Spencer Williams, Contributor

Early last year I wrote an article titled, 'Raw Delicacies of the East', on East Japanese restaurant in the Market Place on Constant Spring Road, St Andrew. I was full of praise for their sushi and sashimi, and it was refreshing to finally come across a decent eatery where I didn't feel that I was being ripped off.

Disappointingly, the quality of the fish has gone down stream since. I am not sure why, but I can guess that the turn-over of raw fish is not so great. I eat at East once a month, and every time it gets worse. The tuna, yellow tail and snapper sashimi all taste like they are the same, and the salmon ones are more 'fishy' than they ought to be!

Also these items are expensive, at $200-$300 for a 1x2 inch slice of seafood, which I wouldn't mind, if I could leave the joint dreaming about my next visit. Don't even get me started on the raw rolls, which fill your belly without satisfying your appetite. Customers must be going through copious amounts of wasabi and soy sauce, which are both good at adding more flavour to your meal! Even the seaweed is always tired and water-logged (not with the ocean).

Surprisingly, the dining areas are still jam-packed on certain nights. Perhaps this is due to the lack of choices or competition. If this were a city like New York, this establishment would have closed down by now.

So why are customers accepting this? More to the point. Why are the owner, managers and chefs willing to sacrifice excellence? And what purpose does this serve them? Do they have so little pride in their product?

It's not as if the cooked food is out of this world either. The shrimp tempura platter, with large shrimps and wedges of potato, carrot, eggplant and sweet pepper, all fried in tasteless batter, are a tad greasy. Sprinkling a little salt on them as they come out of the hot oil would draw the fat off the surface and bring out the natural flavour of the vegetables and shellfish. The beef and salmon, in teriyaki sauce, are always overdone and dry, yet these two cuts of protein are at their best when on the side of 'rare'!

Better choices

The better choices have now boiled down to a few 'cooked' rolls (like the spider roll with fried soft shelled crab and the eel roll with cucumber), and the udon noodle soups. The latter is particularly tasty, but the tempura bits they put in one and the shrimp tempura in the other are unnecessary. The batter becomes soggy and actually takes away the fine quality of the broth itself. Duck, mushrooms or some kind of Asian greens could be added instead. However, those noodles are so delicious and succulent, that you truly wouldn't miss anything else.

In fact, if you wanted to choose only one dish on the menu, I'd have to recommend this. It's reasonably priced, and has a lot more to show for itself, than you'd first expect.

The thing is, no one wants to go to a restaurant that supplies so few worthy options. East is riding on their success when they first opened. But how much longer can, or should, this last? How much longer can true connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine put up with food that is not so delicate after all?

East Japanese Restaurant, the Courtyard, Market Place, 67 Constant Spring Road, St Andrew. Telephone: 960-3962 Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 12-10 p.m. Look to spend: $800-$3,500 per person (including tax and service charge), depending on what you order.