First opened a few months ago, Umi, which is Japanese for "sea", is a fine sushi restaurant owned and run by three young Thai entrepreneurs with keen passion in Nippon cuisine.
Unlike those oh-so ostentatious, newly-opened dining venues that relentlessly pop up in the metropolis, this establishment is a simple, 15-seat sushi bar with two tatami-floored private rooms.
The sushi here is best enjoyed in the style of omakase, a Japanese phrase meaning "I'll leave it to you". This leaves the food selection to the chef.
Umi's management, however, insists that it doesn't want to sway diners who already have something in mind. Guests are always welcome to order their favourite delicacies a la carte, should those selections be available.
Each day, there are 18-20 options on offer, culled from a collection of approximately 60 fish and seafood choices. All fresh ingredients come chilled, not frozen, at least twice a week.
Umi's staff pays as much attention to the quality of sushi rice as it does the seafood. The Japanese rice, which is meticulously selected, is cooked with top-grade rice wine vinegar from an artisan distillery. Wasabi is freshly grated, and pickled ginger is made in-house.
Umi's a la carte menu features anything from the economically priced hamachi, or yellowtail (150 baht); shima aji, or striped jack (190 baht); hotate, or giant Hokkaido scallop (130 baht); to the pricey kinmedai, or golden-eye sea bream (300 baht); otoro, or fatty tuna belly (420 baht); and uni, or sea urchin roe (500 baht).
Ideal for first-timers is the chef's selection (1,700 baht for a nine-piece sushi set and 2,500 baht for 12-piece set).
The set began with an appetiser, represented by chawanmuchi (steamed egg custard), followed by a dozen pieces of classic and seasonal sushi and a dessert.
During our visit, the sushi line-up began with three selections of white-meat sushi — sweet soy-flavoured squid, sake-laced flounder and lightly salted striped jack. The sushi is served one-by-one and supposed to be eaten — preferably by hand — within 15 seconds to retain its ideal temperature and mouthfeel.
Following was a family of maguro (tuna) sushi. My favourite, the akami, or mirin-infused red-meat maguro (220 baht if ordered a la carte), exhibited a soft texture and balmy taste. The chutoro (fatty tuna) was delightful, and the otoro, although it tasted a bit fishy, showcased its rich, melt-in-the mouth character.
Selection number seven was represented by kohada (salted barb). It was followed by a kuroma ebi tiger prawn, which are imported live and retained its naturally sweet and flavoursome nature when cooked; run-of-the-mill ikura (salmon roe) maki sushi and impressively springy akagai (ark clam).
During our visit, the chef recommended we sample the shirako, one of Japan's winter culinary highlights. It is the sperm sac of cod fish served warm atop nori-wrapped sushi. The soft and slippery shirako looked somewhat like a human brain and tasted quite heavenly, with a creaminess similar to steamed egg custard.
Another highlight of the meal was anago sushi. It presented a mouthful of grilled and glazed sea eel with a caramel-like eel reduction.
The line-up finished with a tamagoyaki sweet omelette. Umi's rendition tasted like a soft, ultralight Japanese cheesecake.
Charcoal ice cream lent to the meal a perfect sweet ending. Service during our visit was mainly done from across the sushi counter by a team of amiable chefs.
The kuroma ebi tiger prawn, ark clam and salted barb.
A platter of akami, chutoro and otoro sushi.
Umi, which is Japanese for "sea", is a fine sushi joint where diners can enjoy the season's best aquatic harvests.
Grilled saltwater eel and shirako (cod's sperm sac) sushi.
