We haven’t had sushi since early July when we went to Slurping Turtle so we thought it was about time to try some more. I started with a good ole Google search and came across Akai Hana. Besides it being ranked as one of the best sushi restaurants in Columbus, it is also located in this square with several Japanese businesses. It’s like a mini Japan-town. I’ve only heard of Chinatown (from multiple cities) so I just kind of made up Japantown but after researching that, it actually exists! If anyone is interested, check it out Japantown.

As always we arrived early. Their website recommends reservations but every time I called I couldn’t get anyone to answer the phone. I figured that since we would get there just before 5pm, we’d be in good shape. As you can see, we almost had the place to ourselves. There was a wait by the time we left though as it did fill up quickly!

It was time to pick out our sushi. Chloe of course asked if they had a California roll. I think it’s just her go to as it’s the first type she ever had. They use the QR code digital menus so I pulled up the Specialty Rolls menu on my phone to show the kids some. I wanted to get one that they decorate into the name, so I went with the Red Dragon. My only disappointment was that Chloe ate so much of it. Alex, who’s allergic to shrimp, even tried a piece as he couldn’t resist seeing us enjoying it without him. Don’t worry, he’s fine. =)

I’m going a little out of order, as our Miso soup actually came out before the sushi did. I’ve always loved Miso soup but the kids hadn’t had it before. It was a traditional Miso soup, but they infused smoke into it! Alex really liked seeing the cloud settling in his soup and didn’t care for the flavor so I got to enjoy two cups of it. Chloe on the other hand liked it as much as I did and ate her entire cup, tofu and all.

I knew Alex was going to get an entree since he couldn’t have sushi but Chloe mentioned she wanted one too so we only did the two rolls and all got an entree. Chloe went with Shrimp & Vege Tempura. There were some veggies that you could distinguish, like broccoli, asparagus, and tomato. But then there were some Chloe wasn’t sure of and one that none of us could figure out. I was able to pick out the sweet potato, but we ended up asking our server what the “white tomato” one was. It ended up being lotus root. That was as first for us all. For those that haven’t had it, at least when fried, it tastes like nothing!

Alex had plenty of time to look over the entire menu since Chloe and I spent so much time looking at sushi. With his shellfish allergy, he is often limited at these type of restaurants but he went to the Korean menu and found something he wanted. He went with the Kal Bi which is Korean for short rib. Ok, I just made that up, but the dish was short ribs on the bone which were very good. We ended up bringing about half of them home.

Alex’s meal came with kimchi which he was scared to try. I went ahead and tried it and it was spicy! So I tried talking them into trying it. They were going to try it together but Chloe was a little hesitant to try it. I give Alex credit as he eventually did take a bite. Neither of us were a big fan of it.

I figured I would probably just clean up the kids’ plates so I went with what I thought was a small dish. It turned out that I ended up bringing half of it home! I ended up with going with the Katsu Don which is on the noodles and bowls section of the menu. It reminded me of fried rice, with a pork cutlet with a ginger flavor. I’d never had anything quite like it and I was very impressed with the flavor in this bowl.