8200 Renaissance Parkway
Southpoint, Durham, NC
Website
Entrees: $11–$18
Sushi Combo Dinners: $18–$87
Momoyama is an unassuming, Japanese restaurant with lots of good quality sushi options as well as the standard stir-fries, teriyaki, hibachi, udon, and tempura options. Japanese music played over the speakers and the walls were decorated with simple Japanese drawings. I liked the black panels that surrounded the sushi bar.
I started my meal with a great glass of plum wine.
I'm always nostalgic about plum wine, since it was the first type of wine I ever drank. I took the picture because it was a really pretty shade, not that I remember the name of it. You expect good notes from your food blogger? ,)
When I'm at a Japanese restaurant, I order sushi half the time and an entrée the other half—occasionally, I go crazy and order a noodle dish. Today, I ordered the Spicy Momoyama dinner, which came with miso soup and a side salad.
The first two courses were better than the standard offerings. The miso in the soup dispersed in a lovely manner when I dipped my spoon in. I also strayed from the ginger dressing that usually accompanies a side Japanese salad and got their sesame one instead. It was fantastic—very flavorful with a nice texture. The iceberg was crisp and extra cold; it would have made my mother, who only uses iceberg that's been chilled in an ice bath in her salads, quite happy. Disclaimer: I do not make my own salads with iceberg, but it doesn't repulse me as it does some foodies.
On to the main course!
The Spicy Momoyama was ridiculously good for a chicken stir-fry. Honestly, I wonder if everything just tasted good to me that night. This was an oily red sauce no doubt made with lots of crushed chili pepper, but it was also sweet, so that the heat and richness of the chili was tempered. I loved it, and the chicken chunks, broccoli, and snow peas.
My husband had a sushi and sashimi combo dinner. I didn't try it, but he thought it was great. It was definitely pretty.
Momoyama, while a little lacking in atmosphere, does provide a great dinner. I enjoyed every morsel of mine. I cannot say how much the gorgeous weather that day gets the credit for that.
Reviewed 3.19.10.
