{"id":8496,"date":"2016-08-11T00:14:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T07:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/?p=8496"},"modified":"2019-01-05T15:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T23:40:09","slug":"sushi-bar-maumi-authentic-omakase-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/sushi-bar-maumi-authentic-omakase-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Sushi Bar Maumi – The Authentic Sushi Omakase Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sushi Bar Maumi was my maiden nigiri\u00a0omakase experience\u00a0in Vancouver, although not my very first overall – the\u00a0dinner with 20+ courses at Sushi Ketsu<\/em><\/strong><\/a> in Hong Kong was the eye-opening\u00a0introduction to this\u00a0unique\u00a0form of culinary art from Japan. \u00a0To whom that are not familiar with the concept, there quite a few popular mentions in the media, \u00a0including Anthony Bourdain’s\u00a0visit to Sukiyabashi Jiro<\/b><\/em>\u00a0 in Tokyo on his ‘No Reservation’, and\u00a0chef Jiro’s own documentary ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’. There is also a scene\u00a0on Netflix’s recent documentary, ‘Foodies: The Culinary Jet Set’, featuring the model-turned-foodie\u00a0Aiste Miseviciute visiting the Michelin 3-star sushi joint, Sushi Saito<\/em><\/strong>, for a quick but beautiful meal. Michelin starred or not, the whole experience is more of less the same. You will have to completely trust the chef\u00a0and eat whatever he decides to serve in front of you. You will not ask for any extra sauce sauce or wasabi. \u00a0You will eat quietly, and the only conversation you make with the chef is your brief and sincere compliment. And hopefully, \u00a0you will appreciate what mother nature has offered us in the ocean, and the transformation of the product by a sushi master\u00a0of years of training, who produces a perfectly balanced piece of nigiri, the impeccable\u00a0combination of \u00a0raw and cooked.<\/p>\n

I visited the sushi bar with fellow blogger Food Wench from Drunken Noms<\/a> and Raymond from Raymond’s Sushi Adventure<\/a>. Having written\u00a0almost 200 sushi episodes on his adventure, Raymond \u00a0is\u00a0the clearly the man for insights when it comes to having\u00a0sushi. And as for\u00a0Food Wench, my drinking buddy, I hoped we were\u00a0going to\u00a0to survive the whole 60 minutes despite the fact they don’t serve alcohol at Maumi. Jokes aside, we celebrated Raymond’s very first foodie meet and I think we all hit it off pretty well.<\/p>\n

We arrived at their earliest set of seating at 6pm at\u00a0Maumi, where they also offer sets of seating at 7:30pm and 9pm. As\u00a0the bar only fits 2 hands full of people, they only serve up to\u00a030 people per day. \u00a0 The\u00a0sushi master, or what they call an ‘itamae’ in Japan,\u00a0Maumi Ozaki was the sole show runner behind the sushi bar, as he hand crafted each piece of\u00a0nigiri and placed it right in front of my\u00a0plate, piece by piece, in a quick but comfortable pace. I noticed that, as\u00a0he\u00a0had to do that for 9\u00a0people at the same time, he already had all the fish and seafood ingredients pre-cut into uniform slices. Although technically,\u00a0\u00a0it does make a subtle\u00a0difference on the freshness and dryness of the fish\u00a0between pre-cutting it and cutting it right in front of you, \u00a0I think that’s part of what you would pay\u00a0the extra for the true Michelin experience. \u00a0However we still got\u00a0to see him making those little rice pillows with swift motion, as if he was practicing\u00a0a martial art move with his hands.<\/p>\n

The sushi Omakase sets come in 3 options. Besides the $40 set (10 piece), you can also find a $60 set (15pc) and \u00a0a $90 one (18pc) if you wanna try more of their selection of fish and other seafood, which\u00a0are primarily imported from Japan.<\/p>\n

Let’s go back a bit to before the sushi arrived. We wanted to try their\u00a0tempura, for which several\u00a0bloggers had highly praised. We had the Anago \u00a0<\/strong>(sea eel, $12) and Kisu\u00a0Tempura\u00a0<\/strong>(whiting, $8). Maybe because our expectation was high, it was not as amazing as we had hoped. \u00a0Raymond suspected the oil was over used, but my guess is\u00a0the oil temperature\u00a0– as it was not hot enough for frying, \u00a0the exterior was less\u00a0fluffy and crunchy than desired. However I did find the fish moist and juicy inside – although not as flavourful, Anago is quite delicate compare to Unagi (freshwater eel). \u00a0Each tempura order also includes\u00a0with a couple pieces of vegetable tempura.<\/p>\n

\"Kisu<\/a>
Kisu Tempura (Vegetable and Fresh Whiting)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Anago<\/a>
Anago Tempura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To be honest, I was little bit nervous and excited right before the sushi service started. \u00a0And when the first piece came, I took a deep breath as I were about to enter another dimensional plane. The Meijina <\/strong>(large scale black fish or girella)\u00a0had a pink overtone on it\u00a0similar to Tai (red snapper) although more subtle and translucent. I picked it up with my chopsticks… And I almost screamed because a chuck of the rice had fallen off the nigiri and fell on the floor. \u00a0I was petrified… for about 1.5 seconds. \u00a0Put it in your mouth damnit! \u00a0I was almost yelling out loud at myself. \u00a0Despite a third of the rice lost, the sushi was good. The fish was on the lean side but it was cut very thin so that it was very soft and delicate. The sweetness of the fish was light and pleasant and complimented well with the vinegar in the rice, the small chunk of wasabi, and the soy sauce very gently brushed on the fish.<\/p>\n

