There are a lot of wasabi imitators on the market, but you can order 100% true wasabi at Flo’s Japanese restaurant in Bellevue. This is rarer than you might think, as real wasabi is a bit of a luxury item. Most places will serve you a mix of conventional horseradish and mustard seed colored green to resemble wasabi. Such concoctions can serve as a passable simulacrum for the wasabi experience, but if you haven’t tried real wasabi, or hon-wasabi, you are missing out.

Wasabi performs two important roles in the sushi world. Firstly, of course, it lends a powerful and distinctive taste that many sushi fans find irreplaceable. Secondly, it contains powerful agents known as isothiocyanates. These chemicals are not only what give the spice its flavor, but they have also been shown to inhibit the growth of microbes. Before the days of the strict health standards that sushi restaurants are held to, wasabi was able to help keep the raw fish clean and prevent the spread of foodborne illness.

Most of the sushi at our Bellevue Japanese restaurant is easy enough to identify as such. The rolls, the classic nigiri, these are the dishes that we all tend to imagine when we hear the word “sushi”. However, sushi can come in some surprising forms, and it may be hiding on our menu in places that you wouldn’t think to look.

This first thing to understand is that the word “sushi” refers to the special vinegared rice that is employed in sushi dishes, and not the fish that generally goes with it. The term is therefore applied to pretty much anything that makes use of this rice, be it as small as a bite-sized roll or as large as a full bowl. Bowl-sized sushi exists in the form of chirashizushi, often called “chirashi sushi” in English speaking countries. These generally take the form of a sushi-style donburi, with a scattering of sashimi sitting on a bed of sushi rice. You can try this traditional dish today at Flo’s Japanese Restaurant and Sake Bar!

Fancy a little dessert after a night of fine Japanese dining? At our Bellevue sushi restaurant, you can do as the Japanese do and chase your sushi down with some mochi ice cream! These are lumps of real ice cream wrapped up in traditional Japanese mochi, or sweet rice cake. The final product is soft, delicious, and enjoyed far and wide both within Japan and abroad.

The tradition of mochi was introduced to Japan by China. Mochi is such an important dessert item that it is made in a special ceremony called a mochitsuki. The biggest call for mochi comes on the New Year celebration, where mochi of all kinds is traditionally eaten.

At Flo, you can order green tea, strawberry, mango, or coffee mochi. Come and try this unforgettable Japanese treat today!

The Japanese word “unagi” refers to freshwater eels, in particular the anguilla japonica species native to the country. It’s a popular seafood in Japan, and can be found on the classic unagi nigiri-sushi at our Bellevue Japanese restaurant. This is one of the more traditional varieties of sushi that you will commonly see with cooked meat, as the freshwater habitat of the unagi eel makes it a bigger health risk to be served raw.

In Japan, it’s not uncommon for a restaurant to specialize entirely in unagi dishes. The meat is well loved on sushi and in “unagi-don” donburi. During the summer, unagi is traditionally eaten during the Day of the Ox in midsummer.

Unagi meat is high in protein, calcium, and vitamin A. Try some out today at Flo’s Japanese Restaurant and Sake Bar.

Do you like shellfish? Do you like crab, shrimp, scallops, oysters, and lobster? You can find all of these at Flo Japanese Restaurant in Bellevue! We put them in sushi, we chop them into cakes, we bread them, we fry them, and we dunk them in soups. We do it all, because not only is shellfish delicious, but it’s also a healthy part of any diet.

Shellfish isn’t just a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids. Like any other animal harvested from the ocean, our hard-shelled friends can indeed offer all of the rich benefits of these valuable fats, but these are not the main event. Shellfish are all also rich in chromium and selenium, both of which have a powerful impact on your body. Chromium helps insulin to metabolize sugar, making it a highly recommended nutrient for diabetics or people at risk of diabetes. Selenium is an antioxidant that battles a lot of deadly carcinogens, like cadmium, arsenic, and even mercury. Keep shellfish in your diet, and keep cancer out!