Morimoto’s has The best Japanese food I’ve ever had. (in addition to the best sushi)
The chefs have imagination, precision, extremely high standards and everything from the smallest grain of rice to the colors shifting through the transparent furniture is absolutely perfect.
I ordered the Tuna Tataki Salad and an assortment of nigiri, maki and temaki sushi. The salad was a small tower of baby greens perfectly coated in a beautiful yuzu-citrus dressing and garnished with thin strips of katsuobushi (dried, smoked bonito). The flavor combination was both astonishingly beautiful and new, but not overpowering or disagreeable in any way. Every flavor component was perfectly balanced with something else in the dish.
The spicy tuna was very nice, just on the edge of “almost too spicy” without actually going over the edge and all the other sushi was fresh and wonderful, perfectly sliced, formed and plated, with each item being worthy of completely embarrassing a competitor on Iron Chef.
I plan to go back the next time I’m in Philly.