Sure ain’t chic, but the Sushi’s super!  At least once a month the Hilton family gets a monster craving for Sushi. And fortunately for us, and for our readers in the Monmouth and Ocean County areas, we have lots of places to choose from…and some of them are amazingly authentic.

One recent Friday night we decided on short notice to head on over to Shiki, which is housed in a rather imposing and authentically Japanese looking building on the North bound side or Rte 35(?) in Manalapan(?)

            They’ve been serving sushi there – along with Hibachi-style food too - for over 20 years, which is kind of evident once you step inside: It’s decidedly retro – with a big hibachi room on one side, a big open bar area on the other, and with the sushi bar tucked away in a back corner where, believe it or not, a plastic “Talking Bass” presides over the fish case. Chic it ain’t. But oddly enough, the faux-Japanese décor, knickknacks, talking fish and the bevy of kimono-clad waitresses bustling around, all seemingly in a tizzy, give it a kind of authentic charm…and, after all, it’s the sushi we were there for, and we weren’t disappointed.

            We started with drinks, which are especially retro. Mrs. Hilton had a “Rising Sun” – a pretty, delicious and a mighty stiff drink, she said. Son-one had a Mai Tai – another really retro drink - also mighty stiff as all retro drinks are  - which sported a plastic orchid, with plastic greenery, on a three-inch spear, piercing a chunk of pineapple. Now that’s retro, as was my own Beefeaters on the rocks I guess. While the Japanese beers our other diners opted for were decidedly more au courant, those retro-drinks hit the spot!

            As we usually do, we selected a variety of rolls – plus a big plate of sashimi, which is strictly a “guy thing” in our group – and two appetizer orders of shrimp and vegetable tempura to help fill up the less adventurous. And, as usually happens when we order this way, the first thing to come out were two bowls of soup and two salads for our five diners…because they come with some part of what we’d ordered. No worries, since we’re family, and since we always share around anyway. The salad eaters dug in neatly with their chopsticks to the “usual” iceberg lettuce thing with sweet and gingery dressing. Nothing special here, as usual. But the miso soup was the best we’d ever tasted – loaded with fresh seaweed, scallions and other greens, and with lots of tender tofu.

            Hardly had we finished when out came the tempura, followed in a flash by our sushi, sashimi, and, oh yes, the special “sushi pizza”. The tempura was delicious everyone agreed – with some of the lightest, crispiest and non-greasiest (and hottest) batter we’ve encountered. The rolls were all uniformly excellent and the “special Sumo roll” of eel, avocado, spicy yellowtail and some crispy “something” on the outside, was literally off the charts good.      There was a very nice assortment - and fairly generous amount too - of sashimi, at what we all thought was an extremely reasonable price. The yellowtail, salmon and fluke were near-perfection, while the tuna (which in fairness is kind of out of season) was just OK. Another fish, which my sons said was swordfish, and the best of all, they said, disappeared before I got a bite. The sushi pizza turned out to be quite a delightful surprise: thin curls of salmon, fluke, yellowtail and tuna were arranged over a bed of seaweed salad – which rested on a glutinous-rice pancake - to look amazingly like a pizza. Unlike most such novelty items, it was delish! Although we were all stuffed, one of our waitresses informed us that we were entitled to one dessert, so we figured what the heck. Since ice creams were the only choice we opted for “ginger”. (Don’t go there.)

            By the time we left, every hibachi table and every seat at the sushi bar was taken – with many diners clearly “regulars.” We can see – or no, make that “taste” why.

            SHIKI is open for lunch……………..and for dinner…………..every day?