\"mejina\"<\/a>
mejina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a good start although\u00a0not a perfect one. Why was I so clumsy? Wait a minute… Why was I using chopsticks. I was supposed to use my hand to pick up the sushi! I couldn’t believe I had completely forgotten this. Apparently a\u00a0good\u00a0sushi master is not likely to pack the rice tightly for a nigiri because the loosely packed rice pillow goes much better with the delicacy of the fish, especially the ones with richer and creamier texture. When Food Wench pointed out that there was a sealed hand towel to\u00a0sanitize my hands right next to my chopsticks, I almost died a little. Anyway I must move on.<\/p>\n

The 2nd piece might not sound as exotic as the other pieces as it was not an import from Japan, but it had been always the pride of British Colombians and my favourite. The Amaebi <\/strong>(or the Spot Prawn) tasted exactly what it was supposed to taste – sweet, soft and creamy. And only a fresh catch could exhibit such flavour and texture. And this would be the only locally sourced product we were having today.<\/p>\n

\"amaebi<\/a>
amaebi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And as always, the shrimp head was deep fried and served as a bonus course for the diner. But the heads were not as crunchy as expected, which again indicates\u00a0that their oil temperature for frying should be a little higher.<\/p>\n

\"fried<\/a>
fried spot prawn heads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really enjoy\u00a0the 3rd piece because I’m such\u00a0texture guy. \u00a0The Surume Ika<\/strong>, or the Flying Squid with the touch of of light soy sauce and the fancy texture cut on the piece. It was tender and not slimy like how it was served at some sushi places.<\/p>\n

\"surume<\/a>
surume ika<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mebachi Maguro<\/strong> (big eye tuna) is a beautiful cut from the\u00a0type of red tuna. The colour looks even sexier tinted with a brush of soy sauce. Taste wise, although it was a leaner cut the the flavour was fantastic. So this one definitely went to the top of my list.<\/p>\n

\"mebachi<\/a>
mebachi maguro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recently had the Shima-aji <\/strong>\u00a0at Sushi Hachi<\/a>, and fell in love with it. \u00a0Although it looks similar to Aji in appearance with that gorgeous metallic overtone on their skin, the oily content is much richer in Shima-aji and it tasted more luschious. \u00a0The version here at Maumi has an extra touch of soy sauce that brings out the sweetness and the richness even a little more on the fish. This just became the new winner on my list!<\/p>\n

\"shima-aji\"<\/a>
shima-aji<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Aji <\/strong>(horse mackerel)\u00a0has a slightly\u00a0leaner texture. Since it was cut differently and it showcased the beautiful metallic overtone. Although it was not as rich and flavourful as Shima-aji, the chef added a touch of\u00a0green onion and ginger making it a little bit zestier and bringing this piece to the same level with the other ones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"aji\"<\/a>
aji<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It hits another high note when the piece of\u00a0Kanpachi<\/strong> (amberjack) arrived on\u00a0my palate. Another meaty and luscious cut of fish with high oil content, melted in my mouth after an omega 3 explosion. Again the touch of soy sauce enhanced the overall flavour and complemented the creaminess well. I think we have a tie between the Shima-aji and the Kanpachi for the winner!<\/p>\n

\"kanpachi\"<\/a>
kanpachi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Saba<\/strong> (mackerel) was served similar to what i had in Hong Kong, which was\u00a0just slightly marinated and had kept\u00a0the natural fleshy colour, unlike more Saba sushi or sashimi served in the city that is marinated in vinegar for a much longer time. It was the the richest in flavour but I much prefer the subtlety of taste of Shima-aji or Kanpachi.<\/p>\n

\"saba\"<\/a>
saba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 10-piece omakase was put to an end with the Anago<\/strong>\u00a0(sea eel).\u00a0It was much more delicate than the commonly seen Unagi but less flavourful. Although it was not a big powerful finish to our meal, at this point I \u00a0was pretty satisfied with all the food.<\/p>\n

\"anago\"<\/a>
anago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the set is ended, we still have time for some a la carte orders. Raymond and I both tried the Ezo Awabi<\/strong> (abalone), \u00a0often considered a luxury delicacy in Asia. As I knew it would be slightly chewy, the texture was even tougher than I expected. The touch of the house-made abalone sauce didn’t do much\u00a0 and it still tasted\u00a0a little bland.<\/p>\n

\"ezo<\/a>
ezo awabi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And Raymond went all out with this piece of Hon Maguro O-toro<\/strong> (fatty blue fin tuna, $12), one of the priciest items on the menu. It was absolutely amazing to just look at it. Although tempted, as I had decided that I would only allow myself to eat blue tuna once a year, I would have to wait till next year.. Raymond enjoyed it but he said he’d had better one at Octopus Garden<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"hon<\/a>
hon maguro o-toro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overall, the whole sushi omakase experience was quite\u00a0enjoyable. There were a few highlights such as the Shima-aji and the Kanpachi that were just divine and almost mind blowing, while the rest were also uber\u00a0scrumptious, in large thanks to the quality seafood and the great consistency on the sushi rice. The whole service is staged and executed rather quickly. Despite the fact that we weren’t\u00a0able to see some fancy knife work on cutting and slicing from different types of\u00a0fish as the chef had pre-sliced all the fish before the service, unless \u00a0you are willing to pay over 200 bucks for a Michelin starred experience, for $40, this is just as good as it gets.<\/p>\n

Read more about this sushi omakase experience on Raymond’s Sushi Adventure.<\/a><\/p>\n

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