Omakase & Tokyo Tower

Vela's number one must do for her visit to Japan was to have Omakase for her birthday dinner. Omakase translates to "I leave it to you" essentially meaning you eat what you're given. There is no menu to choose from. Omakase chefs select the seasonal seafood and create an amazing range of sushi and other delicacies in front of your eyes.

Vela booked this restaurant (located in a 120 year old building) two months ago. It only seats 10 and is very highly recommended. We enjoyed multiple different types of tuna, prepared in different ways, including being flame grilled and smoked in front of us.

For appetizers we were served three small dishes of asparagus, octopus, and a shellfish (we didn't quite get the name).

This was followed by a tuna sushi roll, with three different cuts of tuna - from firm to fatty - with the top layer being flange grilled in front of us. Then we had a range of different sashimi: snapper, scallops, piper, a fish similar to anchovy, shrimp, and salmon.

We were then treated to a show of some fresh bonito tuna being smoked in front of us. The downstairs restaurant (a 1-Michelin star tempura restaurant) then delivered a tray of tempura prawn which were served in a Nori wrap. Tuna belly, grilled belt fish, sweet prawn with Sakura leaf, firefly squid (marinated in soy sauce) and grilled eel rounded out our main meal.

As a little special extra to our meal, we were served two different types of sea urchin roe; an aromatic type and a creamy type. The aromatic type had a much stronger flavour, while the creamy one was more mild and sweeter. We both agreed the creamy one was best. As a final treat, we had a small custard slice for dessert.

To work off our epic feast, we headed to Tokyo Tower for a little walk and a view of the city. Nathan prepared a small Japanese dessert with some matches as candles for Vela to blow out for her birthday wish.Read more