RESTAURANT REVIEW:

It is my constant quest to discover lunchtime deals, and a friend of mine equally shares in this passion. We both enjoy sushi, though discovered it well after we first met in college, when there was four of us living in a rented house and our idea of fine cuisine was $5 pizza while we played poker all night.

Shogun is a small restaurant in a shopping plaza that also has a Thai restaurant. I had seen it on one of my visits to eat Thai food and always put it in the back of my mental Rolodex to eat there. My friend and I finally headed over to get a little sushi.

He is a big fan of ahi tuna so we ordered spicy tuna roll that turned out to be smaller than I expected but was quite fresh, and a shrimp crunchy roll. The shrimp is fresh and the roll is tightly made and very good.

There are several other specialties we were tempted to try.

The restaurant has eight combination plates that don’t have any rolls with them. My friend ordered sashimi and beef teriyaki and I ordered tempura and pork cutlets.

The combination plates are a deal for $6.50. They come with a cup of miso soup, salad with ginger dressing, a clump of rice and two items.

The beef teriyaki I had was quite tender and the teriyaki sauce was minimal and not overpowering. The sashimi includes two pieces of whitefish and ahi, and it was also very fresh.

The tempura I ordered was varied and plentiful. There were two large pieces of shrimp along with a sweet potato, carrot, cucumber and zucchini. The batter used was very light and the tempura was almost fluffy, it was so good.

The pork was also well prepared. The sauce is ginger-based that tastes like it has a hint of honey mustard in it, which complements the meat well.

I wanted to know exactly the ingredients in the pork, but my waitress did not understand my request. That is the only challenge at this establishment. If you are not a seasoned sushi eater, this might not be the place to go because of a language barrier.

The staff is very polite and gracious and they definitely want to make diners feel at home.

The décor is obviously Asian influenced throughout. There is a mural on one wall and Oriental umbrellas are used as lamp shades at the nine tables.

This is a great lunch spot and I have since returned for dinner and found it equally as enjoyable. The dinner specials are $9.99 and are also a good value for the money.

SHOGUN

Address: 16561 Bolsa Chica Road, No. 109, Huntington Beach

Phone: (714) 840-0666

Cuisine: Japanese

Specialty dish: Shogun Sushi Deluxe

Alcohol served: Sake, wine and beer

Dress: Casual

Family friendly: No children’s menu

Credit cards accepted: American Express, Visa and MasterCard

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants for the Independent.