Big Crunch Sushi

Wholesale ... sushi?  Yup, that is what I'm here to review today.  Pre-made, packaged sushi (and other Asian dishes) that you can find in grocery and convenience stores in Australia, from Big Crunch Sushi.

"Deliciously fresh food to go."

There comes a point when traveling when you get a bit fatigued from eating out all the time.  Where you just want something simple, and easy, particularly when you are on the road for a long time.  While I'll often get takeout from a restaurant, or go eat in a mall food court during these times, sometimes I also just go to the grocery store, and get some basics: fresh fruit, cereal and milk, pre-made salads, and, um, yes, sometimes sushi.  Like, Big Crunch Sushi.

"Our philosophy is to create deliciously tasty, honest and healthy fresh food. All of our products contain wholesome nutritious ingredients with no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours."

Big Crunch Sushi aims to create healthy and fresh items, many of which are gluten-free and even offers some vegan items.

Assorted Items.

I tried a few things, and had mixed success.  I mean, after all, it *is* pre-made ...  did find their logo at least entertaining?

Rolls

The first thing I went for was a sushi roll.  Big Crunch Sushi makes a variety of Roll-Your-Own sushi  rolls, with either brown or white rice.  The offerings are your classic tuna/spicy tuna/California, along with, um, more non-traditional choices like teriyaki chicken or beef, chicken schnitzel, and smoked salmon.

California Roll.

The rolls are Roll-Your-Own style, which means there is a diagram on how you are to pull the wrapper back to reveal the nori, which is separate from the rice so it doesn't get soggy, and then magically turn it into a hand roll.  This is much like the sushi found in convenience stores in Tokyo, where, uh, I struggled to properly form them, but at least I could claim to not be able to follow the non-English instructions.  I had little excuse here, as they were in English.

I oped for the white rice California roll, which I expected to be crab stick, rather than real crab, but I like crab stick, so this was no problem.  I also assumed there would be avocado, that I'd need to remove, due to my allergy.  The white rice was decent, not dried out, lightly seasoned, reasonably sticky. 

DIY ... not so great!

Clearly, my rolling skills need some work.  That said, I did love the crisp nori, and this technique for keeping it separate is very effective, even if I didn't make the prettiest roll.

This was a really, really odd California roll.  I was confused as I ate the filling.  I was glad to see no avocado, usually part of a California roll.  But the texture seemed wrong from crab or crab stick, and it really seemed like there was shredded carrot in it.  Crab stick usually has orange die, so, I still believed it must be crab stick, but, with every bite, I was more convinced that it was carrot, and, definitely not crab ... it was too firm, it seemed like shrimp.  The filling wasn't very good, even with the mayo mixed in.   I wished it came with a soy sauce packet though, and ideally some wasabi or ginger, as it was very plain without.

I dug the wrapper out of the trash (it was right on top!) and took a look at the ingredients.  Um, yes.  It was, indeed, carrot and shrimp.  No crab, no crab stick.  Carrot and shrimp.  What?  How is that a California roll?  This was such a confusing item, and, besides the nori, I didn't actually like it at all.

*+.

Rice Paper Rolls

Rice paper rolls come in twin packs or singles.  Options include chicken, prawn, beef, sriracha pork, veggie, or vegan beef all of which come with sweet chili dipping sauce, or duck with a hoisin sauce.

Vegetarian Rice Paper Roll.

I was actually pretty excited for the rice paper roll.  I was craving something light and healthy.  

Inside the rice paper wrapper was lettuce, rice noodles, carrot, red cabbage, thai basil, mint, and fried bean curd.

It wasn't very good.  The rice paper wrapper was slimy and hard, the fillings kinda slimy too.  It had no sauce with it, and I definitely needed to go get some sauce sauce and duck sauce to jazz it up.  The twin packs do come with sauce, but the singles don't.  The fried bean curd was lightly seasoned, but otherwise, it was just bland.

Meh. **.

Salads

"Salads" come with two bases, neither of which are mixed greens.  Instead, base options are rice noodles or brown rice.  Toppings include poke style raw salmon or tuna (or, um, chicken?), along with teriyaki chicken, Thai beef, and Vietnamese chicken.  They come in two sizes.

Salmon Poke Brown Rice Bowl.

I really wanted a salad with a base of greens, but, I opted for the brown rice rather than rice noodles.  I went poke style, salmon.

I was impressed with the toppings - there was a little bit of mixed greens on top, plus shredded carrot, cabbage, and ... oddly, zucchini.  I appreciated the lemon wedge to drizzle over it, the seaweed salad, and the sprinkle of sesame seeds on the salmon.  The poke sauce/dressing was in a separate packet to mix on.  Actually all fairly fresh, and very poke-appropriate.

That said, I wasn't really into the salmon itself.  It was reasonable quality for grocery store sushi I suppose, but, raw salmon from a grocery store pre-packaged item isn't really ever going to be great.  It wasn't fishy, the texture was good, and the cubes were a nice size, but, it didn't taste particularly fresh.

Overall, not the best item for me, although I was happy to use the toppings, minus most of the salmon, with the dressing and my own salad base to make a nice creation.  ***.

Soups

The soups are "Fresh Noodle Instant Soup", you must add boiling water.  These come in many styles: ramen (chicken, veggie), pho (beef, chicken, veggie), laksa (chicken, prawn), udon (beef), and a few others.

Veggie Pho.

Inside the bowl was rice noodles, shitake mushroom, pickled carrot, red cabbage, onion, celery, thai basil, and fried bean curd, along with the veggie stock.

Much like the poke bowl, the toppings for this were actually quite good.  I liked the pickled carrots and cabbage, the shitakes were flavorful, everything else was fresh and crisp, and the fried bean curd was juicy and marinated in tasty sauce.  The rice noodles were kinda meh, and I actually ended up just taking all the toppings, including the sauce, and threw it on top of mixed greens and quite enjoyed a salad instead.  

***+ toppings, *** pho.