Hidden Omakase

Been hearing a lot about Hidden Omakase. 

As the name implied, it is a hidden store front.  It has comic books out front, but...

You walk into a U-shaped counter and that's where our dining begin.

It's a little like a diner and a show.  Chefs immediate began preparing the courses as soon as everyone is seated.

Not pictured: we started out with a Yuzu Sake shot.  It was light and airy perfect for a summer night.

This is Bluepoint Oyster with Sorrel Sauce, Uni and fermented hibiscus flower.  I never had a sorrel sauce before, that came very refreshing and nice.  The uni is fresh too, that always helped.

This is New Zealand Salmond (sake) with sorrel, they made the buttermilk in house and you're supposed to enjoy with the juice too.

This is Aburagarei flounder from Hokkaido, Japan.  It's enhanced by finger lime and sesame.  I've never had flounder before, it is chewy-er than I like, but the flavor is spot on.

This is Shiokko, from what I found is a baby kampani/amberjack from Kagoshima, Japan.  It was preserved in Yuzu black pepper. Which has a mild kick to it.  Once it goes down spicy it has a bitter finishing but it's very light in texture.

Kamasu, which is aka barracuda from Toyama, Japan.  I also have never had barracuda before.  With it was garlic chip.  It's very yummy just enough chewiness for the sushi.  The crispy texture from the garlic chip with a dab of garlic oil made the combo interesting and delicious.  

This is Kohada (gizzard shad) from the mackerel family. It has fresh ginger on top and fried crispy bone to match.  I really like the crispy bone there.

This is Akami which is close to the spine of a tuna, with fresh wasabi.  And boy let me tell you, when you tasted fresh wasabi, you'd realized all the wasabi you've been having are posers. 

This is Chutoro, which is the near belly part of a tuna. It is topped with ginger, scallion, and garlic.

Otoro with uni - the tuna has been preserved for 6 days.  The uni is always a good crowd pleaser.

Chef Jimmy is working on the Waygu.  Bless him, he saw that I was trying to film him cooking, he moved his stuff over so I get a decent capture even though the lighting is not as good. 

This is Amadai with heirloom tomato broth.  The fish top is crispy.

So we were instructed to place the sauce on top of the fish.  The sauce has chili in it, so when you top it on top of the crispy fish, the combine flavor is neat.  You finish it off with the soup it equalizes nicely.  To be honest, the soup by itself is so nice and refreshing that I wouldn't mind having another serving. 

Then we have Anago - saltwater eel.  It is marinated with garlic, cilantro, and pepper.  The weird thing is, the taste reminded me a lot of Chinese BBQ, a very odd feeling, know that I'm eating fish but it reminds me of meat somehow.

This is Hida 15 Waygu, with shiso chimichurri and perilla seeds on top.  If you ever had the chance to have waygu, you know the real McCoy when the meat melts in your mouth.  This one did and it goes down smooth.  Once it hits, you can feel the heavy behind it.  The chimichurri definitely is my favorite, it goes with the waygu so well that we were doing a happy dance.

Last piece of nigiri was Foie Gras with Chicken Skin.  It's a very unlikely combo with fig jam in the middle.  But you take a bite, the flavors all mix so perfectly, it's a very delightful surprise.  The foie gras fatty is definitely smooth but the chicken skin adds the texture that the foie gras doesn't have.  It's not something you encounter regularly and it is definitely fusion, on the other hand it resulted in a delicious result, I'm all for it.

To close out the savory portion of the evening, we ended with Waygu Pappardelle with quail egg.  So pappardelle is thick egg noddles, it has miso garlic chili so it has a little kick.  With bits of waygu meat AND waygu fat crumbs.  How creative is that?!  They cooked the waygu for 4 hours and made the crumbles drizzled on top.  It's just crazy good, also super filing.

At the end, they have a few selections for a la carte.  They know which of their players are popular and have extra for that reason.  At that point, the add-ons are counted in addition to your base price.

To end the night, we had Kakigori which is shaved ice.  They had Thai tea shaved ice with vanilla and tres leches.  The little pearl bits on top are Japanese little cracker, so together it gives the crunchiness that the ice don't have.  The tres leech adds a different kind of texture which is also neat.  Again, not something I've experienced before.  Shaved ice, yes.  Thai tea, yes.  Tres Leche, yes.  But the combo of the 3 is not something you see everyday.  It's neat for sure. 

Getting a seat here proves to be a challenge.  They only have a 6pm and a 9pm seating.  And you can only reserve thru Resy which they release openings 14 days head.  They only open Thurs-Sunday and right now testing Vegan Wednesday.  That said, they release the seats on midnight, and it's gone in a jiff.  I was able to get a seat because I saw on their Instagram that they have cancellations and swooped in.  So, it pays to follow them in different channels to get up-to-date openings.   

So, this experience is unique.  It is $150 per person (price increase starting Aug 2021), currently BYOB and they do charge a corking fee for a certain bottle size.  In Houston, you don't have any omakase (aka chef's choice) only restaurants.  You have restaurants that offer omakase as part of the service, but you get omakase restaurants in LA and NY more.  That said Houston started have a few more omakase themed restaurants and I can't wait to see what else is coming.

Hidden Omakase 

https://resy.com/cities/hou/hidden-omakase