I can taste the fish quite well with soy sauce and wasabi. The saltiness raises specific flavor profiles and the wasabi kicks as those profiles are coming down. Don’t put your mouth feel on someone else unless it’s identical (it’s probably not).
The more important difference is the quality of the meal. I’ll do whatever I want with low- and mid-tier meals. I don’t know about you; my dining out budget isn’t regularly hundreds of dollars a plate so it doesn’t really matter what the chef intended they can’t express it that well at that price point.
My budget for going out also isn’t that high. But I don’t think there is a strict correlation between price and tastiness of food anyways. Sure it’ll get more fancy the more you pay. And there is some minimum if you want some quality. But after that it’s not necessarily getting more and more tasty. At least in my opinion. I’m perfectly fine with the more affordable food. Some nice Tantanmen ramen every now and then, or those tasty rice bowls with tofu and minced meat. Or middle eastern food. That’s almost always nice. It’s not super cheap, but doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. Unfortunately my favorite pizza and burrito place isn’t around anymore.
There are some exceptions to the rule though. Some ingredients are just pricey. But I really don’t need those kinds of things on a regular basis. Sushi also isn’t something I get often.
