I listed Chiharu Sushi as one of my top dining experiences in 2018. It was just natural to go back during my summer 2019 trip to Osaka. This time I opted for the premium omakase dinner (they offer two different omakase for dinner, one in the downstairs room, that is cheaper, and one more expensive offered in the room upstairs, which was mine).
At the end of the dinner the chef spoke with the guests and provided more information about the restaurant. The venue is owned by a group that also runs a sushi school (both in Osaka and Bangkok). At any given time there are half dozen chefs working shifts in the restaurant and they are mostly fresh graduates from the school. This is quite radical: usually new cooking staff has to work for years cooking rice and cleaning fish before being allowed to serve the customers. The fact that the chefs are young did not compromise the experience in any way. The chef who worked on the evening of my visit was very professional and also spoke English to present the dishes (I was the only foreign customer).
The visit
I used their new booking website to make a reservation. It required a credit card hold, but it worked fine.
The upstairs dining room is more comfortable because has a low counter with normal chairs. Downstairs they have bar chairs around the counter.
The first appetizer was octopus sashimi, with some pepper and mustard.
A second appetizer was amaebi (sweet shrimp) with mandarin jelly and biwa (loquat).
The third appetizer was a piece of boiled abalone, with some roe and juice.
Next was a platter with red grouper and bluefin tuna, both offered raw and seared.
The series of opening dishes was completed by flat head fish boiled with a herbal soup.
The first sushi was amadai, a prized seasonal fish from the waters of Kansai.
The second nigiri was shard sushi completed with egg yolk and vinegar powder.
The third nigiri was kampachi (amberjack).
The fourth nigiri was a classic tuna with a bit of mustard.
At this point we were offered some cubes of ginger root. The flavor was actually the same as regular sliced pickled ginger.
The fifth nigiri was nodoguro, a new fish for me with a distinct powerful wild flavor. Very pleasant if you like raw flavors.
The sixth nigiri was shiro ebi (baby white shirimp); its flavor was very different from a classic shrimp, with a plummy texture.
The seventh nigiri was lightly torched golden eye snapper. Another powerful flavor.
The eight nigiri was anago (salt-water eel).
The ninth dish was a temaki (handroll) with tuna and uni (sea urchin). A good dose of freshly-grated wasabi (horseradish) was also added (but this kind of wasabi is not too hot). The nori (seaweed) was gently warmed.
At this point the end of the omakase was marked by the classic miso soup.
The tenth and final dish was the restaurant’s version of the Japanese omelet. This was almost a cake, with some sugar, and very fluffy.
The whole service took around 2 hours.
The check
The check was 8,600 yen (80 USD). It was sharply more expensive than the lunch, but not excessive as a dinner omakase. I was particularly impressed by the choice of seasonal and sought-after seafood. If you seek value, probably the dinner omakase served downstairs at 4,000 yen plus tax is a better deal, as it should be remarkably similar (just one fewer nigiri and one fewer opening dish and perhaps some changes in the types of fish used for the nigiri).
Where in Osaka
5-12-14, Fukushima, Fukushima-ku Osaka-shi, Osaka
Address in Japanese: 所在地 〒553-0003 大阪府大阪市福島区福島5-12-14コーポ福島1
See their website for more information and link to the reservation system.