Samurai Asian Fusion Cuisine

1775 45th Street South, Suite B Fargo, ND 

"Sushi is not our specialty - it's Samurai's Asian style of cooking that makes us different," said John Weng, manager of Samurai Asian Fusion. Owner Yun Chen, a China native and Weng's brother-in-law, owned several restaurants across the country before relocating to Fargo in December of 2010. 

The move was inspired by a tip from Chen's friend, who noticed Fargo's sushi boom. "We brought New York style to Fargo with the move," Weng added. 

That New York style could be felt upon walking into the restaurant. Metallic strings of beads hung from the ceiling and upbeat Asian music filled the air. It was my first Samurai experience as well as my dinner date Abby's, but we were eager to try what we had heard from friends to be "Great sushi."

Mirror, mirror on the wall

The hostess greeted us promptly and brought us to a booth by a window overlooking the parking lot. Our server's English was difficult to understand, so after taking a complete guess as to what she said to us, I ordered us waters.  Abby giggled saying, "I'm glad you could understand what she said because I had no clue." 

Though the drink list was tempting, we decided to splurge on specialty rolls and appetizers. Weng said specialty rolls are the favorites among customers especially the Burning Man for $13.95 -Spicy tuna inside, topped with avocado, and pepper tuna- or the Fuji for $12.95 -Spicy tuna, cream cheese, crabmeat, asparagus, spicy yellowtail, jalapeno, and crunch. 

Samurai menu

Following Weng's advice about specialty rolls, I ordered the yoshi roll- shrimp tempura, cucumber topped with crunch, and spicy tuna- an Alaskan roll, and a bowl of miso soup. Abby ordered edamame and the sweetheart -shrimp tempura, avocado cucumber top with tuna- and spicy salmon rolls. 

The edamame was excellent, but the miso soup was incredibly salty. I'd be willing to bet I met the daily recommendation for sodium with that one bowl. All thoughts of salty soup temporarily disappeared, though, as 2 decadent plates were delivered to our table. We "Oohed and aahed" over Abby's sweetheart roll, which was appropriately named with its heart shape. Trying our sushi, we were both impressed with the unique flavors. 

Sweetheart and spicy salmon rolls

Weng said the two sushi chefs, personal friends of his, had several years of experience in making sushi, so no formal training was required when they started at Samurai. "Our sushi is fresh because our fish is delivered two to three times a week," Weng added.

Yoshi and Alaskan rolls

Overall, I would consider Samurai an excellent restaurant. With its phenomenal sushi, trendy decor, and unique menu, I am looking forward to several future visits.