Sushi Sanshin, Osaka, 1 star, Tabelog gold, lunch, September

I’m going to start the post with answering something that some of people in the sub would be wondering, if they are into Sushi or on their way to have an authentic Japanese Sushi Omakase experience in Japan, considering a few very renowned places basically flunked out on the department that I’m covering. So, to answer frankly, did they place me in the ‘Dreaded Gaijin corner’? Well, they did place me in the very last seat on the counter, but I ended up having one of the most comfortable/well communicated dining experiences this lunch. As it turns out, 2 of the sou-chefs there are Korean, born and raised in Seoul and Masan each. They helped me a lot today, especially pointing out things that I misheard from Taisho or things that I didn’t notice about the dish. Same thing happened to me at Atomix, NY. It is always wonderful and comforting to be served in your own mother tongue out side of your country.

The atmosphere there was very casual, but since they only open for lunch, no one dares to drink too much and make others uncomfortable. I think that would be another perk that Sanshin could offer. I wouldn’t say the risk of confronting a drunk diner there is none, since they do sell drinks, but it is low, compared to the other places where evening is considered as a real deal.

About the food, the most amazing thing that I noticed about Sanshin today is they try their absolute best to stick to the basic, but by doing so, they ended up being super creative. Their Toro piece is the perfect example. Toro is a quite fatty piece. Therefore, it has an occupational hazard of losing its texture and becoming completely biteless. How do you solve/tackle the problem?They tried preserving the texture by making the Neta cooled down more than other pieces while the Shari on this particular piece is hotter than others. They also tried cutting the piece thicker than others. It’s opposite of Italian carpaccio. On top of that, since the piece is fatty as I mentioned, complementing that distinct flavor of fat is important. They put big grain of salts on the piece to put a spotlight on the flavor and also, give another ‘kick’ on the bite. Everything they did on the piece is to solve the problem with basic science and classical cooking technics. But by doing all of them, the piece ends up being something very unique. I think same kind of thing happened on every Neta today.

In conclusion, I think it’s worth every penny and hassle to get a seat there. I expected quite much for the lunch -I booked a plane just because I snagged a seat on the establishment- and it didn’t disappoint. I regret that I didn’t go for the additional order, because my stomach could not handle it. Maybe next time, in next time, definitely.