Japanese restaurant · South End
"Whaling in Oklahoma, Tim Maslow’s creative South End spot." - Rachel Leah Blumenthal
"Chef Derrick Teh founded Sekali, popping up at restaurants and offering an ever-changing delivery menu available in and around Boston. The menu featured dishes like nasi lemak, congee, dumplings, and kaya jam, along with detailed assembly and reheating instructions for each dish." - Rachel Leah Blumenthal
"Whaling in Oklahoma has closed in the South End (647 Tremont St.), with partner Brian Lesser telling Boston Magazine: 'The restaurant was not doing as well as we expected. We are exploring and considering various options for the space.'" - Rachel Leah Blumenthal
"Julia Clancy provides a look at Whaling in Oklahoma in the South End for the latest restaurant review in Boston Magazine. The purposely irreverent name does something useful for chef Tim Malsow’s restaurant, according to Clancy: It helps 'maintain a sense of humor.' The restaurant has a 'compelling and finely tuned' beverage menu, and on the food side, although 'not every dish lands,' highlights include soy-basted chicken that’s 'luxuriously juicy,' as well as a pork katsu sandwich that Clancy calls a sleeper hit. On the chef’s whim tasting menu, stunners include a pair of poached scallops and fried hamachi collar. For dessert, go for the Japanese cheesecake topped with runny cheese. Clancy calls it 'a bold swing of opulence so wrong it was extraordinary.' The restaurant earns two and a half stars out of four, between 'good' and 'generally excellent.'" - Dana Hatic
"But for 2018 I’d say the South End takes top prize. Something about the way newcomers like Whaling in Oklahoma [...]" - Rachel Leah Blumenthal