Seared Ahi Tuna, Part I

Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine
Beach Park Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404
(650) 212-5788 1457

We’ve been here, actually many times. We always have our Tom Ka Gai chicken coconut soup, and some other regulars. Seared Ahi Tuna is always one of the regulars that’s on our table!

Sweet Basil Thai Cruisine has very stylish tastes in terms of their table wares – white porcelain geometric shapes in square, oval, diamond. The much modern and contemporary decor is very pleasing to the eye – at least mine. 🙂

The seared Ahi tune comes in a very neat presentation plate. Six pieces on the plate at least this time we took the pix. The inside is pink and tender raw tuna while its outside is seared and then wrapped with black and white sesame. The sesame does add some fragrance to the fish taste, and also the crunchy texture for another layer other than the raw and cooked meat. The are nicely flavored with (nowhere we are good enough to really tell.. :P) teriyaki sauce (the darker one) and possibly mayonnaise mixed with wasabi sauce (the lighter one).

The slightly roasted aroma from the sesame was the first thing reaches me when I approached the tuna piece. The rich flavor teriyaki sauce mixed with the juice from the fish touched my palate while I bit through. The different texture from the crunchiness of the sesame, the slightly crust from the seared edge of the fish, and the soft and chewy characteristics of the meat was a great combination with the hint of spiciness from the wasabi. The milky creamy taste from the mayonnaise (at least it seems to be) helped to have all the flavors joined harmoniously… Ahh..

Last time we found that they had tiny cut on the fish surface – we figured that might be used to help biting through.

My boyfriend always saved the best piece for me – last time the end piece cause he thought I liked the sesame more; and this time a big middle chunk… Yum Yum.

Anyway, they never lasted long on our table that’s for sure. 🙂

Seared Ahi Tuna, Part 0

My boyfriend and I, we both love fish, eating I mean. Not for long we started realizing that we were chasing the more popular appetizer “Seared Ahi Tuna”.

It’s really Asian/Japanese food – partial raw tuna serves the palate for some that crave for sashimi, seared outside rim brings warmth for others that determine temperature in food. It has its own sauce in general so that saves time from creating your own and also avoid dipping (or dripping) since the sauce usually evenly distributed and more on the dense side. It’s really a dish of fusion – Japanese, Chinese, and somewhat Western style.

The most often “activity” for us is to eat.. OK, I mean, having great meals. 🙂 And we pleasingly found out that the “Seared Ahi Tuna” are provided by many restaurants in the Bay Area. Chinese, American, or even Thai. We are so eager finding the best in town – or anywhere we so can reach. So hence we decided to create our own reviews for this lovely dish.

We’ll start from home, and see where we can go!