My favorite sushi place in Tampa is Samurai Blue. It was one of the first restaurants I tried in Tampa, years before I moved here. And I still have my souvenir from that night; a small, discreet tattoo (and the reason I never drink sake any more). It’s also super convenient to take visitors to, since Ybor is so pretty and diverse, not to mention I love the trolley.
My future sister in law, Meressa, was craving sushi, so we headed to Samurai Blue. We arrived early for lunch, right after they opened. It was nice; since we were the first ones there we had really quick, attentive service.
The restaurant is in Centro Ybor, an area of Ybor that has a bunch of restaurants and some random souvenir shops. Samurai Blue is in a gorgeous brick building, with super high ceilings with exposed beams.
Such a gorgeous structure.
The sushi bar is really cool, and the chefs will let you sit and watch as they create awesome food masterpieces.
An artist at work.
I always order the seaweed salad to start. The presentation is my favorite, with the tall martini glass and gorgeous colors.
Seriously, have you ever seen such a beautiful glass of seaweed?!
I also always have a California roll. It’s practically a sushi staple. It’s the equivalent of getting bread at an Italian restaurant. And I’m clearly a creature of habit.
Can’t go wrong with the California roll, especially this one.
Eel is my favorite fish to have on sushi and I really love eel sauce. Meressa, however, had never tried eel and wasn’t particularly keen on it. Being the nice sister that I am, I ordered the Tokyo Rock and Roll, and lied about what was in it. Well, not lied exactly. I just left out the part about it having eel in it. But it was so pretty and I knew she would like it if she just gave it a try. And it ended up being her favorite!
Mmmmm so good.
But best in show went to the Caterpillar Roll. It was darn cute it was hard to even eat it! I’ve never had it before and I’m so glad I ordered it. It was full of crab, cucumber, and avocado, and had the cutest cream cheese eyes I’ve ever seen.
It was (kinda) hard to eat this little guy. Well, until I remembered how yummy he would be!
You definitely need to head to Ybor and some sushi! It’s so delicious, and adorable.
I will definitely check it out next time I’m in that area. Looks delicious.