Birthday Dinner @ Yukashi

Last Saturday I went to Yukashi for dinner to celebrate my birthday early. I saw photos that a friend posted and the food looked so unique and like a work of art that I was immediately intrigued! We made reservations for 8:30 pm and were the first ones there. Two other couples joined us at the counter a short while later, making it very intimate and cozy. It was a delightful dining experience that I would highly recommend.

We decided to go for the 9 course omakase dinner, as did the two other couples. Executive Chef Daisuke Izutsu and Chef Jin Lee prepared all the dishes that were timed perfectly. We had plenty of time to enjoy each course and never felt rushed. The service was absolutely perfect, and Chef Daisuke was friendly and welcoming. The atmosphere was very relaxed and not pretentious at all. 

Our first course was sesame tofu with fresh wasabi and yuzu as a garnish with air soy sauce. I'd never heard of air soy sauce before and we were instructed to place it on the tofu to melt it and indeed it went from a foamy like blob to slowly melting and providing some seasoning to the tofu - which was amazing itself as you could really taste the grainy sesame texture, but it was soft and delicate at the same time.

Our second course was a soup dish - sweet and savoury miso flavours combined with yuzu and boiled daikon. There was a piece of fish in it too, but I forgot what it was...

I highly recommend a seat at the counter because you can see Chef Daisuke preparing the dishes in front of your eyes. Here he is brushing some yuzu zest on the sashimi platter.

Our third course was the sashimi platter - everything was fresh and delicious. Mostly tuna and tile fish.

 Chef Daisuke at work.

 Closeup of the sashimi platter, served on a large slab of marble.

Our 4th course was A5 wagyu from Miyazaki prefecture with uni (sea urchin) and foie gras on top.

It was then torched to perfection. We were instructed to eat the shiso leaves at the end for a palate cleanser and it definitely worked to clear away the heaviness from the meat and uni together.

I definitely wouldn't have thought of putting all these things together, but it was good! I found the wagyu to be a little stringy near the end. I'd really like to try Kobe beef some day in Japan to see what the difference is. (I didn't get a chance to try any Kobe beef when I went to Japan on my student budget - what a waste, I know!!)

I thought the sashimi platter was the main course but apparently not! This work of art was the main course and consisted of seasonal items put together. I can't really remember every item here but it was all delicious.

I've never had oden before but I could kind of feel like this spread drew on those types of winter dishes eaten in Japan as there were boiled fish, daikon, burdock root, toasted mochi, and boiled vegetables to name a few. And the most delightful boiled/baked tomato with yuzu garnish (???) I never knew a tomato could taste that good??!

Our 6th course was probably my favourite, aside from the main course. It was smoked buri, which is commonly known as yellowtail or hamachi, but as Chef Daisuke explained to us, the name varies according to the size of the fish. What a treat this dish was - the flavour was so smoky and paired with garlic sliced paper thin and a hint of salt, it was unlike anything I've ever tasted before.

The 7th course was the tempura dish - mushrooms and more fish wrapped in a perfectly fried crispy shell, topped with pureed daikon. Judging from the photos I wasn't sure if this meal would be filling but I was surprised - I was getting almost full at this point and gave one of these pieces to Fred.

The 8th course was ochazuke with nori and salmon roe on top. I forget what the other garnish was but it provided a very fishy taste to the overall ochazuke. It was nice, but probably my least favourite course out of them all.

The last course was dessert and I was really curious as to what it would be. It turned out to be musk melon, one of those expensive ones that people give as gifts. We have a local izakaya that served it for $35 a slice... and seeing as it was one of those things I've always wanted to eat but never had a chance to because I couldn't justify buying such an expensive fruit, I was very happy to see it.

In the beginning when we first sat down, the server asked us what occasion we were there for and I mentioned my birthday and to my surprise Chef Daisuke wished me a happy birthday and prepared my melon with some vanilla ice cream!

This definitely made my evening, thank you Yukashi and Chef Daisuke for the kind gesture! The melon was of course sweet and the definitely the juiciest melon I've ever eaten. I wish I could eat this every day, haha.

I mentioned 9 courses above but there was actually 10 - somewhere in between, Chef Daisuke gave us all another dish without saying anything and afterwords asked us if we could tell what it was that we just ate. I actually forgot to take a photo of it - but Fred was the only one who guessed that it was monk fish liver, topped with pickles that had been soaked in sake - I could taste the sake right away. I wonder if the Chef was testing a future course on us?

Overall, I had a great time at Yukashi. Thank you Fred for convincing me and taking me here! I was a little hesitant at first because of the price tag but this was definitely worth it. This was a very unique take on omakase that I don't think you can find anywhere else. I loved the artistry and French fusion elements but at the core, very traditional and seasonal Japanese ingredients were still used. A must try for sure.

Thank you for reading and until we eat again!!