A few weeks ago, during spring break, we spent several days in DC, with my 12-year-old T1D son. Up there, we were on the go all the time and hit several restaurants that provided us with interesting diabetes experiences.
One of these restaurants is Momiji. Momiji is a popular sushi restaurant within walking distance of the National Mall. We arrived there is the early evening, around 6:15 pm, after a 6-hour walk at a sustained pace all around DC.
What we found:
-
It was a bit difficult to exchange information with the waitresses who were not very fluent in English. They were very helpful but did not always understand what we needed
-
We were able to express that we needed carbs very fast (my son was going low after all the walking), and they brought us carbs very fast.
-
we were able to order some cheap sashimi, with basically no carbs, that we felt our kid might psychologically need to be able to wait to his sushi (since he could not eat sushi until he had turned the corner)
-
Then my son injected, and we ordered some sushi, expecting it to take 25-30 mins. But it arrived 5 minutes later – we were embarrassed because we thought they must have made a special effort (even though we had not asked for it to come quickly), but we could not eat for another 30-40 minutes, waiting for him to turn the corner.
-
My son ate sushi as he went down his insulin curve per his CGM – he was not going down fast. So we ate at a leisurely pace, over a 90 minute period. We felt again a bit embarrassed at immobilizing a table for them for so long.
-
We had calculated insulin on the basis on 4.5 carbs per piece of maki sushi (one piece of a regular roll), and 11 carbs per piece of a large roll (such as a dragon roll) – or about 66 carbs for a full large roll such as a dragon roll. Our estimates were right on.
In the end, we recommend Momiji for peoples with diabetes:
-
you can get carbs very fast if you need them
-
you can get fairly cheap all-protein appetizers (sashimi), as well as high-protein appetizers with low glycemic index (edamame)
-
it is perfectly fine to calculate an injection before you know exactly what you are going to order in a sushi place such as Momiji
-
the carb content appears predictable: 4.5 carbs per piece of small roll, 11 carbs per piece of large roll (for those we tried)
-
you may not always be able to get fully understood when you describe ideal meal timing for diabetes
FYI, sushi was good and not overly expensive – which is rare for DC, we found.