In Charm's Way

Hikari is so freakin' cute — and the food doesn't suffer for it.

by Elisa Ludwig

Michael T. Regan PRETTY GREEN: Hikari's "Sprunchy" — a spicy crunchy tuna roll topped with avocado and flying fish roe — is one of many major maki. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

As we all know, restaurants are serious business. It takes a lot of work to deliver that essence of a soupcon of a scented broth in a hand-blown glass cup. But must we bear the burden of stuffy stressitude in our dining experiences? Can't we just sit back and have a little fun with our food? The answer is yes if you dine at Hikari, a Japanese and Korean restaurant where cheerfulness rules.

To understand the joy of Hikari, one need only look to the Web site, a blog with continual updates of new menu items (like recently added Korean entrées). There are attractive photos of sushi — "super artistic party platters." BYO is, we are told, "amazingly welcome." "Vegetarian menu? I told you we are from the mother EARTH!"

The restaurant itself, situated on a corner of the lower end of Liberties Walk, is painted in bright shades of pistachio green and cantaloupe orange, with sleek bamboo flooring and a stainless steel wall emerging from the curtained-off kitchen. A lacquered wood counter sits beneath a navy and white "SUSHI" banner, the tubelike glass display refrigerator encasing neat blocks of tuna, salmon and fluke. Tables are topped with black tablecloths, which, soon enough, are covered with chunky geometric goblets and platters with built-in shallows for soy sauce poured by the friendliest, sweetest servers you can imagine.

"Cute" isn't as important a virtue in the restaurant world as it is in, say, the realm of Web sites devoted to photos of pugs in pajamas. Luckily, Hikari backs its cuteness up with the goods, like soft-shell crab tempura, at once crisp and creamy, dusted with ruby-red sprinkles of tobiko and served over spring mix with fried shallots and a haunting citrus vinaigrette. Then there are exceedingly delicious spring rolls, shrimp with clouds of orange masago roe and finely sliced enoki mushroom folded up in a crisp deep-fried wrapper embedded with shards of minty shiso leaf — proof that a spring roll need not resort to cheap fillings like cheesesteak to be interesting. Kani salad is a seafood salad most delis could only dream about — an orange, red and white tangle of shredded cucumber, scallion and crab stick in a spicy mayo-based dressing tossed with shards of fried shallot and masago.

The sushi bar, manned by two baseball-capped chefs, deftly turns out fish. Most mind-blowing is the Nobu-inspired tiradito appetizer, a platter of glistening, thinly sliced raw scallops, each ringed with a jalapeño slice and a teeny glob of ume, salted pickled plum. Just beware — these innocent-looking googly eyes will burn your cilia. (Now is a good time to order one of the cooling Japanese white-grape drinks with floating bits of fleshy aloe.)

Simple nigiri, like the suzuki (striped bass) and hamachi (yellowtail) are tender, very fresh slabs of fish on wasabi-dotted rice pads. There is, of course, maki galore, running the gamut from vegetarian option to house specials to more typical rolls to an entire spicy-specific section of the menu (insert wondrous, sincere exclamation here!). All maki can be upgraded with tobiko and rice crunch for a dollar each, a nice touch you don't see too often.

Among the vegetarian specialties are ambitious futomaki, bursting with cucumber, asparagus, pickled daikon, avocado, carrot and spongy egg; and much simpler single-veg rolls like crunchy salt-pickled batonets of burdock swirled up with rice.

On the other end of the spectrum is the polar bear roll, which, if you can get past the sad evocation of the cutest endangered species ever, is a fabulous concoction of salmon and avocado spiked with rice crunch and draped in luscious white tuna, then drizzled with spicy sauce and thick, sweetened tare. Orange dragon begins with smooth avocado and salmon and spirals inward to a crispy foil-like filling of salmon skin. The Palm Springs roll is a low-carb fantasy, a riceless bundle of cucumber stuffed with mango, avocado, tuna and salmon with a fragrant ponzu sauce.

Korean entrées, which, as the blog says, are newer to the repertoire, are a mixed bag. Bulgogi, barbecued beef, makes an impressive platter served with tangly green seaweed, sesame-studded rice, half moons of daikon and fried matchstick potatoes; but the beef itself is grayish, the flavor dull. On the other hand, the jap chae, glassy sweet potato noodles tossed with shiitake mushrooms, feathery spinach and julienned peppers and carrots, has an unexpectedly deep, almost meaty flavor despite coming from "the mother EARTH!"

Desserts are minimal and easy: tempura ice cream or mochi. The mochi come in strawberry, green tea and red-bean flavors, the rice-cake-coated balls sliced in half and arranged on an oblong tray. They are pleasantly chewy, not overly gummy, served over a marbleized graffiti of chocolate and strawberry sauces with maraschino cherries on either end. If that presentation won't make you smile, you've been lost to the dark side. Enjoy that consommé, eh?

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Hikari

Liberties Walk, 1040 N. American St., 215-923-2654, thehikari.blogspot.com

Mon.-Thu., 11:30 a.m-3 p.m. and 4:30-10 p.m; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 4-10 p.m.

Appetizers, $3-$12; entrées, $14-$24

BYOB

Delivery available