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| - Recently I gave my brother my car and I purchased another one. To thank me he said he had wanted to take my wife and I out for a nice dinner. It just so happened I came across Sushi Kaji in BlogTO's top 10 splurge sushi places and it was ranked number one! I had warned my brother that this place isn't cheap and from what I read a lot of their menu is brought here from Japan. You see, I'm not really used to high end dining at least the kind that would warrant $$$$ by Yelp standards. We are mostly used to your typical AYCE place. A la carte for me is a treat. An Omakase place for me would be a whole different level. He like myself, was intrigued and seemed interested. My brother made reservations for opening (6pm) about a week before for a Sunday evening. This restaurant is only open 6pm-9pm.
This was my first Omakase experience and for those that don't know what that means the menu is "chef's choice". Basically there's no menu really with the exception of 2 prix fixe options that vary slightly. The two options available on this particular service were "Takumi" which featured simmered eggplant stuffed with chicken and grilled yellow tail with daikon radish sauce and the "Waza" which instead had sauteed foie gras and daikon radish with chicken miso sauce. Both options included appetizers, sashimi, sushi, noodles and dessert. The Takumi was 150 dollars and the Waza was 130 dollars.
We had all decided to go with the Takumi and I had told my brother I'd pay for the drinks. Green tea was served complimentary and on top of that I had ordered a medium sized cold sake (Okunomatsu Tokubetsu Junmai - yes I had to take a photo to remember), a warm sake (Okunomatsu Kinmon-Gold Crest) and a Sapporo beer. I sort of have a thing that if I'm getting sake I have to also have a beer as well. The cold sake was served in a carved bamboo crafted decanter and the cups were also bamboo. The bamboo decanter was placed in a square wooden "ice bucket". Cool, literally...
Each plate that was brought to us was explained in detail such as ingredients and origin and for the sushi it was told whether soy sauce would be necessary or not. The presentation and service was very professional and attentive. With each plate brought I knew that I wouldn't be able to remember what everything was and where everything came from but I took photos just to remember the experience.
The first plate that was brought to us had 2 items on it. One was chicken and the other was a croquet in an oyster shell. This was followed by shrimp, octopus, seaweed salad and then the sashimi. The sashimi was all from Japan and the wasabi had a ground texture to it. It wasn't as much of a kick than I'm use to however it was definitely different. Next came the chicken and eggplant dish. It was very tender to the point it basically almost fell apart. The following plate was eel followed by soup and soba noodles.
After those dishes came the sushi. All the sushi with the exception of the first dish which was uni (urchin) were served 3 servings to a plate (one for each of us). As I mentioned the sushi began with uni and I can say that I've not ever had it before. It was something I always see Anthony Bourdain enjoying on his shows (besides roasted pork) where he was in pure delight. It was a very different taste than anything I can remember having but very soft on the palate with a unique flavor and texture. Following the urchin we had 9 more servings of nigiri sushi which included squid, tuna, mackerel, and one last plate of otoro maki two pieces for each of us.
At this point each of us were pretty full and I have to think that considering the servings are tasting size still it was a lot of food. The desserts that were brought to us were all different but we all shared them. One was some sort of lemon cup, ice cream with berries and the third was a creme brulee.
All in all we had a total of 19 plates served as well as 3 different desserts that we shared. The timing for each plate basically it was spaced out in such a way that we were able to enjoy each dish before we were brought the next. The place is quite lively and the service was excellent.
I suppose what may be a bit unusual is the location of this place. It's something one may expect to see downtown but regardless of where this place is it doesn't change the fact that it is what it is which is in my opinion a high end restaurant in a place you wouldn't necessarily expect to see one.
While I may give credit to BlogTO for influencing me to come here and try the place I have to say that while I don't have any previous Omakase experiences to compare it to I don't really need to. Regardless of the price the food and service here is pretty special as far as my dining experiences go and it will be remembered as such. I can see Sushi Kaji being a special occasion place for future visits.
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