Fuji Mountain: Top Quality Japanese Cuisine

One of my favorite quotes in life is the following Japanese haiku: 

Climb Mount Fuji, 
O snail, 
but slowly, slowly.

Mount Fuji or Fuji Mountain is the tallest peak in Japan, and the meaning of the haiku is that even a snail can climb to the top of the highest peak but needs to pace itself. It's a great Eastern sentiment that would benefit all of us. Many Japanese restaurants are named Mount Fuji or Fuji Mountain because of its symbolic nature in Japan—it represents the top, the best.

in Bryn Mawr is a great Japanese restaurant. We went in for dinner feeling particularly famished. We were seated in the gorgeous dining room that feels like the interior of an old world pagoda. The sky lights, candles, dark wood fixtures and floral paintings are visually and aesthetically pleasing.

We started off with the uni (sea urchin roe) appetizer, miso soup and house salad. The salad had shredded red and green cabbage, iceberg lettuce, green bell pepper, half moons of cucumber with the seeds carved out and delicate star-shaped carrot slices. It was one of the best salads I have seen in a Japanese restaurant. The requisite ginger dressing was on the lighter side but well balanced. It was tasty, but I could have used a touch more. All in all, it was an exceptional salad.

The miso soup had a few cubes of soft tofu and ribbons of seaweed floating throughout. The savory miso flavor was pleasant and though subtle, clearly made with a higher quality miso paste than the watered down dishwater varieties of miso soup that you see at lesser restaurants.

The uni appetizer though small was packed with flavor. Sea urchin roe is not for everyone, but those who enjoy it, enjoy it immensely. The extremely fresh roe tasted like the ocean with a hint of sweetness. The texture was silky and cool on the tongue. The few daikon radish sprouts on top added a peppery accent. The shiso leaf underneath added some fragrance and complexity to the dish (I love shiso, but some people think it tastes like soap). I only wish there were more uni.

For our entrees, we had the Sushi for Two and the Zaru Soba with Tempura. The round platter of sushi that arrived was a show stopper. There was a rainbow of colors from the 14 pieces of sushi, the California roll, tuna roll and yellowtail roll. The fish was extremely fresh and clean tasting. The salmon, tuna, yellowtail and red snapper were all delicious. The rice was a perfect texture and seasoned with just the right amount of rice vinegar. The rolls were rolled tight and brimming with fish. The California roll had ripe pieces of avocado and generous amounts of fish roe. The shrimp sushi was tender and the unagi was cooked well and the glaze had the right blend of sweet and savory. The pickled ginger on the side was premium quality (remember what color ginger is naturally, pink pickled ginger is dyed and usually of inferior quality). We could not stop eating it.

The Zaru Soba with Tempura was a nice blend of cool and hot. To make soba, the buckwheat noodles are cooked then rinsed with cold water and artfully arranged. Here at Fuji Mountain, they were garnished with ultra slender strips of nori. The accompaniments include grated daikon, chopped scallions, wasabi and a soy-based dipping sauce. Traditionally, you add in as much daikon, wasabi and scallion as you would like and then dip small bundles of noodles into the sauce and then eat them. The soba here was well prepared and not overcooked. There was a slight bite to the noodle, and the dipping sauce had a mild and satisfying flavor. This is one of the best things to eat in the hot summer months. The shrimp and carrot tempura that came on the side was indeed tasty. Skilled hands made the batter which fried to a nice golden color and shattered into hundreds of pieces with each bite. Though I have worked in many restaurants, I have yet to master Japanese tempura. I'm still trying to figure out how to get all those bubbles, gossamer threads and lightness. It's a true skill.

There was a craft brew special going on the night we went in so I was able to get my favorite Magic Hat #9 at a discount. My mom enjoyed her green tea. Green tea and beer are both great pairings for Japanese food. Green tea, with its subdued and slightly earthy taste, interacts nicely with the oceanic flavors of fresh sushi and sashimi. Cold beer is an obvious choice with fried foods and heavily sauced dishes like teriyaki and unagi. 

The service is excellent. Every question and request was answered, food was brought out in a timely fashion and empty plates were cleared right away. Water glasses were always filled, and we never had to wait long for anything. The presentation of our dishes was typical of the clean, simplistic and pure aesthetics of Japanese culture. My mother was particularly tickled that our server was also fluent in Korean. It was nice to have someone there to translate sea urchin roe into Korean for me. Fuji Mountain is a calm setting in which to enjoy some very high quality sushi and Japanese food. I might even go so far as to say that it might be the top Japanese restaurant in the area.