One dish to skip: the distinctly non-Japanese jerk chicken, which was bland and further undone by the fact that it used strips of skinless breast meat (leave that one to the Jamaicans).

The lunch menu is worth mentioning; the sushi bar was available and the place serves the best lunch in town for less than $10. It’s a bento box with shrimp and vegetable tempura, a Korean stir fry (chicken or beef) with fresh veggies, half a sushi roll (spicy tuna or California), half a sectioned orange and a nice little piece of chocolate. Plus I could get a soup or salad on the side. A great deal.

I found one Japanese-inspired dessert, sliced tempura-style banana with ice cream. Head for Europe instead, because the place turned out a terrific warm chocolate cake. It was dark, but sweet, with molten chocolate inside. While the dish is not unfamiliar, it’s rarely done as well elsewhere.

There was a full bar, with an OK selection of wines by the glass and good sake and beer, which are better choices for much of this food. Even on partly cloudy days, the place was bright because of the glass walls on the west, and most of the south, side.