Shingetsu Sushi Bar, Lakeland

January 10, 2014

Soon after moving to Florida, my sister in law Jane discovered an amazing sushi restaurant on the other side of town, Shingetsu. I'm trying to find the post from that first visit, but she wanted to treat her family, especially seafood lover Chef, to a meal with lots of delights. Indeed, we loved the place, and it became a special treat type of place.

As a result of my coworkers asking me out to lunch at a very good sushi place in Tampa, it enters my mind more often. I'd run into Kay, the owner, from time to time when I got my nails done with Katie. A few months ago, she mentioned that she'd sold Shingetsu, but was quick to mention "you will adore the new owners." In the fall, Ed and I set out to see how the new owner was doing, but discovered that they weren't open for lunch on the weekend, and visited Gosh! instead.

Finally, the urge for sushi struck on Friday night, Chef was game, Ed will never turn down sushi, and off we went to see whether new ownership would knock it down from the best in town. The verdict: just as good, with some nice additions.

I had the Lion King roll, tempura shrimp, whitefish, salmon, avocado, asparagus and an ample amount of eel sauce on top, while Ed chose two other specialty rolls from the menu that I need to ask him which they were. (note: found their sushi menu online.) All I know is he only shared one piece, which means it was a huge hit. Chef went with Udon with chicken and while it looked like he hadn't eaten much, once we saw the amount he was bringing home, we realized he must have consumed plenty. It comes in a huge bowl that can deceive you with what is inside, as well as some tempura vegetables and shrimp.

We also enjoyed an appetizer of some lovely shrimp shumai that were delicate and slightly al dente. If you're sharing, they truly are what an appetizer should be-a small tease before the main course, not something huge that will kill your appetite.

My roll was delicious, just the right amount of crunch from the tempura, with fresh fish layered on top of the roll and ample eel sauce. I will say that it was probably the first time I was a little happy that the rolls were so big, as my slices of whitefish fell off into my soy/wasabi blend I tend to make, and they were very tasty on their own. I think it amused Ed that those rolls were huge, I need to tell them to make them bite sized for kids. Chef wasn't interested in his tempura vegetables, so I was able to grab them and these are just as good as when Kay was at the helm, thin slices of sweet potato and squash. If not for the sushi being so good, I probably would fall back to my usual menu selection.

Service is very good, with both servers checking in with us regularly. Ed dislikes avocado and cucumber, and was urged to pick what he wanted, and those items would be removed. When we arrived, there was only one other table occupied, but most were filled when we left, without a decline in the attention paid to us by the staff. The tag team approach is well done here.

While there is no weekend lunch service, if you're in this part of Lakeland during the week, they open at 11am.