Deadly Bunny & Chubby Penguin: Sushi Omakase by Chef Misaki at Nippon Tei @ Ratchadamri Road, Bangkok - ซูชิ โอมากาเสะ โดย เชฟมิซากิ ร้านนิปปอนเต @ ถนนราชดำริ กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Sushi Omakase by Chef Misaki at Nippon Tei @ Ratchadamri Road, Bangkok - ซูชิ โอมากาเสะ โดย เชฟมิซากิ ร้านนิปปอนเต @ ถนนราชดำริ กรุงเทพฯ

Charged Price: THB3,500 per person without alcohol

Visited: 7 August 2015

Food: 8/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 8/10

Services: 9/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

For years I have been a regular customer of Nippon Tei at Ratchadamri branch. Nippon Tei does offer variety of Japanese dishes which are traditional style: from ramen to donburi to sushi. Just over a year ago, they managed to bring in Chef Misaki to run over the sushi counter. Indeed Misaki San does perform his role pretty well. I do personally like his sushi style. It is comparable to those in Japan. For those who have never been to Nippon Tei, it is pretty easy to access here. If you come via BTS, just drop off Ratchdamri station and Nantawan Building is right there. For those who drive, there are plenty of spaces to park in the building.

Sushi Omakase by Chef Misaki at Nippon Tei

Chef Masahiro Misaki

For the night, sushi omakase course was priced at THB3,000++ and it came with 2 appetisers, 12 pieces of nigiri, 1 hand-roll, omelette, and soup. Apperisers started with uni with seaweed (7/10). It was light and cold. Fresh with tanginess and balanced out with sweetness of uni. The second starter was grilled tuna (8/10). The fillet was from the head part which offered fattiness and tenderness. The lightly burnt aroma was fabulous. It came along with grated turnip.

appetiser 1: uni with seaweed

appetiser 2: grilled tuna (head meat)

From starters, Misaki San then introduced us to lighter style of fish first: i.e. white fish. Just fyi, it is the traditional practice that wasabi would be grated just when needed, which is the practice here too. For rice, there were 2 different kinds in which I believe one of them had been made with red vinegar. If I have to choose a word to describe texture of rice here, it would probably be "al dente".

The first of nigiri was mako garei (marbled flounder) - 真子鰈 (8/10). This marbled flounder is usually best during Summer and it is now towards the end of the season. It was fresh with natural sweetness. The charming point was chewiness but tender texture. Then it was kisu (Japanese whiting or sand borer) - 鱚 (9/10) to follow. Usually, this can be found all year round in Japanese restaurants. However, Summer tends to be the tastiest season for kisu. The texture of kisu was indeed soft and not fatty. It was bittiness too. You may be familiar with kisu from tempura dish. Then barracuda - 梭子魚 (6/10) was followed. This one was lightly torch-burnt before being served. The aroma was a bit like saba. It was so-so for me but surely some may like this kind of sushi. Before moving on to red fillet, Chef Misaki put 2 pieces of pickled turnip for each of us. It was wonderful. A bit of sweetness and sour. Crisp on the bite. It washed out flavour left behind away.

mako garei (marbled flounder) - 真子鰈

kisu (Japanese whiting or sand borer) - 鱚

barracuda - 梭子魚

pickled turnip

Moving on to red fillet which is a fattier range of fish. The 4th nigiri now was akami zuke (marinated red tuna) - 赤身漬け (10/10). It was the highlight of the meal for me. Perfectly well marinated with balance in flavour: sour and saltiness from shoyu with sweetness and complexity from mirin perhaps. It was supremely tender. It would be difficult not to fall in love. In a short time, chutoro (medium fatty tuna) - 中とろ (9/10) was then followed. Excellent character of melt-in-the-mouth. The effect of sour taste cutting through fattiness was fabulous. The last of this fatty range was nodo-guro (rosy sea bass) - 喉黒 (9/10). It was so similar to toro in term of texture. Natural sweetness was the key. Combining a bit of burnt bouquet, it was one not to be looked over.

akami zuke (marinated red tuna) - 赤身漬け

chutoro (medium fatty tuna) - 中とろ

nodo-guro (rosy sea bass) - 喉黒

fresh rosy sea bass

The 7th nigiri belonged to snow crab - 楚蟹 (7/10). Crab, for me, was the favourite. This one was nice with sharp character of crab. It was just not my kind but still good. Shinko (baby gizzard shad) - 新子 (8/10) was then followed. Shinko is a baby kohada (gizzard shad). Many might not like this kind of marinated sushi but I do. There were 5 little of them in a bite. I like the fact that citrus aroma from lime zest was distinct such that fishiness had been eliminated. By the way, this is the season of shinko. Out of this season, you may only find kohada. Moving on to shell range. It was tairagai (pen shell clam) - 玉珧 (7/10) for the night. The main character was crunchiness. Not much of flavour though it was rather unique. Next was shima aji (white trevally) - しま鯵 (9/10). Who does not like shima aji? I guess it is difficult to hate it. Not an expensive kind of fish but full of flavour and tender texture.

snow crab - 楚蟹

shinko (baby gizzard shad) - 新子

tairagai (pen shell clam) - 玉珧

shima aji (white trevally) - しま鯵

Ten has passed and the 11th belongs to public favourite: ikura (salmon roe) + uni (sea urchin) - いくら + 海胆 (9/10). Creaminess and sweetness to go with crunchy, salty but sweetie salmon roe, it was just like heaven spooning out each bite. Last of nigiri was then anago (sea eel) - 穴子 (7/10). It came with classic nitsume sauce. It was nice but not yet excellent. The only down point bit was texture. I felt that it was a little overcooked.

After a short while, tuna hand-roll (8/10) was handed over to me. The roll was filled with plenty of fatty tuna from neck part. Only if the nori was crisp, this could be a near perfect roll. As usual, the course came to the end with tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) - 卵焼き (8/10). Almost like the texture of those famous in Japan. Creamy and smooth. Sweet but not overwhelming. Custard like texture in fact. Miso soup was then followed as usual.

This was an excellent performance by Misaki San and team in my opinion. Service here has as well been at the top notch, including friendliness of Misaki San himself. It was expensive but worth an experience. Personally, I shall return there from time to time.