Sushi is a 5 letter word for LOVE
If there’s ever 1 dish that I could have for the rest of my life, sushi would be a strong contender. When prepared right, the simple pairing of vinegared rice and meat or fish can be so perfect and delicious that you end up clamoring for more. Some people are often thrown off by the thought of raw fish or meat, and that’s understandable. There are sushi made with vegetables or cooked foods like grilled salmon or beef. But I encourage anyone who visits Japan, to at least try sushi with raw fish, because they are delicious and it’s not like the sushi you get from the supermarket, or.. God forbid, Yo! Sushi. *shudders*
There are plenty of sushi restaurant chains in Japan, but everyone knows that the good stuff is always hidden away and not as well known. You can use the power of Google to search for great sushi restaurants, but we found that Google might not be the best tool for that. Most people recommended a Japanese site called Tabelog, which is basically Yelp but Japan edition where all the reviews are anonymous and crowd sourced. While we definitely did use it on our trip in Japan, for this occasion, we decided to stick to the more conventional method; asking a local. Shout out to our bike tour guide Liviana (I might be remembering it wrong, sorry!) for showing us around Osaka, and recommending us various restaurants around Osaka. When asked for a great sushi place, she recommended us Sakae Sushi, a restaurant about 5—10 minutes away from the main Dotonbori area. We saved it into our Google maps and so should you, because it’s amazing and you will not regret it. Did I just spoil the review..?
Anyway, we noticed the opening hours started from 6pm, but stretched into the night and into the early morning at 5am, which was odd but we didn’t question it. At around 5:30pm, we began heading to the restaurant with an empty stomach, ready to feast on delicious sushi. As we neared the restaurant, we noticed a long line snaking around the corner and realized it was the line for the restaurant. I checked the time, it was about 5:50pm. We thought we were early but evidently, it seems it was extremely popular among both tourists and locals. So we queued up behind about 40 people. Looking across the street, we noticed another line of customers queuing up and had a brief moment of panic as we thought we just cut the line, luckily we didn’t as it was for another restaurant across the street. In the queue, we could peer into the restaurant where the chefs were getting ready to open up, about 5 chefs were behind the counter with busy hands. About 10 minutes later, one of them came out to turn the sign from “closed” to “open”, and soon the line started to move. Unfortunately for us, the restaurant was immediately full and we had to wait a little longer. Similarly, the line across the street started to move and was able to seat all the customers. Curious, I went across to see what the restaurant offered. Only to find out that it was the same restaurant, but they were split into 2 different spaces. We quickly moved to the other queue, and within about 10 minutes, we managed to get 2 counter seats. I swear, our luck was insane during our Osaka trip.
I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but the restaurant was very cozy (where have we heard that before?). The restaurant had tables of 4 around the space, with row of seats in front of the sushi counter. The sushi counter was manned by at least 5 chefs, with an assortment of seafood in display cases. All the seafood on display would be used to prepare the sushi you order and served immediately. The restaurant also included a back kitchen with I presume a few workers that served drinks and hot food such as miso soup, chawanmushi, steamed rice and other things. The menu had almost every type of sushi made with seafood and meat, along with some other hot foods and drinks. Each item on the menu had a number, of which you would write down on a piece of paper and hand it over to the staff, or in our case the chef, to order. If you don’t speak Japanese, don’t worry, because each item was written in both English and Japanese, and had a picture associated with it. So you’ll never not know what you’re ordering. Excited, we took a piece of paper and started ordering, but my partner advised me to pace myself as we didn’t want to fill ourselves too quickly. So I ordered a meager 7 items to start with (to share, of course). We handed our order to the chef and he immediately got to work.
Like a kid watching out his window for the ice cream van to show up, I was glued to the counter to watch the master work his craft. It was a bit awkward, as the display cases blocked the view between myself and the chef, so I had to stand up albeit for a brief moment. Before he started, he made sure to check with us about our preference on wasabi, which was a nice touch. We told him we were okay with it and, like poetry in motion, the chef molded the rice in his hands, then quickly placing a small bit of wasabi and then a slice of salmon on top. He then gently applied a bit of pressure onto the salmon so it would spread the wasabi underneath, before finally placing it on the serving block separating us from the display case. He did this for every piece of sushi we ordered, and in the particular case where the selected seafood or meat wasn’t directly in front of us, he would either swiftly move to get it from another case along the sushi counter, or get it from a staff member situated in the back kitchen.
