8B. Greenwich Post, The Darien Times, New Canaan Advertiser, The Ridgefield Press, The Wilton Bulletin, The Redding Pilot, The Weston Forum,(CT), The Lewisboro Ledger(NY). March 22,2007

RESTAURANT

mayonnaise-eel sauce; sunomono,
assorted seafood with sweet vinegar;
and tuna or toto tartare.
  Impressive are chef's special rolls;
snow mountain, with shrimp tem-
pura and cucumber inside and lob-
ster salad and caviar on the outside;
Dancing eel dragon , with eel and
cucmber on the inside and avocado,
caviar and eel sauce on the out-
side; Rainbow New York sky roll,
crab stick and cucumber inside and
salmon, yellowtail, fluke and avo-
cado inside; Passion roll, spicy tuna,
salmon, yellowtail, fluke and seaweed
and avocado inside, topped with tuna
and served with spicy mayonnaise
sauce outside; and a cooked Thunder
roll with lobster salad, shrimp and
tempura and avocado inside and
edamame, nori (soybean seaweed)
inside.
  Lunch specials include steamed rice
or brown rice, and choice of soup or
green salad. Sushi bar lunch specials
also include choise of soup and
green salad.
  Leading the dessert list are mochi
(moo-chee), a smooth and impressive
ending with a choice of green tea or
ginger ice-cream wrapped in a rice
ring served on a bamboo leaf; and a
contemporary dessert, white and dark
chocolate mousse cake.
  The name Haiku(poetry) has in-
spired a loyal patron to contribute
a poem that ends:
  Here
  There is no lost child crying
No lonely woman or man left unjoyst
  The pleasures found in Haiku

Are with unexhausted scents
And seasoned tastes.

I C R , NY

N

ROSS

IVER

Haiku

Haiku

by FRAN SIKORSKI

  Having been to Southeast Asia and
enjoyed dining in various regions, I
was anticipating a visit to Haiku, an
Asian fusion and sushi restaurant in
Cross River, NY., where the dishes
are classic, Full of color and zest,
portion sizes are moderate, and the
setting is ideal for quiet conversa-
tion.
  Owners of Hailu are Michael Lee
from Malaysia, Peter Diana from
Italy and John Chiang from Taiwan,
who also own several sister restau-
rants in Westchester and Bronxville.
Peter Diana recently opened Lucia
Trattoria on Route 22 in Bedford,
NY.
  Spokesman of the owner Michael
Lee said the partners rotate schedules
to supervise each restaurant.
  Executive chef in Haiku is Simon
Chung from Hong Kong who apprenticed in China and has worked
at several well-known restaurant in
Manhattan, including Shun Lee Palace
and Ching Ching. Attentive service
by the two managers, Shirley Chong
and Hemmy Shu and staff took the
mystery out of the menu and guar-
anteed an appropriate selection of
dishes.
  My choice if a seafood soup was
an ideal one. Made with shrimp, sca-

llops, crab meat and egg whites, its
was rich and satisying combinations
of flavors. Other soup choices are
miso, hot & sour, egg drop and
wonton. My companion enjoyed a
crispy calamari salad with a miso-
vinaigrette dressing, and we shared a
light and refreshing Vietnamese salad
composed with jicama, mango,kiwi,
carrot, crushed peanuts and crispy
cellophane noodles. We continued
our meals with Black Pepper Steak-
Cubes and Malaysian shrimp cooked
with coconut cream.
  Other entree specialties are Seafood
treasure platter with a mild spicy
sauce ; crispy Grand Marnier Prawns
with honey -walnuts sauce; sauteed
Flounder filet with sweet peas and
mushroom; and USDA steak filet.
Michael Lee's mother, Laichan Yee-
Lee, also added some of her Malaysian
prawns, chicken and beancurd re-
cipes to the menu, and we enjoyed
some of those aromatic flavors.
  Appetizers from the kitchen
include shumai (steamed Japanese
shrimp dim sum), Thai vegetarian
spring roll with a mild chili sauce,
peppercorn squid with crispy garlic,
BBQ baby back ribs.
  Sushi bar appetizers are a salmon
ball; pan-seared tuna with wasabi

Cross River Plaza, Routes

35 & 121
914-763-9120

Open every day, serving
lunch noon to 4, Monday
to Friday, and dinner 4 to
10, Monday to Thursday, 4
to 11, Friday and Saturday,
and 2 to 10, Sunday.

Reservations requested;
handicapped accessible;
major credit cards; child-
friendly; full bar, global
wines and full sake menu;
fusion food/sushi bar;
vegetarian selections;
dietary requestaccom-moderate; take-out; delivery
($3 charge) within seven
miles; off-premises catering;
private functions from 60 to
80; parking in the shopping
plaza.

a n d

FOOD DRINK