Sagunja @ Chatswood

All of a sudden I had a crave for sushi.... and about a year ago, from reading other people's blog I found this sushi place at Mandarin Center in Chatswood called Sagunja. It's a restaurant in the sushi train format, and back then all dishes were $2.50! Bargain! And it didn't only have the simple cucumber rolls, and salmon and avocado rolls, which you would expect most dishes on the conveying belt to be when the price is only $2.50. No no no... 90% of the dishes were actually nigiri sushi and aburi sushi - my favourite! Back then the rice ball underneath the topping were small comparing to other sushi train restaurants, which means encouraging others to eat more plates ie. more profit! The small size of the sushi didn't really bother me, cos I do have a small stomach and I do want variety!

One year later, my crave for sushi led me back to this place. When we went there, we could no longer see the queue outside the shop waiting for the counter seats. Initially I thought maybe because the sushi train heat might have gone. We sat down at the counter after 10 minute of waiting and we saw the sushi on conveying belt.... ummmm.... the size has gone down from one year ago - 'small' to now 'very small - which probably contributed to the 'no queue' factor. And the price has gone up from $2.50 to $2.70! I do understand about inflation, but one thing I don't understand is, how come our salary doesn't go up like inflation?!?!?! Lucky for those who don't have a salary freeze!

I remember last time we came to this place, we sat right in front of the chef who made the aburi sushi, and we had the most joyous time ever!!! As soon as the chef put down an aburi sushi plate, we take it!!! hahaha... and while we were waiting for the seat, we were hoping that we can get a seat in front of the aburi sushi chef like last time... And hoorayyyy.... we did!!!! Regardless that the sushi have gone down in size, but the taste was still very good!!!!! The sashimi was fresh, and size of the topping on top of the rice was very reasonable. My favourite was still the aburi sushi - seared scallop, seared salmon, and seared eel!!!!! Yummmmmm..... The special sauce/mayonnaise they squeezed on top of the sushi before they flame grilled was just perfect, the sweet taste helped to enhance the flavour of the topping, not too powering, and when you bite into it, the lightly seared topping was soft and melted in the mouth!!! But one thing I wouldn't eat in Sagunia is their deep fried dishes - I think there is more room to improve definitely - they just don't have the crunch in them, and you can taste the oil in the deep frying process. But for the sushi I definitely do have a thumb up for them!!!

Although you don't get the value for money as you would last year, but I think I still want to go back for the price, taste and variety. I would rank Sagunia as my second favourite sushi train restaurant on my list. The first needs to be Makoto for sure!!!

Sushi Sagunja

Level 2, Shop 225 Mandarin Center

65 Albert Ave, Chatswood