Because it’s a sushi restaurant with a serving block, we weren’t exactly sure how to proceed. Normally in a regular restaurant, each dish is served separately and you can dig in the moment the staff leaves the table. But here, we were kind of confused. The chef saw us and assured us that we could just eat as it came. We still waited, as I wanted to take a good picture of all the sushi we had ordered the first time. It took about 10 minutes before all 7 sushi were served and we could dig in. It was definitely worth the (short) wait. With each sushi, you could still feel the warmth of the chef’s hand. I know it sounds weird, but a lot of sushi restaurants have their rice chilled instead of being room temperature, mainly due to either mass producing the rice or keeping it chilled to ensure it’s integrity. But at Sakae Sushi, the rice is made on the day itself and kept at room temperature because they know it’s going to sell out. The fish was fresh, kept at a cooler temperature inside the display case. You could probably have the sushi by itself without soy sauce and it would’ve tasted amazing as well. I opted to have it with a bit of soy sauce and it was so good. My partner and I looked at each other wide eyed, amazed at how great the sushi was. What we had in other chain restaurants paled in comparison, never mind the atrocity that we had at Yo! Sushi a couple years back. The salmon maki was amazing; the salmon was soft and fresh. The yellowtail was so thinly sliced that you could see the grains of the rice through it. The wasabi was subtle; coupled with some soy sauce you could hardly tell it was there apart from the light kick at the end.
I immediately reached for another piece of paper and started ordering again. This time I ordered some favorites of mine, salmon belly and sea urchin. The salmon belly was fresh like its counterpart, but also fatty in a good way. The sea urchin isn’t a regular order, as it can get expensive and if prepared incorrectly, can lead to food poisoning. But since we’re in Japan, and everything at Sakae Sushi seemed to pass the eye test, I went for it. The texture of sea urchin isn’t for everyone, it’s slimy with a strong umami flavor. It was chilled so that was definitely good, as room temperature sea urchin is often a bad sign. I opted against dipping it with soy sauce, eating it as it was. It was a favorite of mine, and Sakae Sushi definitely delivered on the sea urchin sushi. I would’ve ordered more of it if it wasn’t because of the hefty price of ¥385. Instead, we opted to order more of other sushi, like tuna, fatty tuna, sweet shrimp, scallop, cucumber roll, a wagyu beef sushi, chawanmushi, and grilled salmon with cheese. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the new orders, but they were excellent. The fatty tuna melted in my mouth and was a personal favorite of mine for the night. The scallops were sweet and great with some soy sauce. The wagyu beef sushi was surprisingly good, the wasabi definitely balances out the meaty flavor. The chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard) was a nice change of pace, considering we had mainly sushi for the night, so was the grilled salmon with cheese.
By the end of the night, we probably ordered close to about 45 pieces of sushi. I joked with my partner saying that we definitely made the chef work for his paycheck tonight, as he was continuously preparing sushi for us. I think the total bill came up to around ¥8965, or S$81.44. Was it worth it, would I go again?
As you can already tell, it was an amazing experience and the food definitely surpassed our expectations. I think it was pretty obvious from the get-go that it was popular for a reason, with so many people queuing up even before opening time. The chefs definitely are masters at their craft, with every sushi prepared with love and care. Although I didn’t mention the service, it was equally great and they were very friendly. One might look at the price and be hesitant on spending that much for sushi. It really isn’t, especially when you consider the fact that there were almost 45 pieces of sushi in our final bill. I’d also argue that part of that price is paying for the standard of sushi that you can’t easily find outside of Japan. From the freshness of the seafood, to the mastery of the chefs preparing your meal, this is something that is definitely worth trying. And I, for one, will definitely be back with a larger budget and a longer order list for the chef.
Overall, I’d definitely rate this a 9/10. My partner and I definitely enjoyed the food, and the ambiance of the restaurant itself. The only disappointing part was that I had to stand awkwardly to watch the chef prepare the sushi, but other than that, it was a very enjoyable and memorable experience that I’m hoping to recreate again someday.
