Kosher Sushi

 I had lunch today with co-workers Kara and Ayala in New Brunswick, NJ. Kara is a Vegan, Ayala eats only Kosher and I’ll eat anything, so where could we go to eat? Ayala found ShuShan Grill & Sushi Bar. It is Glatt Kosher restaurant with lots of Israeli/Middle Eastern favourites and a pretty full sushi menu. Just no dairy or shellfish.

Kara went for a combo of salad and appetizers. She got Humus, Babaganoush and Turkish Salad. The humas was very creamy with a slight garlic taste. The normal olive oil seem to mix into the chick peas.  The eggplant babaanoush was well spiced, The three dishes were perfect for a Vegan.

Ayala and I shared a special Appetizer Combo plate that I think the Chef created just for us. The combo included veggie Moroccan Cigars, Pastels, Kuba, Falafel balls and Humus. The Moroccan Cigars and Pastels had crisp fried coating hidding the yummy potato filling in them.  Ayala and I both dipped them into the creamy humas (everyone spells this differently LOL). The Humas had a slight garlic taste with a great creamy consistancy. The Kuba appetizers had a mushroom ragout on the inside of it’s fried goodness. We both thought it was like a Middle Eastern egg roll with the crispy coating and veggie inside. The fried chick pea Falafels were perfectly cooked and even more tasty when we dabbed more humas on them. The combination of apps was very nice giving us different textures and tastes.

  I didn’t think the Appetizer Combo was going to be filling enough, I was wrong, so I ordered the Soup of the Day. It was a beef vegetable soup with carrots and a few different lentils in it. Honestly, it  kind of tasted like chicken broth with big chucks of very tender beef in it.  I also found there were little blobs of fat floating around in the soup which reminded me again of chicken soup. The little blobs of fat gace the soup some extra flavour and weren’t big enough to cause any mouth feel distress. It was very good soup, I wish I could find the name of it but haven’t been able to. Ayala do you remember the name of it?

We all tried the warm Pita Bread that was refilled a couple of times.  The pita bread are covered with Zahatar spice which I never tried before. Come to find out Zahatar is a combination of other spices and depending upon the maker of the spice blend it can be made of ground dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, sesame seeds, and salt.  Some varieties may add savory, cumin, coriander or fennel seed. I thought the spice added some extra flavour to the sometime bland pita bread.  Nice touch.

We enjoyed the outside dining at ShuShan as it was such a nice day. BTW Ayala tried the Salmon Avocado Sushi Roll and said it was great.

Read other reviews about ShuShan Grill here, here and here.

ShuShan Grill, 304 Raritan Ave., Highland Park, NJ 08904              (732) 249-0609