Johnny’s Peking Tokyo: The Samoto Roll Is A Work Of Art

Choosing a dish to recommend at is like looking for a needle in a … stack of needles.  Really, the entire menu deserves praise and could keep the most adventuresome of eaters busy for years to come.  One of the restaurant’s greatest creations, though, might be one of its newest.

The Samoto Roll is the latest work of art from the masters at the sushi bar.  It joins a lineup of two dozen chef’s special sushi rolls, each one more delicious than the last.  Like the others, the Samoto Roll is a beauty to behold.  Carefully constructed, the roll arrives atop a banana leaf on a long white plate, the better to showcase its beauty.  In one corner, a green sprig stuck into a wad of wasabi paste stands like a tiny tree beside a pile of sliced ginger, completing the masterpiece.  It all looks so beautiful that you might feel guilty eating it.  As soon as you pinch that first bite between the tips of your chopsticks and slip it into your mouth, however, your guilt melts away.

Don’t even think about dipping that bite in soy sauce.  It couldn’t possibly make the Samoto Roll taste any better.  The roll has so many ultra-fresh ingredients with so many contrasting textures and tastes, it’s already enough work trying to relish them all without the distraction of soy sauce.  Besides, the saltiness would merely interfere with the roll’s mouth-wateringly sweet, slightly mustardy sauce, which will be the first and last taste you’ll notice.

The Samoto Roll’s heart is the asparagus spear wrapped inside.  Its soul is the lobster salad that tops the length of it.  The crunch of the asparagus and a firm, toothy squid tempura—oh, the addictive fried pleasure of tempura—provide the textural backbone, which is encased in a contrasting layer of tender spicy crab.  A blanket of nori and a little rice hugs all of this with the characteristic chewiness of most sushi rolls. 

Then comes the lobster salad, smothering the roll with a buttery creaminess and bursting with a sugarlike crunch of what must be flakes of tempura or Panko.  Smears of bright green avocado contribute a creamy, nutty freshness, and practically microscopic spheres of black tobiko, or roe, pop like fireworks in a grand finale.  The show costs $15.95, which ain’t cheap, but it’s worth every penny.

Samoto Roll   $15.95
Johnny’s Peking Tokyo
12 Coogan Boulevard, Mystic, CT  06355
(860) 572-9991

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