Happy Hour at Roppongi

Roppongi Restaurant
875 Prospect St.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Price: $$$
Happy Hour: Daily 3-6pm (discount food/drinks)
Roppongi Website
*They do no accept Happy Hour Reservations – our wait wasn’t long, immediate seating

I was really excited during my last trip to San Diego that I was able to hit up Roppongi’s Happy Hour with my best buds Max, Scott and Lynn. Usually Roppongi is a bit out of my price range but during Happy Hour they have 1/2 Asian tapas and sushi! ($4-$10 ea.) I really like the atmosphere of the restaurant and their interesting twists on Asian Fusion cuisine.

Tapas portions are similar to asian dim sum usually meant 3-4 people to try one piece each. So it’s meant for sharing. The sushi rolls are standard size.

This is my friend Lynn and her lychee martini. Boy was this drink a kicker! You could definitely taste the lychee and it was a strong martini.

Crispy Buttermilk Onion Rings, Wasabi Garlic Aioli ($7.50, HH price $3.75)
I love these onion rings. They are must have at Happy Hour. They have interesting light batter that is crispy and not too greasy. I love their house made sauce that a bit spicy.

Truffle Fries (Max’s Recommendation)
These are thinly sliced french fries with a pinch of seasoning and truffle oil. It was quite tasty though a bit difficult to pick up.

Hamachi Taro Tacos – Sweet Mango & Asian Guacamole ($13, HH price $7.50)
These are very adorable as they came with their own mini taco holder. The tacos were tiny and came in set of 4. I didn’t have one but they said that were bit mushy on the inside. I just kept wondering if there’s some store that sold tiny taco holders.

Smoked Salmon Roll ($12, HH price $6) – Salmon, Philadelphia Cheese, cucumbers
Spicy Tuna Roll ($11, HH price $5.50) -Tuna, Raddish Sprouts, Cucumber

California Roll ($10, HH price $5) -crab, cucumber, avocado, sesame seeds
Rainbow Roll -2 rolls ($16, HH price $8) – crab, tuna, salmon, yellow tail, albacore, avocado, cucumber

I came to Roppongi this time to eat their sushi. I really like their sushi and their 1/2 Happy Hour prices. Anyways, I adored the California roll since it was made with ACTUAL crab meat and not imitation crab. It was sooo good and made a huge difference. The Rainbow rolls were gorgeous. Overall, everyone seems to enjoy the sushi. They were basic but tasty.

Other dishes:
Sorry our 2nd round I forgot to take photos for.

1) Chicken Satay, curried peanut sauce, chips ($11, HH price $5.5o)
These tasted ok, nothing too special.

2) Pan Seared Sea Scallops on Potato Pancakes ($17, HH price$8.50)
OMG I wish I took a picture of these. I believe it came with 4 scallops. The scallops were HUGE, tasty and fresh. I’d recommend checking these out if you love scallops.

Overall, it was a great meal with great friends! I think it’s was worthwhile visit.
Definitely great place for a date, for celebrations or just good eats.

Oh next time I’m going to try Polynesian crab stack. It looked gorgeous and I swear every table got one but us. So I need to go back and try it. ^_^

-S

Sushi Deli 3 Happy Hour Special

Sushi Deli 3
7986 Armour St
San Diego, CA 92111

Sushi Deli is a sushi restaurant tucked away in Kearny Mesa. The area isn’t very exciting and actually dim location. This is a dated review but we took some pretty neat pictures so I thought I’d briefly review it. The review is based on experiences I had there in 2010. It was back during the age of the stellar happy hour. I believe it was like $1-2 sakes, discounted beers, and $1-3 on select rolls. Anyways, the restaurant is friendly, clean and atmosphere is nice for a kickback. The service is quick but do take into account happy hour brings in a lot of people so wait can be rather long from 45-60min (no reservations).
We went in a group of 6 people. We got tons of California rolls, spicy tuna, and philly rolls for $1-3. I remember I loved the scallops dynamite. It was a really great deal and we were stuffed for costs of $5-6 bucks each person. Plus their sake bottles fills up 2.5 sake cups so there’s ample amount to go around. Happy hour only on select rolls but nevertheless their rolls are quite affordable $6-7. They also sell noodles, bento boxes, sashimi and hand rolls.

You can view their entire menu & new happy hour special online here

Our meal piled up! Yum!
I loved going to Sushi Deli 3 for their happy hour. It’s really fun and tasty. I think their sushi is pretty decent. I mean it’s not fancy or exceptional sushi but for a late night snack or group gathering I think its great, affordable choice.

***However sad to say, all good things must come to an end. I hear Sushi Deli 3 no longer has these specials but has other hh specials. Even so if you are looking for an affordable sushi choice I’d recommend trying out sushi deli.

Max’s Delicious Homemade Sushi Rolls, Nigiri, & Inari

So I’ve been craving sushi for some time now so Max decided we should just make it. Sushi making is much more cost-effective and you can better control what on your plate.

All the items seen in the pictures can be purchased at Ranch 99 Grocery Store. We like the one on convoy.

Items needed to make sushi:
Raw salmon (refrigerated section of ranch)
Imitation Crab Meat (sushi rolls)
Cucumber
Seaweed
Wasabi Paste
Soy Sauce
Tofu Skins (fill up with rice)
Rice (vinegar, sugar, salt)
*optional -Sushi Rice roller, can be purchase at Daiso (Japanese Convenient Store) for under $2
*Feel free to use different fish or main ingredients, I just like salmon best. But they do sell octopus & ahi tuna @ Ranch

One of my favorite sushi is the Inari sushi. It’s basically a sweetened, fried tofu pocket fill with sushi rice.
It’s better eaten as finger food since it’s quite hard to use chopsticks with. Here’s a recipe I found on how to make it.

Sushi Roll: imitation crab meat & cucumbers, rice, and seaweed wrap

Nigiri: slice of salmon on sushi rice

There’s many different variation on how to make sushi rice online so I won’t go into in much detail.
But you mix regular rice with sugar, salt, and rice vinegar. The upside of making sushi rice rather than just using regular rice is the consistency becomes more solid and easier to work with. The “sticky” texture allow the rice to stick with ingredients and not crumble.

Overall these rolls turned out delicious.

[CON] We saved some for later. Unfortunately the rice became much harder so I’d recommend make only enough to eat one session.