I am thrilled to say that members of the Tampa Bay Bloggers were treated to a night of yummy goodness when Takara Sushi and Saki Lounge revealed their new spring menu. Read on, because there is a GIVEAWAY for you at the bottom!

Takara is a Tampa area restaurant near Bearss and Bruce B. Downs. It’s not huge, but is nicely broken down into a front lounge / waiting area with sofas, a bar area, booths, and tables that can be slid together for large groups. They decor has pretty, aquatic details – and I loved the gold flecks in the ladies’ room wallpaper.

I drove to Takara with Caroline and (her +1) Kelly. Caroline and I live near each other, and it was nice to have someone to carpool with. It was horrible timing to be driving through Tampa, but after you see the treats we devoured, you’ll understand why it’s so worth it to drive to Takara!

Our long blogger table had a special menu for the evening. Some of our items were sample portion sizes, and some were full menu sizes. I’m allergic to cucumbers (weird, I know) and every one of their sushi rolls contains cucumber. I was given my own Jabadahut roll (say that one out loud! Ha!), made specially without cucumber, but could not try the other sushi rolls. This was our menu for the night:

Starters

Ceviche:  White fish marinated in lime juice, tossed with celery, red pepper, red onion & cilantro. I’m not sure what ceviche was doing in a sushi place, but the raw fish concept makes sense and the flavor was wonderful! We had 2 large slices of white fish, not chopped fish like you would see if it had Spanish flair.

Avocado & Tofu Salad: Chopped tofu, avocado, cherry tomatoes tossed in a honey miso dressing. I don’t usually like miso, but the honey offered a perfect balance. This was light, fresh vegetarian fair with a sweet touch from the sauce.

Crab Cake: Lump crab with a panko crunch over wilted spinach, topped with alfalfa sprouts, served with mustard aioli. Delicious!

Dynamite Mussel: Baked mussel with mayo, scallions, smelt roe & wasabi. I’ve only had mussels at Carrabbas in garlicy broth. This was a delicious alternative.

Spicy Tuna Spoon: Spicy Tuna, avocado, mango, smelt roe & scallions tossed in a spicy sesame sauce, served over mixed greens. These flavors were totally up my alley and I could eat a martini glass full of this any day.

Sambuca Shrimp: Shrimp sautéd with fennel, shallots & red pepper, tossed in a Sambuca red curry coconut milk with cayenne seasoning. I don’t like fennel, so this was not for me. But I ate the veggies under the shrimp and loved the red curry coconut milk with cayenne seasoning!

Main

Miso Seabass: This light white fish was grilled to perfection with sweet sesame soy, served with asparagus and white rice. A wonderful meal choice if you bring that friend who likes cooked fish but won’t eat sushi.

Gal Be: The chef used his family recipe for these Korean barbecue short ribs with onions, carrots & green onions. The flavor was great, but my meat was tough and hard to chew.

Jabadahut Roll: My specially made sushi roll had tempura grouper and crab salad with avocado and red onion rolled in seaweed & rice, topped with tuna – then sliced into sushi bites served in a circle with a delectable topping of – surprisingly – little tempura scallop balls & a little scoop of crab salad. All of this was decorated with eel sauce, yum yum sauce & sweet chili sauce. This honestly could have been a meal unto itself, so most of it came home in a box with me. My daughter gobbled it up before I had even put my purse down by the sofa.

