A note about BOGO sushi

So I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but IMHO, the quality of BOGO sushi in Durham has gone down the past month or so. Sushi Love has hired some new sushi chefs who are not doing so well with the proportions and sauces. S and I have gotten a plate back that was flooded with a mix of eel sauce and spicy mayo. Very disruptive of the flavors of the rolls - we felt like we were eating sweet & sour sushi.

Mt. Fuji, on the other hand, is just a lack of taste and freshness, which I have mentioned already. I tried a couple of rolls the other day, and they have not been memorable or impressive.

I have not been to Shiki Sushi recently, but hopefully they have retained their creative and consistent flavors...

What has happened to the sushi in Durham? The economy, probably. Or maybe just the wrong season for fish?

Sushi Love's sushi

I had a sushi craving, so we went out to the popular Sushi Love, across the street from Duke Hospital. Their sushi is "buy 1 get 1 free," so it's a pretty good deal if you get two orders of about the same price.

Sid and I decided to share four rolls: Caterpillar Roll, TNT Roll, Maguro Tartar, and one of their daily specials, the Momo Roll.

From back to front: TNT Roll, Catepillar Roll, Momo Roll (right side), Maguro Tartar

[So a word about the BOGO free sushi around here: Mt. Fuji's sushi used to be half-price on Thursday nights only, and it was the freshest around here. However, now that it's BOGO free everyday, the freshness has decreased significantly, and their rolls are pretty small. Kanki, the Japanese steakhouse, also has BOGO free sushi now, but I feel like their rolls are just too Americanized. There is one more place, Shiki Sushi, which is near NC-54 and I-40 (close to Southpoint), which has very creative rolls and pretty big portions. So depending on where you are, Shiki Sushi or Sushi Love are probably your best bets for BOGO free sushi.]

Our rolls arrived pretty quickly. The Caterpillar (eel roll topped with avocado) and Maguro Tartar (spicy scallops and seared tuna) are rolls almost always get because I love eel and tuna, so I never really have anything bad to say about it.

The TNT Roll has salmon, scallops, and eel, and the outside is wrapped with a layer of seaweed. I thought it was not bad, but that there was almost too many things in one roll. Salmon, scallops, and eel all taste very different, and when you had them all wrapped together, the uniqueness of each taste was sort of lost.

The Momo Roll was, however, the surprise of the day. It was a scallops and spicy mayo roll topped with salmon. I'm not usually a big fan of salmon, but this was the fattiest salmon I've ever had in my life. They also gave us pretty generous cuts of this fatty salmon, which was nice

All in all, a pretty good experience. As I've said before, if you want BOGO free sushi, Sushi Love is a decent choice.

Restaurant: Sushi Love

Buy 1 Get 1 Free sushi

Price: $15-20