| rev:text
| - I'm updating this review to reflect a premium omakase experience I had at ShinBay. I've struck up a good rapport with the GM who is very thoughtful and remembers all my preferences.
ShinBay has a super relaxed and very sophisticated vibe that belies its albeit fancy strip mall envisions. The itamae is Japanese and runs the show. Some of the servers are Japanese too. The authenticity of the Kaiseki experience runs the gamut from the fine woods at the bar to the beautiful pottery. I'll stop boring you with the superlative accoutrements and move to the food!
1) Hirame sashimi with five sauces - perfect light way to begin. The freshness of the fluke and the varied and thoughtful spices reminded me that I'm in for a treat!
2) Best salad ever - more specifically, bigeye tuna from Hawaii (now in season), with fresh greens, freshly grated wasabi root, and a homemade sesame dressing. Oh and okra! I'm a huge salad snob and this was the perfect match of greens, proteins, and a touch of savory/sweet goodness
3) Sashimi course - well cut and plated. Good mix of flavors and especially textures. Amberjack (meaty), Santa Barbara Uni (buttery), Amaebi (delicate), Mirugai (crunchy), and Toro (fatty!). Fresh wasabi made its appearance again and oh how I relished it
4) Six tastes - I took some close ups of these, as a distant picture doesn't do this course justice. This type of dish is a staple at two of the best Japanese restaurants in LA (Mori and Shunji), and Shinbay's holds its own. There was a) Toro, wasabi, pine nuts, avocado tartar with Japanese ginger, and a crisp wafer and lotus root for dipping, b) Ankimo with Japanese radish, c) Firefly squid with Japanese relish, d) Hokkaido scallop seared and topped with truffle and truffle oil (out of this world), e) Kumamoto Oyster with Santa Barbara Uni and Japanese jelly, and f) Marinated Spanish Octopus (Tako) with a touch of spice. I was in dreamland
5) Green Tea Soba with Sea Bass - Savory soup time, and wow was this outstanding. Having flown in from the East Coast I was still trying to shake the ice out of my hair, so this hit the spot. The green tea soba noodles were rich and yet refreshing, there was a good portion of sea bass to add flavor, and in addition, daikon radish, scallions, fresh wasabi, and even bamboo made an appearance. All were delicious. The kombu (kelp) at the bottom was great at the end, as it had soaked up all the flavors and become more pliable
6) Mushroom and clam soup - Another savory dish, and something that I have had before and they recalled I loved. It is served with five different types of mushrooms over about a half dozen clams and is topped with a shredded Japanese pepper
7) First sushi course - Some excellent sauces really brought these fish to life. a) Sayori was delicate and a nice way to start, b) Second Fish - ?, c) Odoro Ebi (tiny shrimp) has a nice bite to it and is a rarer find, d) I believe this was madai served with a special sauce that I was told has been used in Japan even prior to soy sauce (sweeter and I enjoyed it very much), e) then Aji which was beautifully fresh and well presented and garnished with grated ginger
8) Second sushi course - I took close ups of these, since this was so wonderful. a) Mirugai - started big with a crunchy bite, b) Ocean Trout - loved this with the garnishment, c) Kampachi belly - rich cut, d) Toro from Japan - sublime, e) Santa Barbara Uni - I loved ending on a sweeter note
The shari at Shinbay is good and served right about room temperature. Having been in LA recently, I was getting used to the warm-rice thing, but I think Shinbay's works well since there is more attention to the sauces and since they plate five pieces of nigiri at a time, too warm rice would affect the neta (fish) temperature
9) Dessert course - this is a consistent treat at Shinbay. Fresh berries with a light sauce over a slightly sweet egg custard
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)