It all begins with the hangiri—a wide, flat-bottomed bowl for mixing sushi rice. Steamed Japanese rice is placed inside and mixed with sushi sauce, a combination of rice vinegar, salt, sugar, and dried seaweed. The same rice mixture features in two distinctive sushi rolls served at Anassa’s Basiliko restaurant. For the Salmon-Avocado Roll with Black Truffle Sauce, sushi chef Alvin Suarez places a seaweed leaf on a bamboo matt and covers it with rice. Then he flips it over and makes a row of salmon and avocado slices. Using the matt, he rolls everything into a tube with the salmon and avocado inside. Another layer of avocado is added to the rice exterior and the tube is rolled again; then he slices the roll into eight pieces. Each is garnished with salmon and avocado pieces, truffle oil, crispy batter, and truffle sticks. The Wagyu Beef Roll with Foie Gras begins in the same way: rice is layered on a seaweed leaf. This time, a row of sliced red and yellow bell peppers and pieces of cucumber and avocado is arranged for the centre. After creating the roll, the chef covers the rice exterior with raw Wagyu beef and slices the roll into eighths. Each piece is topped with foie gras and sauces. Then he cooks the meat with a torch. The sushi pieces are garnished with chilis and onions marinated in sushi sauce and crowned with gold leaf. Order in sets of four or eight and enjoy one of the highlights of dinner at Basiliko.
