Going Salmon-Loco with Salmon HQ!

"The great gift of Easter is hope." – Basil Hume

Happy Easter, everyone! Time is zooming by so fast and as the number of COVID19 cases continue to rise, my only wish is that we get to end this fight against the virus soon. Let's all do our part, shall we? Stay home, practice social distancing, sanitize sanitize sanitize and go and get the vaccine when you can. 

I'd also like to add one more tip too -- let's continue to support local businesses as believe me, our economy has been hit so badly and it is just too painful to see one restaurant/retail outlet/business close down after the other. Along with its closure means people losing money, jobs and a livelihood. 

With that, allow me to share with you one of my favorite home food business whom I have been supporting since late last year -- Salmon HQ. I first tried their fresh salmon sashimi and sushi bake sometime in December when I prepared my sister's going-away lunch. I know that they will most probably miss Asian food and both my sister and brother-in-law love Japanese food. Given that, I made sure that we had an abundance of fresh salmon sashimi, two types of sushi bake and more dishes that they are probably missing right now. 

Since the start of the lockdown, I've avoided ordering or eating anything raw just to be on the safe side. We'll never know how the virus can be transmitted so a little cation is definitely necessary. I got to say though that we miss our regular fill of sashimi and sushi though. Thankful for the trending Sushi Bake, we somehow got a taste of our favorite Japanese dish through this unique, deconstructed way. Still, nothing beats the real thing, right? 

Salmon HQ is based in New Manila making it so convenient for me to order. I don't like spending so much on delivery or shipping and this normally hinders me from venturing out of my little city. They have a wide array of dishes and items to choose from -- various cuts of sashimi, wakame salad, several types of sushi bake and even deep-fried ebi tempura. I've lost count of the number of times that I've ordered from them. Some would even be very sudden especially when I'm massively craving for sashimi. I'm glad that they'd always find ways to accommodate my order even how short the lead time is. Thank you! 

Here are some of my top picks from Salmon HQ: 

Premium Cut Salmon Platter (Php. 800/500g)

I guess, Salmon HQ will not be Salmon HQ without their amazing cuts of salmon. I love how you get a generous amount of thick cuts of salmon sashimi. It's so fresh, boneless (in case you're wondering) and it comes with soy sauce and wasabi. My mom loves this so much which is why I made sure to order this for her birthday early this year. 

Spicy Salmon Platter (Php. 1200/500g)

This is my weakness. A plate of salmon cubes mixed in their signature spicy sauce that sits on top of a bed of lettuce. This is so good that it has given me the sweetest dreams and the best daydreams for months. The salmon was so fresh and the spicy level was very tolerable, just enough to perk up your tastebuds and will leave you wanting more. I think among all their menu items, this is one that I've ordered the most. 

Premium Salmon Cake (Php. 1200)

A few years back in Singapore, when Paul asked me what type of cake would I want for my birthday, I jokingly told him that I wanted a sushi cake. It wasn't a thing then and I said it simply because I'd go for sushi over cake any given day. He knew I was kidding and proceeded to buy me a Cedele carrot cake which was also one of my favorites. No complaints there but this year, I really do want to have a legit Sashimi Cake and I think Salmon HQ has just the perfect one. Their Premium Salmon Cake is a two layer cake with a well-packed sushi rice with wakame at the bottom and covered with thick cuts of salmon sashimi and topped with another layer of more sashimi. This is the perfect cake for all sashimi/sushi lovers like myself. 

Sushi Bake

Whoever created sushi bake, in my opinion, is a genius. In this time when we try to avoid eating anything raw, sushi bake answered that concern and offered a solution to satisfy our Japanese food craving while offering something that's cooked. Brilliant, huh? 

We have tried 4 types of Sushi Bake from Salmon HQ. The first was the classic Crunchy California Bake which has strips of kani, mangoes, sushi rice and crunchy tempura flakes (or I think they are tempura flakes) on top. I like it for it's simplicity and flavor making it also very kid-friendly. However, my twins has never tried sushi bake as we are not very experimental yet with their food so... all these are ours to enjoy! mwahahaha

The second sushi bake that we had was the Unagi Bake which was AMAZING! I love anything with sweet unagi and it's topped with crunchy tobiko making it so umami! One thing that I like about Salmon HQ's sushi bakes is the ratio of rice to toppings. It has a good balance of sushi rice and the mix of toppings so it doesn't make it feel like you're just carbo-loading to the max. 

The third sushi bake that we tried was the Uni and Scallops Aburi. Now, what is aburi? Aburi means flame-seared, it's a technique used by modern Japanese chefs where a blow torch is used to sear the seafood/cheese/whatever they wanna sear without cooking or roasting the entire dish. Also, torching/flame searing the sushi brings out a different dimension of flavor too. This style is very popular today and not a single Japanese restaurant nowadays would not have aburi on their menu item. 

Finally, the last sushi bake that we tried recently was the Soft-Shelled Crab and Ebi Sushi Bake (Php. 800). I got to hand it to the Salmon HQ team for never running out of creative ideas for their dishes. This one had deep-fried soft-shelled crabs and prawns that's coated in their signature wasabi spicy sauce. To be honest though, I feel it's still on the sweet side rather than spicy that initially I thought it was a mixture of goma sauce and sweet soy sauce. It was yummy and I love the interesting crunchy texture of the crab. 

This is just a 10th of the full menu of Salmon HQ as they just keep on adding more and more to their line up. Just recently, I tried the new Seafood Wafu Pasta (Php. 500-1500) which I thought was amazing! A little bit on the buttery side but one that will make you smack your lips with satisfaction. Al dente pasta noodles with a mix of scallops, salmon and shrimps cooked in soy butter glaze. Oishi-desu! I hope they keep it in the menu forever. 

Oh what a good find Salmon HQ turned out to be. It's my go-to for fresh and clean sushi and sashimi in this part of town. They've always been so respondent to my messages and would deliver correctly as promise. One thing that I also love is how open they are to feedback and suggestions too. Wishing them all the luck in this challenging time and I hope they will continue to make our sushi/sashimi-loving hearts and bellies happy forever. 

Check our Salmon HQ's Instagram page to order.