Yellowtail...also known as "White Tuna" or in Japanese as Hamachi, is my ultimate favorite sushi. This sucker just seems to meeeeeelt in your mouth. The first time I tried it was with Robb at Fuji Hana's as part of a lunch special sashimi (sah shee me). The taste is very fresh and it reminds me of a drink of cold water on a hot day.
Octopus or Tako in Japanese is an old favorite. I had this the first night I ever tried sushi with Laura at the Orient Express. Oddly enough, I have tried tako at other restaurants and never enjoyed it...Orient seems the only place that has the good stuff! Well, when you get it fresh...it tastes very sweet. The meat is also very chewy which makes it feel like you're chewing fish flavored bubble gum (sound yummy?) It should have some purple color to it or else it's not fresh...which case it won't taste like anything (tasteless chewiness).
Salmon or Sake in Japanese is a sushi classic. I find it similar to Hamachi in the way that it melts in your mouth, but the texture is a bit more chewy. Sake should have rich yellowish marble stripes (mmmmm fish fat) and have an orange tint to it. Be careful! When you start buying cheap store made sushi you might be tricked into getting Smoked Sake...don't get it! It's smoked nastiness...I personally think it's a desecration of a perfect fish.
Shrimp or Ebi in Japanese is very good for beginners (that is if they cut the head off...which tends to scare some sushi newbies). The texture is chewy and kinda crunchy at the same time...and the taste is very fresh. Usually you will have to remove the tail (cause the chefs think it looks purrty...or they're just lazy). Ebi also tastes good as tempure (battered and deep fried...Southern style!)
Sea Eel or Anago in Japanese is deliscious. It usually tastes great because of the Eel sauce it is prepared with...the taste is sweet and the texture is a bit chewy, but easy to bite into! This may sound nasty...but trust me, you won't regret having tried it!
Squid or Ika in Japanese is simply one word: NASTY! It has a nasty cloudy taste and the texture feels like you're eating a piece of very very chewy celery. I dunno what it is about Ika....but it makes me want to GAG!
Wasabi is very very dangerous. My first experience with it was terrible. I had no idea what it was so I put the entire glob into my mouth....this was a learning experience that has scarred me for life. Here is what the experts say about Wasabi aka EVILNESS:
Sometimes called Japanese Horseradish. This is the small lump of green stuff that looks sort of like clay. Best done in small doses. Not related to American Horseradish except by the type of spicy flavor. Wasabi is a condiment traditionally used to garnish raw fish (sushi and sashimi) and noodle (soba) dishes in Japan. The ground root-like rhizome pungently flavors many foods in Japanese cuisine and its bright green color adds color contrast, for which Japanese dishes are famous. In the last twenty years, because of low supply of fresh Wasabi rhizomes, substitutes made of mixtures of horseradish, mustard and food coloring have taken the place of freshly prepared Wasabi, in America especially. Other parts of the Wasabi plant are also used. The leaves and petioles are picked or can be powdered for use as Wasabi flavoring in many foods.
