East Meets East in Unusual Marriage of Cuisines

At the new Sarina restaurant in Solana Beach, the Japanese gyoza taste like a particularly refined version of Chinese potstickers. The pork tenderloin Szechuan, on the other hand, is based on thick, breaded slices of meat prepared in the Japanese kushi style.

This unusual mixed marriage of Oriental cuisines is the result of the union between owners Eddie Wong, who is Chinese, and his Japanese wife, Kay. The seven-page menu reflects the heritage of both: Half is Japanese and half Chinese, with a page of what is called “American food” (mostly meat and seafood brochettes, served with a baked potato on the side) added in case the issue seems too uncomplicated.

The location itself has a rather interesting history. These premises were gutted by a major fire two years ago when the tenant at the time, the Samurai restaurant, was in the midst of a major renovation and expansion. Samurai abandoned the quarters and relocated on the eastern edge of Solana Beach. When the building reopened one result was an unusually large restaurant space, which Sarina has filled with dozens of tables as well as four Japanese teppan tables, at which elaborate meals are cooked on sheet-metal grills in front of the diners.

Culinary Schizophrenia

There would be no trick to ordering a meal of, say, bird’s nest soup, teriyaki steak and kung pao chicken, but this sort of culinary schizophrenia should not be ventured by anyone who values the savors and nuances of Chinese and Japanese cooking. The two cuisines are quite dissimilar and do not share the same table-top happily. It is better for a party to decide on one cuisine or the other and then, in a blur of flashing chopsticks, share everything in sight.

Sarina turns in a fine performance with the Japanese side of the menu, and this cuisine may well prove the restaurant’s primary draw. The Chinese list runs to greater length, but still seems rather perfunctory. Although some individual dishes are excellent, more imaginative Chinese cooking can be found elsewhere.

Since the Japanese meals, especially the combination dinners, are large and varied, a la carte appetizers seem somewhat beside the point, although a party that wished to tarry with a plate of succulent, meat-filled gyoza dumplings would be well within the bounds of reason. There is also a nicely arranged sashimi (sliced raw fish) plate, as well as numerous sushi combinations.

Teppan cooking, with its emphasis on flash, dash and large pieces of meat, chicken and fish, may be most attractive to those who want American-style food tricked up with a mild Japanese accent. The traditional cooking holds far more interest, and some of the combination plates offer luxurious collections of food.

The grandest, the Tokyo Special, excludes meat in favor of a wonderful array of seafood that includes beautifully fresh, sweet-tasting sashimi; a breaded, deep-fried crab claw; delicate fried scallops; a mixed shrimp and vegetable tempura and, as its crowning glory, a broiled lobster tail that has been brushed with teriyaki sauce. The presentation is typically Japanese, which is to say quite elaborate, with each item tucked neatly into a compartment of a large, handsome tray. Besides seafood, it included a simple salad, a pile of pungent, salty fresh pickles, and rice, and was preceded by a miso soup that was so good that it aroused suspicions that a bit of Chinese broth had made its way into the brew. ( Miso , the soup of Japanese daily life, is based on a fermented soy product and can be a rather watery affair, but Sarina’s version was quite rich.)

Great Jumble of Tempura

The same garnishes and careful presentation added to the attractions of the Kyoto combination, which featured a particularly juicy teriyaki steak and a great jumble of tempura as its star offerings. Skewers of flat, broad scallops (their odd shape suggested that they might have been lightly pounded) and vegetables were at best ho-hum, but the platter redeemed itself by including an unadvertised arrangement of first-rate, raw tuna sushi.

The mood changes entirely when a foray is made into the Chinese precincts of the menu. The appetizers assume much greater importance, and there are some fine ones, most notably the “gift-wrapped” shrimp. Encased in rice paper that a waiter said was of the restaurant’s own manufacture, these oblong bundles filled with whole shrimp and a good deal of fresh cilantro were quickly deep-fried so that the paper crisped in the fat. It took on a batter-like quality, in fact, and the overall effect was one of great delicacy.

In addition to the usual spareribs and egg rolls, there are king crab puffs, a variation on the won ton theme that wraps seasoned crab meat in pastry shells and fries the packages to a gilded crispness. This was a pleasant example of how the familiar can be transformed by making a slight adjustment, in this case the substitution of crab for the usual minced pork.

Oddly enough, for a menu that approaches the length of the California voters pamphlet, no mention is made of hot and sour soup. Shark’s fin, sizzling rice and won ton soups are listed, however, as predicates to rather predictable entree lists of pork, fowl, beef and chicken.

In another departure from current practice, little mention is made of hot Szechuan dishes, which tend to dominate at many Chinese houses these days. One of the few offered is the Szechuan pork tenderloin, which, as mentioned earlier, included Japanese-style breaded meat. The inappropriate meat marred the rather fine sauce, which was strong but not overpowering and which gained its heat not from fiery Szechuan “black paper” peppers, but from a mix of red, yellow and green bell peppers.

Texture-Temperature Contrast

The minced chicken, on the other hand, was not only utterly traditional but well above par. This particularly savory dish calls for finely chopped meat bound by a rich brown sauce, and for crisp lettuce leaves lightly spread with sweet plum sauce. When rolled crepe-fashion, the two elements offer an excellent texture and temperature contrast.

The final dish sampled was the beef with fresh mushrooms, a typical Cantonese preparation of tender, stir-fried meat in brown sauce. All in all, it came off quite well, but the more pungent dried black mushrooms commonly associated with Chinese cooking would have given this dish a better finish.

The Japanese combination dinners cost $12.95 to $20.95; the Chinese entrees are somewhat higher than elsewhere, and a Chinese meal for two including a glass of wine, tax and tip should cost about $35 to $50.

SARINA

731 S. Highway 101, Solana Beach

792-1471

Lunch and dinner daily.

Credit cards accepted.