Lesbian Sushi

No joke. Ladies get 40% off everything on the menu twice a week.

Almost three years ago, on my second night in Mexico City, I was invited by a fabulous group of machas to attend one of their birthday parties at “Lesbian Sushi.” I had some reservations about the name of this event, recalling an exceedingly awkward “queer sushi” event I attended at Barnard College, at which uncomfortable first-year GLBT students tried to roll their own vegetarian maki and flirt with each other. (We were equally unsuccessful at both.)

But here I had no reason to cringe; lesbian sushi was no formal event. Rather, the “ladies’ night” discount at a sushi restaurant in the Condesa, which kicks 40% off the bill for women on Mondays and Thursdays (that’s right, 40% off the bill) had attracted dykes looking for discounts, as ladies’ nights often do. What better place to invite friends for dinner than a restaurant where you only have to pay slightly more than half off the bill?

Two years later, “lesbian sushi” at the Musuko sushi restaurant is still going strong, though, to be fair, you are just as likely to see groups of Sex and the City-inspired straight girlfriends or fresa mother/daughter pairs gossiping over their tempura as you are to see machas. Still, this is a great place to plan a first date or a dinner outing for a group of queer gals.

tempura mixto

For those that have never had sushi in Mexico, it is a very different experience than eating sushi in the United States (which, I suspect, is also very different than eating sushi in Japan). Be warned, almost all of the maki rolls on the menu at Musuko list cream cheese (queso) as one of the ingredients. Although at first I was fairly adamant about ordering my rolls sin queso–I just couldn’t seem to get over the idea that cream cheese should be eaten with a bagel, plus, it makes each roll a considerably heavier dish–I’ve since warmed up to it, at least on certain rolls.

My favorites on the menu now tend to be the rollos that are least like what I would find on menus in the United States. For example, the Inari roll comes breaded and friend, tempura style, the cream cheese deliciously melted along with the fish. (I never thought I’d admit to liking that particular combination.) The Taigarai roll is both delicious and visually interesting, with each piece topped with a dollop of spicy crab salad and a miniature slice of lime. For a bit of tropical fusion, the Plátano Rollo comes with friend banana slices wrapped around the inside and kampyo (Japanase pickle) on the inside. For more traditional fare, I enjoy the Futomaki A, which is one of the few rollos that are offered without cream cheese. All the rollos range between 60 and 90 pesos, but that’s before the discount!

a macha enjoying her postre

Other items worth noting include the savory sopa de hongos (mushroom soup), the tempura mixto (95 pesos), which is large and good for sharing, and the kushiage salmón (25 pesos), a sort of deconstructed and deep fried bagel-free cream cheese and lox combination. I’ve never actually tried this, but I know several machas who swear by it. The large menu also offers a range of appetizers, ramen noodle soups, as well as rich, french-style desserts.

Be warned, service can be a little slow, especially on Thursdays when the place tends to be more crowded. Although Musuko is a chain, the location in the Condesa is the only one that offers this particular discounts to women on Mondays and Thursdays. (The same discount is offered to men on Fridays.) As a great seeker of discounts, I can’t stress how nice it is to receive the check after lesbian sushi, since it shows your original total, the amount you saved, and your new, reduced bill.

Musuko (El hijo del sol naciente); Nuevo León 160, on the corner of Campeche, Colonia Condesa; Tel. 5553-1443; Open Mon-Sat from 1pm until 11:30, Sun until 11