Shin Sushi

FOOD

Shin’s unlimited menu gives sushi plenty of room and the hot kitchen a substantial role of its own. Orders are prepared in the kitchen, so the meal can move among nigiri, rolls, appetizers and cooked dishes without changing its basic character. The appeal is in having several directions available for the next round. An AYCE menu should leave a little unfinished business.

Salmon and tuna nigiri sit alongside yellowtail and eel, giving the sushi selection enough range to reward attention before the rolls take over. Eel adds a cooked choice within that part of the menu. A nigiri-led order has plenty to work with here, whether your loyalties are firmly established or another fish is competing for a place. The small pieces deserve some space of their own.

Dinner adds sashimi, making the evening offering particularly relevant to diners who want that selection included in the unlimited meal. Weekends use the dinner menu all day; weekday lunch has its own sushi menu. That is a meal-period difference worth keeping in mind when choosing the outing. If sashimi is the principal ambition, make the appointment with the menu that actually offers it.

Spicy tuna and salmon rolls cover familiar loyalties, while shrimp tempura rolls have a place beside them. These recognizable choices give the roll order a sound beginning before the specialty options draw attention. A dinner needn’t be devoted entirely to the most elaborate thing on the menu. Sometimes the roll you had in mind before arriving is the one that belongs in the next round.

Edamame, gyoza and shumai give the appetizer selection substance, joined by harumaki and krab Rangoon. Miso soup belongs in the conversation, too. Taken together, these dishes give the smaller orders enough variety to earn a round of their own. Sushi can wait a moment while the dumplings have their say. They have been invited to dinner, after all.

Chicken katsu sits alongside chicken, shrimp and vegetable tempura, giving the cooked selection several distinct orders to consider. The tempura choices can join a sushi round or become the focus of one, while katsu gives the meal a substantial kitchen dish. There is no need to treat that part of the menu as an afterthought simply because sushi appears in the restaurant’s name.

Hibachi selections include chicken, shrimp and vegetables. Fried rice and noodles come in chicken, shrimp, vegetable and combination versions, extending the hot menu beyond the appetizers and tempura. These dishes make a cooked entrée a perfectly reasonable part of the unlimited meal. The kitchen has enough of a presence to claim its own share of the ordering.

Dessert has a cheerful streak: fried Oreos and fried ice cream, plus green tea, vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream. Green tea has a place alongside the familiar flavors, and the fried desserts give the final round a little mischief. Apparently dessert has ambitions of its own. Leaving some room would be sensible; whether sensible survives one more sushi order is another matter.