Salmon HQ: Sushi Cakes + Good Sushi Bakes (Sulit!)

If you’re a fan of salmon, you must have heard of Salmon HQ. I started noticing it on my social media feed when lockdown started last year.

We have been ordering salmon from them every time we had salmon cravings, but mostly stuck to their Salmon Platter. Their salmon was fresh and fatty, and they were always very generous with the wasabi. We always had a few extra wasabi balls remaining after the salmon has all been eaten, and then I’d make wasabi mayo with the remaining wasabi. You can also make wasabi mayo for your salmon if you’re not a fan of the soy/sauce wasabi combo. Wasabi mayo is just wasabi, mayo, sugar and just a little salt — all to taste! Just adjust the ingredients until you like how it tastes.

SALMON HQ SUSHI BAKES & MORE

Salmon is good for the heart and is great in helping to boost the immune system. While fresh salmon is great, sometimes we crave some variety.

So for the current long weekend, we decided to try Salmon HQ’s other offerings. Everybody’s home and it was a holiday, no one is busy working from home, everybody can enjoy a nice meal out in the terrace.

Premium Salmon Cake

The star of the table was of course, the Premium Salmon Cake (P1,200)! Inside the cake is a filling of layers of rice, finely chopped cucumbers and kani salad! All enveloped in slices of fresh salmon!

This was the showstopper. Extra stars for presentation! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

You don’t even have to cook rice for the meal because this already has rice. It’s complete! I loved the fresh salmon and I appreciate the thick layer of kani salad. So good! Season with some wasabi soy sauce.

I also like how they pack the sauces to ensure that there’s no spillage during delivery 🙂

As much as possible, try to fully consume this during the meal because I don’t think you can reheat the rice layer without cooking the salmon. We had about 1/4 of this leftover (kept in the fridge) and we just ate it cold for midnight snack – still delicious, except the rice was cold.

Sushi Bakes

For our sushi bakes, we were able to try 4 kinds:

• Aburi Scallops, Salmon & Ebi Sushi Bake (Small P700 | Large P1600)
• Soft Shell Crab & Ebi Sushi Bake (Small P800 | Medium P1600 | Large P1800)
• Unagi Sushi Bake (Small P900 | Medium P1800 | Large P2000)
• Crunchy California Sushi Bake (Small P500 | Large P1200)

We got half and half sushi bakes (special order). One small half & half Crunchy California & Unagi Sushi Bake, and one small half & half Aburi Scallops Salmon Ebi & Soft Shell Crab & Ebi Sushi Bake.

The first time we ordered one of their sushi bakes last year, it was just so so, that’s why we usually just stuck with ordering the salmon platter. However, I’m glad we tried their sushi bakes again, because this time, they were the bomb! I don’t know if our first order was just a fluke, but these current sushi bakes were a big improvement! These were flavorful and not bland at all! Each had different textures and flavors from the different elements that make up the sushi bake.

You’d expect the sushi bakes to all taste the same, but they didn’t! Each sushi bake had its own distinct flavor that makes it different from the others.

It’s so difficult to pick a favorite but I’ll try to explain each one:

• Crunchy California – this would appeal to most people and it’s the safe order. If you’re not sure what to get, get this. Who doesn’t like California maki anything? I admit to my childish tastes, and this is the one I like the most. This one is generous with the crabstick mayo, has bits of mango for bursts of sweetness, topped with tempura crunchies (tenkasu).
• Unagi Sushi Bake – we can really taste the unagi! This is why I say the sushi bakes don’t all taste the same. This one really tastes like unagi because it is topped with real unagi, AND is drizzled with the usual sweet & savory unagi sauce. The different colored roes also add a visual contrast. So pretty!
• Soft Shell Crab & Ebi – For those who love soft-shelled crab ❤ the crab and the shrimp have been “tempura’d” and then drizzled with a flavored mayo
• Aburi Scallops, Salmon & Ebi – this is the more savory sushi bake. Instead of the usual white sushi rice, the rice here is brown (soy sauce, I think? Not brown rice). As an aburi, the seafood toppings have been seared, which contrasts nicely to the creamy sauce.

All the sushi bakes we had were generous with the fillings and toppings – they are worth the price! I think most, if not all, of the sushi bakes had a crabstick mayo layer. You can really see the crabsticks, unlike other sushi bakes where the crabsticks were so small and so few they were practically invisible. If you give this as a gift to a celebrant, di ka mapapahiya.

Check out how thick the fillings are:

The sushi bakes come with 2 packs of seaweed each, which ran out quickly! Good thing we always keep a stash of seaweed packs at home just for these kinds of emergencies ? Sushi bakes have now become one of our great comfort foods.

Seafood Wafu Pasta

Salmon HQ’s Seafood Pasta is buttery. They did not scrimp on the butter! Aside from the wonderful smell of warm butter, it also has generous chunks of perfectly cooked salmon and scallop chunks and shrimp. I know how easy it is to overcook scallops and salmon, and these were perfect!

Seafood Wafu Pasta (Small P500 | Medium P1000 | Large P1500)

We got the small size.

The family dove into the salmon cake and the sushi bakes first and tried the pasta last, so we actually had leftovers of the pasta. It’s just that because of the visual wow factor of the salmon cake and the sushi bakes, people tend to go for those first. However, for our midnight snack, after a reheat in the air fryer (low temp only, you don’t even need to change containers, it fits in our air fryer, just reheat it in the foil pan), people realized that the pasta was also really good! It’s just that it’s simpler — but still uses quality ingredients like fragrant, real butter and fresh seafood.

SUMMARY

Salmon HQ is bang for the buck! The reason we keep going choosing to order salmon from Salmon HQ instead is because it’s easier than having to go to Farmer’s Market or Baclaran to buy probably questionable seafood, especially something that we will be eating raw, and, considering all the other hassles, it’s easier and cheaper to just order from Salmon HQ.

From experience, Salmon HQ’s salmon has consistently been fresh and of good quality. I am not an expert at choosing fish, and I hate going to the wet market, so I’m happy to let the experts do the quality check 😀 I’m sure they maintain the same quality control for all their fresh seafood, too.

As for yesterday’s seafood feast, we had a satisfying meal that left us all full and happy. While the sushi bakes tasted rich from all the variety of seafood and creamy mayo sauces, it’s still a healthier option than a meat-based feast. We were all quite full, but the meal didn’t sit heavily on our stomach.

We loved the sushi bakes so much this time that we immediately ordered another one to send to my aunt who was celebrating her birthday!

While I can always make a sushi bake at home, it’s just not worth the effort for me. Believe me, I did it twice. To make it this good, I would have to spend so much more money to buy ingredients (plus shipping) AND have to spend more time preparing, cooking and assembling, and it wouldn’t be this good. Just order nalang! ?

If you’re looking for reasonably priced seafood-based dishes, you can message Salmon HQ on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/salmon.hq 🙂

Pick-up is from their location at 7th St. corner Gilmore Ave, QC.