I can't help it. I am addicted to Japanese food, ESPECIALLY sushi. Hence my love affair with Kanoko. My cousin J introduced me to the place a few years ago when she first moved to the area, and we've been going back ever since. Now that I work locally too, I may as well set a cot up in the place. Not much to look at (I actually thought it looked downright shady from the outside the first time J brought me there) it houses some delicious and very reasonably priced food within.
J and I met for lunch recently at 'our spot'. She is pretty predictable when it comes to ordering at Kanoko...she's been hooked on their Chirashi since '07. Despite their plethora (seriously! plethora!) of cheap lunch specials (2 rolls, soup, AND salad for $7.75! Chicken Tempura with Miso soup for $7.50!) I decided to order À la carte and went with the Sunomono and the 'Fancy Spider Roll'. While J sipped on her steaming Miso soup my Sunomono came out. Delicious chunks of fresh fish tossed with sesame seeds, seaweed and cucumber matchsticks. I have noticed that Sunomono is different everywhere you go but here they use crab, lightly seared tuna, yellow tail, and white tuna, and its simply awesome. The fish is cold and fresh, the seaweed is salty and has a bit of tooth to it and the cucumber is crunchy.
As I was mopping up the last bit of vinegar onto a bite of crab the rest of our meal was delivered. J's chirashi looked great. Chirashi is a bowl of rice adorned with big pieces of fish, cut Sashimi style. She orders it a lot and has let me know that it always has different fish in it, depending on what's fresh and abundant. Today it was a colorful mix of white tuna, shrimp, salmon, Tamago, tuna, and what I believe was mackrel. It's a whole lot of food and J was very pleased with it. She said everything tasted fresh and delicious, and after trying a bite of her white tuna with a bit of the perfectly seasoned sticky rice I couldn't agree more. A bit too much garnish for our liking (J always asks for a seperate plate to put the lettuce leaf, lemon, and excess ginger on) but it makes for a beautiful presentation.
My "Fancy Spider Roll' was just right, as well. It was a regular spider roll (fried soft shell crab, cucumber, avacado and a bit of sauce) mixed with spicy tuna. The crab was fried well and still warm and crunchy which complimented the cold vegetable matter and spicy tuna mixture very well. My only problem with the roll is the sheer size... the pieces are large! Too big for a mouthful but awkward to bite in half. But hey, if that's my biggest problem with the place I should consider myself lucky!
Kanoko is a great place to go for lunch. Cheap, fresh, and fast, they have lots of lunch specials and 4 pages of À la carte choices including appetizers, specialty rolls, tempura and teriyaki dishes plus more. Who knows? There's a great chance that you will see J and I there on one of our frequent lunch dates!
Kanoko
3798 Route 27
Princeton, NJ 08540
732-821-8822
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