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Monday 16 April 2012

Bank Holiday Dinner at Masa

It was bank holiday Monday and it was traditionally pouring with rain when Elisa and I walked down to the centre of town to meet Jamie. Having always preferred my sushi from Obento, for the dynamite rolls alone it would be enough, when Jamie told me that Masa did an all you can eat style dinner for £17.95 I was curious. Unlike other all you can eat style places in Bristol like Cosmo and the terrible Za Za Bazaar, Masa cooks everything fresh and will deliver whatever you have ordered to your table. The menu does not just consist of sushi. You can order teppanyaki items, fried noodles, rice, tempura and katsu curry, to name but a few.

Thrilled by the choice on offer us three girls decided to order a few items to share and just re-order when needed. So we went for two bowls of edamame, which I've never had before but I would definitely encourage everyone to try as they were so much nicer than I imagined them to be.

Edameme
We also went for some sushi, teppanyaki steak, noodles and mixed tempura. All in all we probably ordered about 3 rounds of stuff to make sure we tried a bit from every section represented on the menu. One of the first things I noticed was that the service was very friendly and we were not kept waiting long for any of the items.

California Rolls and Salmon Nigiri

Mixed Tempura
The food was excellent. The mixed tempura was light and crisp and they didn't scrimp on the prawns which were enormous. The beef we ordered from the teppanyaki melted in the mouth and the juicy chicken terriyaki came sizzling to the table in big chunks. Our katsu curry was zingy with a crunch, plus I got to try agadashi tofu again which was much better than the first time at Obento, as it was a better tempura batter and the stock was a stronger flavour.

My only complaint about Masa is that it is not as good for sushi as Obento is, the rice was not as soft and the fish was not as meaty. However their tempura especially, was the best I have ever tasted and there are many other dishes to choose from on the buffet menu. What was so great about all you can eat Masa style was that none of it had been sitting warm in trays for a couple of hours. Japanese food is definitely one of my favourites and it can be a lot lighter than Chinese so it was a nice feeling when we finished our meal feeling full but not in that overly heavy way that you can experience when over indulging at a buffet.

Vegetable Noodles

Sizzling Chicken Teriyaki
Masa offers the option of their buffet menu all day but you can order from their main menu or sit at the sushi train at any time. Definitely worth checking out for the buffet deal alone as for £17.95, where you can order as much fresh food as you like, was a real bargain. Browse their menu here. Their website also claims to offer gluten free options which is a nice touch. Upcoming blogs for the week will be on Hong Kong Bistro in Bath and the new Toro Pan Asian on Park Street.

6 comments:

  1. so glad you like agadashi! it's my #1 must have japanese!

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  2. It's not my favourite yet but I definitely like it better the 2nd time I had it, it's so different but the sauce and crunchyness of the tempura is yum!

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  3. Have you tried Noa in Clifton? I went there the other week and thought their food was wonderful and fresh. Couldn't finish it all so not sure how a all you can eat would go, but I think this needs to be tried at some point as someone else mentioned Masa as a good sushi restaurant!

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  4. I have tried Noa but not for about 3 years so it is on my list to go again, I really liked it but thought some of the portions to be a bit stingy, but a relatively minor complaint as their teriyaki beef was superb. Masa is good for all round Japanese cuisine but Obento holds my heard on the sushi front!

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  5. masa is ok. we went there before for the all you can eat buffet. can only order 7 dishes at a time and inbetween we were forced to wait a good 30-40 minutes for the next round of food. by the time it come out we wasn't hungry anymore as our stomachs had already taken time to digest. like you, i prefer sushi from obento and their unique dynamite rolls.

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  6. I obviously was lucky when I went to Masa as there was no wait and we were not told there was a restriction on ordering. The sushi at Obento is seriously good! Going to check out Noa in a few weeks so looking forward to that!

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