In a spectacular food city like Ho Chi Minh City, a sushi lover is spoiled for choice. Le Thanh Ton street’s JapanTown alone hosts a mouth-watering array of authentic sushi bars. However, a few streets down, on Dong Du, lies what I believe to be the new crown gem of the sushi scene.
What was once a hotel basement parking garage has now been transformed into Maguro Studio, a seductively lit Japanese restaurant and butchery, boasting an exclusively Japanese supply of ingredients.
Its main attraction lies in the name, decadent Bluefin tuna imported from Japan. As a butchery that regularly breaks down whole tuna, Maguro Studio offers the best bang for your buck, with the freshest cuts of fish.
While they offer an enticing omakase menu, on this occasion we dined a la carte. To start, we indulged in a sumptuous selection of salmon, yellowtail and chutoro, which melted in our mouths. I mean look at how thick those sashimi slices are! Thick with two C’s as the kids would say.
Next up, we tried some halibut sashimi, which was plump and had a good bite despite being sliced much more thinly. To our delight, the chef then treated us to a piece of grilled halibut nigiri each, which was seasoned to perfection with wasabi soy and a monkfish liver topping. This was a definite WOW moment, and a very nice touch by the Chef.
Shortly after, we were presented with the cutest mini spicy tuna tacos, held together by a crispy wonton shell, topped with salmon roe. These were deliciously tasty, and there was no shortage of tuna. We also tried the scallop volcano roll, which was beautifully presented with a topping of crab roe atop a bed of tempura crisps.
This was not my favourite, but what came next was certainly a showstopper. Chutoro slices kissed by charcoal for a smoky flavour, with a rich truffle ponzu sauce I couldn’t get enough of (devoured too quickly for a photo!).
All in all, Maguro Studio blew me away, and I cannot wait to come back for their omakase, which seems fit for royalty, and comes with a price tag of starting from 1.9 million VND. Worth it!
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