Shiro's sushi: try to stop the Omakase... if you can!
Note for the lucky visitors of this blog: we are about to talk about an institution of the sushi tradition in Seattle and beyond.
Shiro Kashiba settled down in Seattle 50 years ago, introducing the traditional Tokyo-style sushi in town. His first original restaurant was Nikko in the Chinatown International District, followed 20 years after by Shiro’s in Belltown and Shiro Kashiba near Pike Place market at the end of 2015.
Kashiba has left the leadership of Shiro's but the quality level has not known a decline.
Do not hesitate to take a privileged seat in the pilot's cabin - the counter - and embark the Omakase (chef's choice) experience, better if you have the opportunity to be served by Jun Takai, the chef leading Shiro’s new chefs team.
Omakase means literally 'respectfully leaving another to decide what is best’ and it is probably
one of the best way to spend 20 mins of your time and good 100 dollars (consider that at Jiro's in Tokyo, the most famous sushi restaurant in the world, the bill goes up to 300 dollars)!
What will follow is a sequence of tuna, salmon, snapper, shellfish sushi of different textures, tastes and flavors.
To enjoy at best these delicate tasting, make sure to keep your mouth always clean by drinking tea and avoiding alcohol.
Make sure as well not to add any soy sauce: every single piece you will receive has been already wisely flavored.
After the first 2 or 3 rounds - ice breakers like tuna, sea bass and baja fish -, you will be offered with a very light mushroom soup.
Feel free to squeeze the small slice of lemon and proceed with the journey without hesitation.
The sushi master will now start playing with your taste buds until you say stop
kinmedai (gold eye snapper) and managatsuo fish served with a pinch of a a cherry (or strawberry jam)
triptic of salmon, from a buttery to a strong and creamy one (served with Japanese sauce and green onion) to a milder wild alaskan sockeye salmon (slightly less flavorful but with a punching wasabi)
scallop and geoduck - a local shellfish long in shape, lightly chewy but pleasant to bite
tuna in four different types, from four different parts of the fish and different stages of cooking (incl. the marinated zuke tuna)
One bite will asks for another... and the more you eat, the more you will enjoy... and the more difficult it will be to say stop!
