Sushi Namba Hibiya (Tabelog 4.55, Gold)

Seated in the hanare (private counter) for the foreigner seating booked through TableAll.

Otsumami are served by his apprentices first while Namba-san finishes up the earlier seating, and then he moves to the hanare to start the nigiri portion after. The room only seats four people so it actually feels quite intimate since you practically get full access to Nanba-san once the he starts with the nigiri.

Atmosphere was very calm and serene. You do get that quintessential “high-end sushiya” vibe in the sense that it’s quite hushed, but it wasn’t stuffy at all. Namba-san is generally soft-spoken so I assume this is just the vibe he prefers and that this is the case for the main counter as well.

The other party with us was incredible; they were just as thrilled to be there as we were. I was the only Japanese-speaking guest this time so I took care of interpreting for the table. Namba-san barely speaks any English, so I’d personally say you do need some level of Japanese if you really want his insight on all the items served and their individual characteristics. He also mentioned that the Miami branch will probably be delayed a bit more and that he recommends Sushi Sho and Yoshino as his picks for NYC.

Drinks were comped as thanks for interpreting for the table (nothing expensive, but still very much appreciated) and we were offered a shako nigiri as an add-on at the end of the course, which the kind couple we shared the seating with offered to pay for as thanks (thank you!)

Food:

Tsumami was

1. Ikura
2. Tako
3. Kinki-ni
4. Botan ebi
5. Kobashira Mizore-ae
6. Ankimo
7. Nitari Kujira (Whale) Tail
8. Awabi (Abalone) and Kimo (liver) sauce with shari
9. Yaki-anago

Nigiri is listed in menu with an unlisted dish of Matsutake and Zuwaigani (Snow Crab) with shari as well as the add-on shako.

Highlights included
1. Botan ebi – Superb texture and flavor amplified by a paste of ebi-miso and crushed up shells mixed into a paste.

1. Ankimo – Pure sweetness with zero funk. Literally as silky as tofu.

2. Maguro sequence – Started with a temaki, followed by setoro, and then ootoro. Namba-san kept talking about how good today’s tuna was (Oma) and it definitely didn’t disappoint. He said it was worth flying across the world for and our seatmates (from New York) agreed.

3. Shiro-ika – Extremely thinly sliced strips layered. Very good sweetness from the squid as well as really nice texture.

4. Matsutake with Zuwaigani and Shari – Really fun dish with great perfume from the matsutake (Iwate) and a nice accent from the crab meat.

Overall, incredible meal from start to finish. Tsumami was definitely stronger but his nigiri is no slouch either. Didn’t get any sense that we were being treated differently due to being foreigners either. He seemed quite happy to be able to communicate his thoughts to foreigners in more details. Steep price, but absolutely one of the top sushi-ya out there.