I get to travel a lot and I have been to so many fun places. My absolute favorite place is Nashville, Tennessee. There are so many fun things to do, whether it’s listening to country music, catching a hockey game, or eating at one of the many, many restaurants around town.
Nashville has exploded with growth over the last several years. The suburbs are also booming. One of those areas is Franklin, Tennessee. I had just arrived in town after a long drive. I was hungry and I remembered that there was a great Asian fusion restaurant called Wild Ginger not far from my hotel.
The restaurant has a modern design with touches of freshness. The freshness comes from all the greenery that adorns the walls. The entryway is breathtaking.
They have a great patio that is perfect for outside seating when it’s warm out.
One of the other things I noticed as soon as I walked in was their wall of awards. They have been winning food awards for years. No wonder they have been around for a while and why they were so busy.
I was originally going to eat there. However, since I had just gotten into town, I thought it would be better for me to get the food to go and eat at the hotel as I settled in.
I started off with the Tokyo Gyoza (dumplings). These pork and vegetable gyoza were pan fried so that the outside edges were crispy. The pork had a tremendous amount of flavor. They included a dipping sauce that was a blend of soy sauce, sesame oil, and a few sesame seeds. The gyoza was great plain, but the sauce just added extra salty flavor.
The Wild Ginger fried rice was another must order. I got it with chicken. The chicken was lightly coated with flour so that when it was pan fried it becomes a little crispy. It was cooked on the side and then added to the rice. This made it perfect because the chicken was still crispy.
There was no fried egg in this fried rice, which was a little bit of a bummer for me because I do like egg in my rice. However, they loaded up the rice with onions, scallions, green peppers, and bean sprouts. The onions and scallions added a little extra flavor to the rice. The peppers and bean sprouts added crunch to the rice.
I also made sure to order a few pieces of sushi off the menu. I went for the Eel Nigari and the Spicy Tuna Maki. Each order came with two pieces so it was perfect. For a little explanation on these, Nigiri is a slice of the fish in top of rice with a little wasabi. Maki is a sushi roll that is wrapped with a seaweed wrapper on the outside.
The Eel Nigiri was spectacular. The eel was extremely flakey and tender when I took a bite. There was the right amount of the sweet eel sauce on top. In case you have never had eel before, this fish is actually cooked, it is not served raw the way tuna and salmon are.
The Spicy Tuna Maki were huge in size. I was not expecting them to be like that. The tuna was pureed together to create more of a paste. There was a nice heat with the tuna. The white rice that was inside the roll helped cool down the overall spice. The seaweed wrapper did make it hard to bite the roll. After I took a bite, it ended up falling apart. So I had to finish it with my chopsticks.
The food was amazing from Wild Ginger. Even as take out my meal was flavorful and still hot by the time I got it back to the hotel. They offer happy hour all week with food and drink specials. Depending on the time of day I would recommend a reservation. And don’t plan on visiting on Sunday because they are closed.
Check out their menu on their website at http://www.dinewildginger.com/
Enjoy!
T
