Omakase Counter @ Sushi Taro

According to Wikipedia, Omakase means "I'll leave it to you" in Japanese.  The Omakase counter at Sushi Taro, hosted by the owner and chef of Sushi Taro - Nobu Yamazaki. Throughout this three hours long meal, Chef Yamazaki serves you his best dishes in his kitchen with elaborated explanation of the preparation and ingredients of the dish which makes it the most interactive and unforgettable food experience I have ever had.

The Omakase counter only serves up to six people every night, we made reservation a month ago to guarantee our spots.  The counter is actually behind the main dining room, separated from the rest of the restaurant.  We walked pass the noren curtain into the hidden counter next to the kitchen and there is Chef Yamazaki and his assistant waiting for us.

Plum Wine

Right when we sat down, Chef gave us their home made plum wine.  The plum wine was served with ice, it was sweet and refreshing. While we were enjoying our plum wine, we can't help but notice the fresh shellfish on the counter - abalones, scallops, whelks and oysters, we were so excited!

Sesame tofu served with sea urchin

The sesame tofu is freshly made everyday in the morning.   Sesame was used to make this tofu in order to create a unique texture and flavor.  It's more nutty and rich than your typical tofu.  The sesame tofu paired with the silky sea urchin was a perfect harmony.  I did mention before how Sushi Taro has the best sea urchin I have ever had right?

sea eel and sweet pepper tempura

Sea eel from Kyoto, Chef Yamazaki said that even though Kyoto is more inland than where this sea eel is caught, and usually the seafood that are caught near the sea were either sold or eaten near the cities on the shore, but this sea eel is one of the seafood that can survive the long ride to Kyoto and still retains its freshness, so this sea eel is very popular in Kyoto.  The sea eel was marinated with miso before it was fried, and it's really flaky.

Octopus Shabu Shabu

Wild Japanese octopus which has legs that are as tall as a person, the slices of octopus on the plate are actually the cross sectional cut of one of its leg.  For this type of octopus, even after it's dead, the nervous system still lives for another 3-4 days, so that's why even though sometimes octopus is cut up into pieces, they still moves.  The octopus can be served as sashimi, but for this time it was recommended to cook it for 5 seconds in the broth before we eat it.  This was one of my favorite dishes, the octopus was so crunchy yet tender, it's the crunchiest octopus I have ever tasted.

Chef's fruit plate

This delicately prepared fruit plate is full of surprises. Starting from the top left, we have marinated tuna cheeks in the small bowl, next to it is a real fresh chestnut in fake chestnut shell recreated with noodles and fish cake.  Right under the chestnut starting from the right is one of the plums from the house plum wine, steamed and coated with syrup.  Then we have the fake persimmon which is really a half poached egg yolk in miso with edamame paste and dry fish eggs on top.  To the left of the persimmon, is a cured salmon roll, in the front, the water melon looking thing is really spicy fish roe on Japanese lime skin.  On the left of that is a duck sandwich with tofu cheese in between.  Last but not least, we have three ginkgo on the stick, stuffed with fish eggs and crispy crackers.  I really enjoyed all the items on the plate except for the plum, because of personal preferences.  My favorites are definitely the duck sandwich, the chestnut and tuna cheeks. 

Chef cleaning abalone

fresh abalone

Guess what time it is? It's sashimi time.  Chef Yamazaki showcased six full boxes of all the fish available for us today, over 30 types of fish, including a few types of salmon, tuna, white fish, shrimp, mackerel, and all the fresh shell fish on the counter. You name it, they have it. Chef patiently explained the different types of fish to us, where they came from, how they are special.  Then he asks each of us to tell him all the fish we wanted to try for the sashimi part. 

Sashimi set up: soy sauce with ginger, snow salt, and regular soy sauce with wasabi

Chef usually tells us what he recommends us to dip our sashimi in, depending on the type of fish, but it's up to us whether we listen to his recommendation or not.

Red Snapper

White Salmon

This is my first time having white salmon, apparently only 1/20,000 salmon has this genetic abnormality, therefore it's extremely rare.  It tastes different than traditional salmon, and the texture is more like toro.

Sea urchin

Second sea urchin of the meal, and trust me, it's not the last one. This time is dressed with sea salt, therefore no need to dip in soy sauce.

Buttery Saba

There were six types of saba offered to us, and this one is the most buttery one, so I decided to give it a try.  I love the fishiness of saba, this looks small in picture, but it's actually the biggest cut of saba I have ever had, I was surprised how much meat is under it once I picked it up with my chop sticks. 

