or 鯨 apparently
Inconclusive if that was served to a customer (or ever), or if I am reading this with another lens, that he was trying / testing it himself 做了人生第一貫 (made my first ever nigiri with it).
Better be careful with this exposure, anymore and next thing you know you can’t get seats any longer… and you’ll have some hangry AZN’s banging on your door.
The chinese sushi restaurant trick. Use super expensive ingredients to hide the lack of actual skill in prep. Maybe he will be different. But IG pics do not look great from customers.
But… $180 all in isn’t terrible… will have to ask in chinese to drink burgundy with the sushi. But no wine is a deal breaker for sure
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I think chef just needs to experience white burgundy and shellfish pairings for himself (along with ikura, white fish, and certain other profiles), as well as Junmai/Junmai Ginjo that will pair better than many of his Junmai Daiginjo offers. His mind has yet to be blown on that.
As seemingly knowledgeable and competent as he may be with ingredient sourcing (he’s using the same company as Hayato) and prep…pairing is definitely not an area he does well in.
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I follow Hangrydiary on IG. Looks like she went to dinner here recently. I don’t know how the food was but the pictures look pretty good.
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From their social media, and one of which you’re after.
First box: Hadate, second box, aka uni from Awajishima, Hyogo prefecture
Might as well go take one for the team as I doubt you’ll get reports from others here, and if so please report back for us 
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Nice! Will do.
That Aka uni looks very plump and delicioso 
A pictorial essay from late November 2022
The Menu
One line review: I’m coming back!
*Chef Raini will be on his vacation this month. So glad to see him smiling, making his dream sushi after a year learning and working very hard at Hayato! He definitely misses and loves Brandon more than any of us!
Aside from all the rare and wonderful ingredients, Raini himself is very precious. It’s hard to come by a talented chef with a good and pure heart like him. He’s shy, down to earth, absolutely real, and accepting feedback very well. I’m rooting for him to have his own sushi restaurant soon!
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super premium ingredients
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10000-word long-form… 
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@PorkyBelly I’m coming back to do some QA on this next month. It’s fascinating to see all this ingredients showing up in one dinner.
@burritoking I figured someone should report this since we don’t have any insight besides those IG screenshots 
Hopefully it helps.
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some pics from last year
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how was the keiji salmon?
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@PorkyBelly probably the bestest line caught Keji I’ve had in a long time, buttery smooth, light and delicate taste. Chef let the beautiful natural flavor shine, Shunji San and Yuko San approved 
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Just went for dinner last night.
Pros
- Gari is incredible. He has a yuzu pickled daikon and then his ginger with gogi berries. Best I’ve had in LA.
- His shari work is really good. As good as anyone
- Very well done cuts of fish, fish to rice ratio was excellent. Cuts were well prepped.
- Ultra premium ingredients - sourcing the very best of everything. Line caught deep see Akoudai, Japanese abalone, Yamayuki tuna. Absolutely floored by the Yamayuki Akami.
- Best abalone prep I’ve had
Cons
- Still no wine allowed
- Could have used a couple more pieces of sushi. Total was 16 courses including tamago with 6 cooked dishes and 8 pieces of sushi and to end a rice donabe and then tomago.
- Some of the cooked dishes needed more seasoning. Tasted a bit plain.
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Wow what is the beautiful pink-hatted shumai looking dish?
bluefin spinal jelly
Is it dm for reservations?
what was the damage ($)?