For the holidays, Jeff’s daughters gave us a Groupon experience: a sushi-making class at a Japanese restaurant on Newbury Street in Boston. Because the Groupon was about to expire, we got our act together and made a reservation for our class. Jeff called to find out how long the class lasted, and he was told 30 minutes. We were a little surprised that it seemed short, but we were game anyway.
We drove into Boston and somehow managed to get a parking spot right across the street from the restaurant on busy Newbury Street. That never, ever happens!
The restaurant, Warbora, was a small affair in the lower level of one of row houses. We arrived a few minutes early, and a young man who was also participating in the class with a friend came along right after us. The sushi chef had two stations for two set up at the sushi bar.
Because we had to wear plastic gloves that were way too big for me, I didn’t take many photos unfortunately.
The sushi chef stood between the two couples and demonstrated three different sushi rolls, one at a time:
- California roll: crab, avocado, cucumber
- Sweet potato roll: sweet potato fries
- Sunday roll: cream cheese, tempura shrimp, cucumber, and crab on top.
The process involved:
- taking a rectangular piece of seaweed and spreading out a generous handful of sticky rice on the “rough” side of the seaweed
- flipping the seaweed/rice over and sprinkling on a mix of dark and light sesame seeds
- adding the other ingredients in a particular order
- rolling it up tightly and using the sticky rice on the edge of the roll to help it stay together
- taking a plastic wrap covered bamboo sheet and using it to refine the shape of the roll
- cutting the roll into 8 pieces and arranging it artistically on a serving plate
- adding sauces such as teriyaki, spicy mayo, mayo, sriracha in a pattern on top of the roll.
The class definitely lasted more than 30 minutes. We didn’t feel rushed.
Here’s my masterpiece!
Next was another fun part of the process. We got to eat our creations! So delicious, and way too much food.
It was fun to do the class with other people, and we also met some nice folks from Plymouth who were having dinner next to where we were seated. Definitely not my standard Monday afternoon.
Thanks S. and M. for a wonderful experience! If I can figure out how to make sticky rice, Jeff and I will try to make some more rolls on our own one of these days. If you are in the Boston area, I definitely recommend participating in this fun class! Or if you’re not local, check out Groupon or LivingSocial for a sushi making class near you. I really enjoyed this gift!
Have you ever made sushi? If so, how did you learn?
My mum used to learn making sushi from her Japanese friend but she got lazy and never bother practising. I wish there’s a similar class for me here, I love to learn and it would be so much fun!
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I could see that practicing would be important to remember the steps, but it wasn’t very difficult. However, the restaurant provided all of the ingredients, lol. I hope I can master sticky rice so we can try it ourselves. Are there any Japanese restaurants near you, Shireen? Check Groupon in your area and see if there are any offering this. It would be a fun thing to do with Mr. Platt!
Wow, learning to make sushi?! I would say that you mastered it! These rolls look absolutely delicious!
Thanks, Helen! It was a fun way to spend part of an afternoon. The rolls were delicious probably because Warbora provided the yummy ingredients. But I still hope we can try to make them at home someday!
Those rolls look delicious! You did such a lovely job and I really want some!
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I want some too. Wish I had some right now! They were delish
How fun! California rolls are my fav, but the Sunday rolls sound delish too!
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They were all delicious. I thought that I’d think the sweet potato was too “one note” but it was delicious too. The Sunday roll was scrumptious!
That sounds like so much fun! And how cool that you met nice people. I would enjoy learning how to make sushi. But I don’t like it so I would feed it to my husband lol! (It’s a texture/seaweed thing, I’ve tried more than a dozen times with no success)
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Not everyone likes sushi, Judy, so I understand! We’re fans so it was definitely a fun, yummy afternoon 🙂
I saw the picture on Facebook but I don’t think i realized you were the creator. This is fun and it looks delicious. I’m a picky eater but I’d eat those three rolls.
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Gee thanks, Marcia! Before we went to the lesson, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I was really pleased with how they came out. It’s pretty easy when the chef prepares all the ingredients for you beforehand! If I can figure out how to make sticky rice, I would like to try it at home sometime.
I’ve taken a few sushi classes! It’s fun!
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What a fun class!! Your sushi looks great (although I’ve never tried or am planning to anytime soon)! <3
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Haha, Shipra! None of the rolls we made had raw fish 😉
Allison, what a wonderful gift! I would love to learn how to roll Sushi myself- unfortunately my husband doesn´t eat it, so I always am kinda alone eating Sushi!
Oh, too bad! None of the rolls we made were with raw fish though that wouldn’t have stopped me lol!
I am a total novice at making sushi rolls. Whenever I do make them, they’re the simplest variety – some fresh raw salmon, cooked shrimp, or artificial crab, with maybe some avocado or cucumber, rolled in rice and wrapped in nori sheets. Yours look so fancy!!
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Well, these are similar except that they contain real crab meat. We did the rice on the outside, nori on the inside this time. So yummy!
Ooh, those look so good! I recently bought some of the stuff to try my hand at California rolls but I’m nervous about getting the rice right too.
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