Sweet shrimp

Hands down, the best sweet shrimp ever.  It's so fresh and sweet I  thought it's coated with sugar, but it's actually the natural sweetness of the shrimp.  Imagine the regular sweet shrimp we get at sushi taro which is really good already but 3 times better. The sweet shrimp was one of my favorite sashimi cut of the night.

Saba

Another cut of a different type of saba, this one is more firm than the one I had earlier.

Toro

Three types of tuna was offered to us, the lean meat which is your typical tuna, from the side of the fish, then there's the medium tuna slightly fattier from the back of the fish and toro, which is the fattest part from the fish's belly.  It's more marbleized than the other two types and melts right in your mouth.

fresh scallop

It's really amazing to see Chef Yamazaki takes one of the scallop from the shellfish bowl on the counter, opens it, guts it, clean it, seasoned it, and then put it right on your plate.

Bonito

Bonito sashimi grilled to medium rare, topped with radish, green onions with ponzu sauce.

Deep fried shrimp head

While we were enjoying our sashimi, Chef took the head of the sweet shrimp we ate earlier and deep fried it. It was so delicious, I can eat like five of these.

 

That concluded our Sashimi course, and Chef Yamazaki reminded us that at the last course of the meal, we will come back and do sushi, where we will get to pick our sashimi for the sushi part again. But for now, we are moving on.

Eel and pine mushroom soup

Soup served in a tea pot, the last time I had it was at Morimoto's restaurant in PA.  Chef Yamazaki said that the reason why he cooked the soup in a tea pot was to make sure the aroma of the soup can stay inside the soup.  This is a matsutake soup with sea eel, the broth is made with the bone of the sea eel, and the meat is used in the soup with the pine mushroom.  This is a perfect dish to follow the sashimi course, I really enjoyed it and it was really fun to drink as well.

Salmon jaw

salmon jaw with ponzu sauce and sweet pepper and garlic chip

Chef Yamazaki took two metal spoons and scoped out the fish meat from the salmon jaw and placed them in the bowl.  The jaw meat was really tendered, and only cooked to medium rare.  

Scampi on the grill

Grilled scampi

I enjoy eating all the shrimp that was served during our meal, it's so fresh, sweet, and perfect texture.

raw salmon roe still in the sac

It's still in the sac, so you can pick up all the fish roes at once

I admit, when this dish was served, it was really scary looking, it looked like blood.  Then Chef Yamazaki explained that this is salmon roe extracted from a fresh salmon, and he didn't remove it from the sac, and took the whole thing and marinated in sake then of course, served to us.  I have had salmon roe before, but never had salmon sac, the texture it's very different, the sac is chewy, it's actually pretty good, I liked it.

Chef Yamazaki

hand slicing fresh ginger for our sushi course

Sushi course set up

It's our second to last course - sushi.  The wet nap is for our fingers, because we are suppose to eat sushi with our hands.  The soy sauce and brush is for us to brush the soy sauce on the sushi so we don't have to dip our fingers in the soy sauce.  Before we start, Chef Yamazaki told us that this is the last course (before dessert) of the meal, so we can eat as much as we want until we are satisfied.  He brought out the six boxes of sashimi and asks us to tell him whatever we want to try, and he prepares them as we go.

Chef Yamazaki making my salmon sushi

King salmon

brushing on the soy sauce

flonder

Sea Eel

Japanese whelk with chopped liver on top

Wild Japanese Snapper

Sea urchin

Sweet shrimp

Abalone

tuna

I ate and ate until I can't put anymore food in my stomach, and I tried every fish I wanted to try.  I wasn't satisfied, I was beyond satisfied.  Looking at Chef Yamazaki delicately prepared every piece of sushi right in front of our eyes is truly a remarkable experience. 

Green tea pudding with dark caramel

fruit jello

For dessert, you can pick any dessert from the regular sushi taro menu, I decided to go with the green tea pudding and it was delicious.   It's not as sweet as your typical green tea pudding, because it's roasted green tea, and the dark caramel goes in harmony with the tea flavor.  I am glad it was dark caramel not regular caramel, other wise, it would be too sweet.

This is not a meal, it was a culinary experience. Thank you Chef Yamazaki for such an educational, eye-opening and mouth-watering dinner.  It was definitely every Japanese food enthusiast's dream come true.  Chef Yamazaki also gave us his personal business card at the end of the meal, and said if we want to come back next time, make the reservation through him, so he knows who it is, and we can request anything we want.  We are already thinking of coming back next year for another food ride of our life.    

Sushi Taro