From Issue Two of the Gear Patrol Magazine. Subscribe today for 15% off the GP Store.
To order sushi “omakase” style is to give the dinner reins to the chef. And, with the right chef, this is exactly where they should be. Chef knows what’s in season, what’s fresh, what’s exciting, what’s different. Omakase allows you to truly leave every decision — and every worry — up to the them.
A deluxe omakase course at Sushi Tanabe — selected by Masashi Watanabe, the head chef and owner — begins with an appetizer, then features five kinds of sashimi, a grilled dish, 12 pieces of sushi and miso soup, before wrapping up with dessert. The total cost is 16,500 Japanese yen, or about $150. On our visit, Chef Watanabe laid down the 12 pieces he would be serving that night, presented just so from behind his post at the 13-seat bar at his ninth-floor restaurant in downtown Sapporo. It was awarded three stars by a 2012 Special Edition Michelin Guide to Hokkaido, so we knew the reins were in good hands.
Lead Image: Left to Right, Top to Bottom
Red Flesh Tuna – Akami
Hamaguri Clam – Hamaguri
Sweet Shrimp – Amaebi
Blackthroat Sea Perch – Akamutsu
Gizzard Shad – Kohada
Flounder – Hirame
Golden Eye Snapper – Kinmedai
Sea Urchin – Uni
Japanese Horse Mackerel – Aji
Surf Clam – Hokkigai
Mackerel – Saba
Conger Eel – Anago
A version of this story appears in Issue Two of the Gear Patrol Magazine, 286 pages of stories, reports, interviews and original photography from five distinct locations around the world. Subscribe Now: $35