And more sushi I could not try that looked so pretty on the tray

DJ Roll:  Crab salad, avocado, cucumber & cream cheese, wrapped in soy paper & rice, served panko style with eel sauce & yum yum sauce

Naruto Roll:  Tuna or salmon, crab delight, asparagus, wrapped in cucumber, served with ponzu or vinaigrette sauce

Surf & Turf:  Shrimp & crab salad, red onion & cucumber, rolled in seaweed & rice, topped with torched thinly sliced beef, cilantro, smelt roe, scallion & tempura onion, served with house special sauce & cilantro aioli

Salmon Delight Roll:  Spicy salmon, cucumber, avocado & scallion, rolled in rice & seaweed, topped with salmon, lemon slices & smelt roe

Yummy Sumo Roll:  Tempura shrimp, crab mix, avocado, asparagus & cucumber, wrapped in seaweed & rice, topped with tuna & salmon, served with eel sauce & spicy mayo

White Dragon Roll:  Eel, crab, cream cheese & cucumber, rolled in seaweed & rice, topped with escolar & avocado, served with spicy mayo, eel sauce & yum yum sauce

Tiger Eye Roll:  Salmon, cream cheese, crab, asparagus, cucumber, smelt roe, scallion, shrimp, wrapped in seaweed & whitefish, topped with spicy mayo, baked, served with eels sauce & spicy mayo

Torched Salmon Roll:  Tempura shrimp, crab delight, avocado & cucumber, rolled in seaweed & rice, topped with torched salmon, tempura jalapeno, served with eel sauce & spicy mayo.

Dessert

Tempura Fried Ice-cream: Vanilla ice-cream wrapped in pound cake & a tempura batter served on a plate decorated with almost-too-pretty-to-eat chocolate, blackberry & raspberry sauces. There was also whipped cream that blended with the sauces and ice cream as soon as I dipped my spoon in. A delightful, sugary treat!

Next to me, Jenny had her 3 kids and they had a larger dessert to share: The Banana Bomb! 3-4 bananas wrapped in spring roll skin and deep fried. These were standing up and then topped with & dark chocolate slivers. Hidden inside was vanilla ice-cream topped with sliced almonds, whipped cream & it was all decorated with assorted sauces. The sauces looked just as pretty as mine, and I wanted to swipe my finger through them and lick it – so badly!

They also had mochi ice cream, which is new to me. Picture something like those little French macaron cookies that are so popular right now, but instead it is pounded rice on the outside and ice cream on the inside.

Her children ordered their meals off the kids menu, which I was surprised to see includes french fries. Each item on the kids menu is under $7.

We also had drinks! Their new flavor infused sakis have fun, fruity flavors. I tried a mini shot-glass sized strawberry which was NOT too sweet, a common complaint of mine. Caroline tried a few of the flavors after I offered to drive home. They paired the sushi portion of our dinner with a sweet saki almost like a rose champagne. I hear that if you check in on Facebook while you are there and leave a post on their wall, you can show the post to your server to receive either a free shot of infused sake or a free Mochi ice cream!

Thank you so much to Takara Sushi and Carlos of Carlos Eats who helped me sneak in with 2 hours to spare – for a delicious evening. Caroline almost had to roll me home! I will definitely be making the drive from St. Pete to New Tampa again with my whole family in tow. Eugenia, the owner, was so sweet. It’s not often you get treated to dinner, and a gift card, and photos to show off the food perfectly!

Would you like to try this Asian sensation? I have two $20 gift cards to give away to two of my readers! Please follow them on Twitter www.twitter.com/takarasushifl AND leave a comment on this post telling me your best sushi memory, and I will pick two winners on April 7. One random drawing, and one story that I like the most.

You can also learn more about Takara Sushi here:  www.TakaraSushiTampa.com

My best sushi memory was in NYC in 2011. I was at a small blogger conference, and had dinner at Sushi Samba with Natalie from She Takes on the World. We had just met, and used dinner to shoot the breeze, and used the server’s knowledge to determine what to order. I recommend their Shishito appetizer – small, sweet green peppers grilled and sprinkled with lemon juice – and the Green Envy sushi roll – which instead of seaweed had a wasabi pea crust filled with tuna, salmon, asparagus, and aji amarillo-key lime mayo.

Enough about me – go order some Takara sushi and then tell me your favorite sushi memory below!

{Disclosure: I was invited to this event by Takara Sushi and provided with food for free. I was also given a gift card to use on my next visit, and two gift cards to give away on my blog. All opinions are my own.}