No Relation - Omakase
Okay, so let me preface this with saying that I went to Shore Leave for dinner beforehand to get a feel for the place before eating at No Relation.
So to give a little context - No Relation is a reservation-only sushi counter that’s hidden in the back of Shore Leave. I’ll let you read their own description of themselves below
Tucked away down a narrow hallway at the back of Shore Leave, No Relation is a nine-seat, secret sushi restaurant nestled within the newly opened neighborhood tiki bar from the team at Bar Mezzana. Chef Colin Lynch leads the inventive omakase menu, where Japanese technique and his creative interpretation of a sushi-ya are presented each evening over approximately 14 courses.
Essentially, the way it works is you have to buy tickets for the night you want to go, there’s 2-seatings a night and all you have to worry about when you get there is what to drink, if anything and tip!
For those that haven’t ordered.eaten.fallen in love with Omakase before, it’s essentially entrusting your meal with the chef and it translates to “I’ll leave it up to you” or entrust in Japanese. Us Westerners have adopted it to mean a tasting menu at sushi restaurants but on my trip to Japan you can pretty much get Omakase & Kaiseki dining at a multitude of different type of restaurants.
You’re paying for the chefs knowledge and respect for both the ingredients (seasonality, care, preparation etc.) and for you (gauging your reaction to certain dishes). They are in charge of creating the menu using the finest ingredients available to them, and traditionally they should be gauging your reaction and adjusting the menu, presentation, portion for each person they’re serving.
Another thing to note is that often times, it’s standard to keep eating until you’re almost uncomfortably full, only then will you receive the bill.
Now onto the food - I’ll leave the menu here so you can follow along!
Korean Fluke
house ume & shiso
I’m not a huge fan of raw fluke, but this pairing was light and refreshing. Definitely a great way to start the meal.
Kinmedai
lemon oil & sansho salt
The acidity of the lemon oil definitely helped balance the fish. I first was exposed to this in Japan a couple years ago.
Ocean Trout
flavors of thailand
The flavors of coconut definitely helped balance this fish out, and it actually ended up being one of my favorites!
Shima Aji
aji amarillo, maui onion, uni
Okay so this is one of my favorite fishes, and I ate it without taking a picture - oops. This is also called Jack Mackerel, it’s closely related to Aji, but it’s a bit lighter in flavor, still fatty - just like I’m tryna make my bank account.
Aji Sashimi
cucumber, sesame , dashi
The cucumber was a really nice refreshing bite, and the dashi helped pull in all the fatty essence of the fish - so that we could move on to the next set. Well done.
Overall I don’t think I would give it another go, unless the menu was a lot different than what I had the last time. Reason being is because I honestly thought there was too much wasabi on some of the pieces for my liking, the rice didn’t bother me as much as some folks though. They use a different style when preparing the rice, so I was excited to try it - they flavor it was junta vinegar. When I went they had only been serving people for a little under a month I believe so I’m sure they have their stuff down pat by now.