Continuing on my weekly outings to check out the new omakase spots in the city. There are only a few more, though I probably won’t get to one a week over the upcoming weeks. We shall see!
You wouldn’t even know that Kuda Omakase, Paraguay 3521, Palermo, was there, unless you were looking for it. There’s no sign, and it just happened someone in a vaguely Japanese themed t-shirt was coming out the door, and I asked. He said it depended if I was looking for Kuda Omakase or Kuda Sushi, the latter of which… [Effective end of January 2023, Kuda Omakase closed for remodeling into an izakaya. When they reopen in March, they don’t plan to offer a sushi omakase. The takeout and delivery spot across the street, and the café next door, remain open.]
…turns out to be across the street. I gather that that’s where their takeout and delivery operation is. Now, I’d given the delivery option a try a little over a year ago and was a bit disappointed. Everything was fresh and flavorful, but it was poorly packed, and the pieces of sushi were really small. It was a trepidation coming into this omakase experience, wondering if the same would hold true.
Let’s start with the general atmosphere. I love it. Beautiful space, comfortable, relaxed, the staff friendly and even chatty. They have an actual sake list in addition to wine, and they have things available not only by the bottle, but by the glass. I was already happy before things really got started.
And I was even happier by the end of the nearly three hour experience (they state upfront to plan on about an hour and forty minutes – there’s no way that’s reality). Three amuses of sorts, followed by thirteen impeccable, beautiful, delicious fish presentations (and normal size!), and then the traditional egg, followed by a creative, interesting dessert. Spectacular, and easily the best sushi experience I’ve had in Buenos Aires to date. 9500 pesos.
Now, given how good it was, I thought I’d give the delivery another try one night. Again, fresh and tasty, but notedly smaller than the pieces served at the omakase bar, and without the flair for anything creative. Plus they just don’t pack things well and they end up all jumbled, and with a couple of different liquid sauces, they all just spread between compartments in the flimsy cardboard box. It all feels a little fast-food thrown together in the approach. Plus, on a per piece basis, it’s more expensive than the beautifully curated in-person experience. I’ll happily go back to the bar and eat again, but I just don’t see ordering from them for delivery another time.
A few years back, I opined that the idea of a closed-door, speakeasy style sushi bar seemed so inevitable, that when Club M Omakase opened up, I was surprised it had take so long. I began hearing rumblings about a new one along with the spate of other omakase openings, with people talking about the sushi chef, Diego Bril, as a sort of wunderkind of the genre. Apparently a longtime sushi hobbyist, he traveled to Japan, trained in how to make very traditional Edomae style sushi, and returned to open his in-home sushi bar, Maru Omakase (address given when your reservation is accepted, in Palermo chico), for up to six people at a time. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed to find out he wasn’t there, and his… assistant? partner? was going to be handling the omakase for the eve. On the other hand, she was friendly, charming, and clearly skilled and knowledgeable.
They have two “options” for the omakase experience. The quotes are there because it’s not your option. It’s theirs. Depending on how many people want to reserve for the night, they decide on either the short or long omakase, and they either do one seating for the evening starting at 8pm for the long, or two at 8pm and 10pm, for the short. Or maybe it’s based on whim. The night I went there were three of us at the bar, but six coming at 10pm, so we were told upfront we were getting the short menu. Respectively priced at 7500 and 14500 pesos. There’s no beverage list to speak of – they offer a couple of wines by the bottle, sake by the bottle, but only one, and very expensive, or beer in bottle/can. They could up their game in that area.
There’s good stuff here. The fish is impeccably fresh. The rice is well made and seasoned right. The fish is cut a bit thicker than I’m used to, and so while not larger length and width, there’s more fish to rice ratio than typical here. Now, I’m not sure if this was edomae style sushi, this isn’t that (which involves lightly marinating and/or curing the fish so that it’s not completely raw) – nothing was noticeably cured or marinated, but perhaps some of it was. And while everything was beautifully fresh and tasty, there’s not a lot of creativity going on here. The fish pieces are all brushed with (or in the case of the sashimi, sitting in a pool of) tare, soy sauce with a little lemon juice in it; and the shellfish pieces are all drizzled with a few drops of fresh lemon juice and then crowned with a pinch of sea salt. Every piece, done the exact same way, and with the exception of the first sashimi round, and the last nigiri, of bluefish, which got a pinch of green onion and some grated ginger atop, nothing was garnished. One sashimi plate, nine nigiri, two handrolls, two pieces of a maki, egg, and miso soup.
I enjoyed myself, I liked everything. I was a little disappointed to not meet, nor get the sushi from the hands of the chef-owner, and also to not have the option of the longer menu with more variety. It’s a little fast paced, perhaps because there was a second seating coming. Although I arrived at 8, the other two didn’t come until about 8:15, so the sashimi hit the table at about 8:20, and the last dish, the miso soup, was on the table at 9:25, and we were out the door by 9:40. Kind of rushing it, and not quite as relaxing as one might hope. I’d happily eat there again, because there’s something fun and social about the closed door experience. At the same time, for the same price as the short menu, I certainly had a more creative and interesting meal at Mutsuhito Omakase written up in the last post. And in retrospect, I’m not sure how I’d feel about the longer meal if it’s all this same approach, but at a price that makes it, I think, the most expensive omakase in the city.
