Kuma Ani Has Arrived on New Scotland Ave.

New Scotland Ave. is blessed with a bounty of nice restaurants and this recent addition is no slouch.

The restaurant offers a sushi menu for a modest fixed price and you can order as much as you wish.  The menu has a few sections so that you can order appetizers and then several categories of sushi. My choices all proved to be nicely made and well-balanced in terms of proportion of rice to fish and nicely seasoned.  The pieces are small, which suits me.  I watched a party of five order platter after platter and wondered at how much young folks can put away in a meal.  My platter was small, but there was sufficient pleasure for me.

During a subsequent visit I wanted to be sure to make selections off the regular menu and noticed that the prices there are also quite reasonable. So I chose the miso soup, hamachi collar and the extravagant lobster mango salad.  My companion chose a salad, tempura shrimp and vegetables and the whitefish don   (rice bowl).

We both enjoyed the hamachi collar very much and I recommend it highly.  It's grilled and with both ponzu and lemon as condiments it's very easy to concoct a beautiful fish appetizer.  The tempura was  well prepared with a delightful light crispiness. The whitefish katsu don consisted of mellow rice with various vegetables on top including sautéed onions that added a beautiful sweetness and a subtle sauce topped with a perfectly fried filet of the delicious mild whitefish.  It's supreme comfort food.

The decadent lobster mango salad is not only presented in a lovely arrangement, but it is a very good balance of sweet, seafood, creamy mayonnaise and roe.  The varieties of texture and contrasts in flavors make it a great dinner salad.

There is much, much more on the menu to explore. http://www.kumaani.com/menu.html  So my recommendation is that you go beyond the sushi if you can and see what else they have to offer, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The decor is spare but comfortable with a good amount of blond wood and well-placed lighting. The service is polite and attentive and in my experience care is extended to make sure that orders are accurately taken and delivered.  As you can see in the photos, presentations are professional and aesthetically considered, which I always appreciate.

Review by Susie Davidson Powell in the times union: 

http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Seriously-good-sushi-at-Albany-s-Kuma-Ani-6307112.php#page-1

So Susie and LorreBob say:  check it out.