Sushi Kuni, 2901 Breton ~ 3/26/15

They call themselves a Japanese Fusion restaurant and five years ago moved into the space that used to be Shogun.

Enter this establishment and you are immediately struck by the lovely ambiance. The lighting is dim and the decor subtle and tasteful. The place is divided into two areas, this row of booths and small tables upon entry,

and another dining area with a few larger tables, a few booths, and the sushi bar.

The menu features Korean dishes, sushi, and Asian Fusion, so there are choices galore. Sometimes this style of restaurant tries to be too many things to too many people but we think it works here overall. And we started with tempura and dumplings.

The shrimp tempura was a little bland but the dumplings (beef gyoza) were great. The sauce enhanced the flavor of these perfectly prepared and not overly fried dumplings. So on to the entrees.

Two of us are huge fans of Udon, those thick, chewy Japanese noodles, so two dishes soon arrived ~ Vegetable Udon and Spicy Seafood Udon.

The mildly flavored broth in the vegetable dish was excellent and the spiciness of the seafood dish broth slowly built up while eating. Both are classic dishes well prepared, and the noodles had the perfect, chewy texture we hoped for.

Chef's Choice Sushi was our third dish, and it was fine although not as fresh or well-cut as that found at Maru.

The soundtrack playing was really interesting and we couldn't quite figure it out. It was completely instrumental and each of us recognized different tunes ranging from "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka, a theme song from Lord of the Rings, a praise chorus worship tune, and a Metallica hit. It was a unique and strange soundtrack for our lunchtime dining :-) But our major complaint was that the overhead light at our booth was disconcertingly bright and not centered over the table so it only bothered the person it shone upon.

Find them on facebook but they haven't posted since November of 2014. And their website at sushikuni.net is halfway functional and doesn't reflect their current menu. In order to read the menu pages that are there, at least three clicks are required to get it to a readable size.

So check them out in person. The atmosphere is great and we'd like to go back to try some of our favorite Korean dishes. And be aware, you have to walk through the Suma wrestler's curtain legs to find the restrooms (and notice the aforementioned blinding booth lights in this photo!).

 Pure Imagination ~ Willy Wonka