Chinese brothers do Japanese proud

An equally good bet is another appetizer special, aptly named tuna heaven ($7), consisting of two potato cakes, ethereally soft on the inside, fried crisp and topped with a sweet, spicy raw tuna.

The restaurant is owned by Jackie Zheng, who is Chinese; his brother Jerry is behind the sushi bar. Both men have cooked in Asian restaurants, Jackie in New York and New Jersey. "I like Japanese food. Doing sushi right is like an art," Jackie says, asked why he opted to open a Japanese place, as opposed to Chinese. Besides, he adds, there are "so many Chinese restaurants out there."

The storefront restaurant is immaculate, with the tables and bar made of blond wood. It's a quiet place with a gurgling fish pond, but we could do without the cloying muzak. There are ceiling fans and Asian decorative accents throughout. Behind the bar, the chefs are bent over their work, deftly turning out square and rectangular plates of the freshest sushi. Zheng goes to the fish market in South Boston almost daily to see what's just arrived. If you want the basic sushi, get the sushi regular ($13.50), which comes with miso soup and includes seven pieces of sushi and five California rolls.

But there's more than sushi here. Try the ten don ($12), a meal in a bowl. Two jumbo shrimp tempura, butterflied and lightly battered, join zucchini, sweet potato, and taro tempura. It's all served over a delicious rice that contains shredded onion, carrot, and zucchini, along with mushrooms and a bit of scrambled egg white.