I thought I’d share an amazing lunch with you that we had at Taku in Mayfair. With the kid at school, we decided to spoil ourselves.
Omakase, literally meaning ‘I’ll leave it up to you’, leave it up to the chef, who uses their culinary creativity and high-quality, seasonal ingredients to serve 17 stunning dishes.
It all starts as soon as you walk in the door, with a chef standing there finishing off his mise en place. The fish is dry aged to perfection, creating the most beautiful texture and flavour with every slice.
The precision was just a pure joy to watch, especially as a chef to see how pristine his section was set up. I am sure he was there just to get everyone salivating for the meal ahead. The selection of fish on his board was mouthwatering, especially when he started slicing some Toro (the fatty belly part of blue fin tuna). It has to be the most amazing slice of tuna I have ever eaten.
Our first course was a beautiful broth of mussels and sake, a perfect way to cleanse your palate for the delicate fish to come. And it just didn’t stop after that. Blue fin tuna with umeboshi, scallop with caviar, maitake tempura with roasted yeast, all were stand out dishes.
When it gets to the sushi service, the theatre of omakase truly begins. Those perfect slices of fish that I have been salivating over since we walked in the door, were being placed on freshly shaped rice that was still warm from the rice cooker and personally delivering each piece to the diners.
We were told that to experience the sushi at its best we must eat it within 10 seconds of it being made. Watching the chefs shape the nigiri in front of you with seafood such as hamachi, toro, hand dived scallops and a real highlight, an oyster poached in it’s own shell then put on the BBQ right in front of you. WOW!
I have been eating sushi for years and I have never known that it is better to eat it with warm rice.
I highly recommend this place, it hurts the wallet but I can’t wait to do it again one day.