Philip C.
Yelp
My wife and I had omakase sushi for lunch with Chef Hyun at Sushi Hyun. As I had expected, Chef Hyun is Korean, not Japanese, but has immersed himself in Japanese sushi culture. Our meal was one of the best omakase sushi experiences that we have ever enjoyed.
We were met at the door by hostess Mika, who gave us the opportunity to peruse the drink menu before entering the restaurant. The restaurant is small and the space is dominated by a beautiful, simply crafted hinoki wood bar with space for nine customers. However, there were seats for only eight, as Chef Hyun explained that one of the seats is obscured by a column that would prevent him from seeing a customer seated behind it.
The selection of sakes was small, but chosen by Chef Hyun to complement his food. I'm glad that it included the familiar Dassai 23 junmai daiginjo, which is always excellent.
Our meal started with my favorite, madai (red sea bream), and continued through hirame (halibut), kenmadai (golden-eye snapper), hirame (flounder) with Korean salt, shima aji (striped jack or white trevally), kinpira renkon (fried lotus root) with ama ebi (sweet shrimp), sawara (Spanish mackerel) that was lightly salted, aged hon maguro (bluefin tuna), both akami (lean) and chutoro (medium fat), broiled amadai (tilefish) with oiji (fresh Korean cucumber pickle), miso soup, chirashi donburi (rice bowl) with akami, madai and ankimo (monkfish liver), hotate (sea scallop) with umeboshi (plum) that was marinated with honey, instead of salt, broiled anago (sea eel), inaniwa udon (wheat flour noodles) in dashi (dried kelp and bonito broth) with poached chicken egg, and kyoku (chicken egg) Korean-style, which is more of a custard than an omelette. At the end of the meal, we had small scoop of strawberry sorbet with a cup of roasted sencha (green tea).
During the meal, Chef Hyun quietly and enthusiastically described and explained each course, while welcoming any questions or comments that we had.
We will definitely return for another meal in the future with Chef Hyun, probably dinner, which he explained includes additional courses such as otsumami (snacks). I'm already looking forward to it.