Japanese food is unique among the cuisines of the world. It can be incredibly varied, from comforting peasant food to sophisticated haute cuisine. It’s often very healthy, with an emphasis on vegetables, proteins, and other nutritious ingredients. Additionally, many chefs, and even some home cooks who are used to a Japanese style, prepare their food with a principle in mind called me de taberu– in English, to eat with the eyes. This means that your vision needs to have a sensory feast as well as your taste buds in order to properly enjoy a meal. The food has to look great as well as taste great! The visual beauty, presentation, and rich flavors of Japanese foods like sushi and hibachi make them an experience in and of themselves, and it’s an experience that you can enjoy at Naru Sushi and Hibachi in Franklin Lakes!
With its sleek and modern interior, Naru looks like the kind of place where you can find something exquisite, and that’s no accident. Jeong Rhee, the restaurant’s owner, has been in the business since he was young, working his way up and gaining the experience he needed to open Naru Sushi and Hibachi.
“When I was about 20 years old,” Rhee said, “I started working in restaurants. I used to work in Connecticut, in Greenwich. I worked there for ten years! I was a server, then I became a manager, then I decided to open a restaurant. I was looking for spaces and I found one here! I love being here, it’s a great town.”
Sushi and hibachi are both all-encompassing experiences to have as a diner, though in much different ways. The performative element of hibachi, with flaming flat-tops, onion volcanos, and chefs tossing food your way turns the meal into something entertaining and interactive as well as delicious. Popular with all types of people, young and old, it’s something that’s both welcoming to newcomers and enticing for the experienced. Going out for hibachi feels like dinner and a show, watching your chef wield a razor-sharp knife and perform nimble feats with his tools.
Sushi, on the other hand, can be a bit more subtle. Much like tasting a fine wine or liquor, it invites you to use all of your senses to appreciate the ingredients in their purest form and enjoy how fish, vegetables, rice, and seaweed can interact when combined by an expert. Great sushi is a labor of love to make, sourcing the freshest ingredients and seasoning them just enough to bring out their natural qualities. Even the process of shaping the simplest of sushi can take years of practice to truly master. Ingredient availability can be particularly challenging for a restaurant like this, especially in this day and age where certain products can be hard to find. “Covid is giving us a hard time,” Rhee reports. “It’s not only me, and not only here, but the whole world and other industries too. It’s crazy, but it is what it is.”
Both a hibachi chef and a sushi chef are artists in their own right, making a trip to a restaurant like Naru a unique treat. Rhee elaborated about the process of becoming one of these masters. “They’re often trained right in the restaurant. Our hibachi chef has been doing this for twenty years. I used to work with him in Connecticut, and then we came here to open the restaurant and he became my partner. We’ve been working together for twelve years now.”
Even for picky eaters or those who are nervous to venture outside of their culinary comfort zone, there’s something delicious to be found at Naru Sushi and Hibachi. Jeong Rhee has his own dislikes on the restaurant’s menu as well! “My favorite is our meat and our hibachi. It’s just really good. I don’t eat sushi, I don’t like fish!” he confessed. “I prefer meat. But our sushi rolls are really great and lots of people love them as well as our hibachi. We use high quality ingredients so that everything tastes great.” Options on the Naru menu range from basic chicken to lobster and calamari on the hibachi grill, as well as kitchen entrees like udon noodles, tempura, and teriyaki. On the sushi menu, you’ll find dozens of options: some spicy, some fresh, some crunchy, some soft. There are even vegetarian options, and each piece is prepared and plated to give your eyes plenty to feast on before you even take a bite. Eating here is an experience that invites you to dedicate your full attention to what’s in front of you.
For a veteran of the restaurant industry like Jeong Rhee, serving food of Naru’s caliber is something personal. “I do my best to serve people, and make them happy,” he said. “When they’re happy, they come back! When I make food, people are happy and I feel good. I’ve been working in restaurants for a long time. This is my job, and I love it!”
narusushihibachi.com
“I do my best to serve people, and make them happy. When they’re happy, they come back!"