We had an omakase experience in Hualalai. I ate everything Chef chose to put in front of me.
So let me first set the stage.
We were staying in a "specialty suite". With this comes a "private suite concierge". They're not JUST for the two of us, but for the specialty suites. But there's only like 10 "specialty suites", so that's only like 10 customers (families or whatever). So thoes 3 manage experiences for those at-most-10 families. A few weeks before our visit they reached out to ask what we would like to do. They arranged a cooking class, poke, for Tuesday. And we decided to ask if they could arrange an omakase experience. They have a sushi bar at the resort, and good sushi chefs offer such. The suite concierge came back saying they would look into an omakase class.
... it's not a class....
but ok
That was clearly "suite concierge has no idea what this is, but they're looking into it, so cool." A few days they come back with omakase on our schedule. They still call it "class", but it's scheduled for dinnertime. The cooking class is scheduled for just after lunchtime. So... we figured they were told it was a dinner thing. But the concierge still seems to not know. Whatever. We do not ask for details.
We go to the cooking class, which is with one of the sous chefs. The sous chef (Chef Richard) mentions they JUST started doing omakase. ... Asked if he should tell Chef Nuri (the chef de cuisine) about any food allergies or the like. No allergies, no worries.
So Saturday, our scheduled Omakase arrives. We go, 6 pm, not knowing if this will be... you know, chef feeds us sushi of his choice until we're stuffed... or if it'll be a class of some sort... or what. We arrived at the hostess stand and they ask if we have reservations. We give the name. "Oh, the omakase experience."
They lead us to two stools, set up by a bar in the shape of an L. There are coals glowing in one spot. Many tools laid out. Weird boxes. All for the person standing in the L. We are on the long side. It's right in the middle of the restaurant. Everyone walking in or out would see us.
They hand us our menus. The "This is the schedule" sort of menu, not "choose from these". With our names, the date, etc. Oh, good, Chef will be preparing foods for us, not trying to teach a class. Good. It does not look like the normal "chef who's making all the sushi gives you the best pieces" thing, but still.
Chef Nuri comes out, introduces himself. He's... stilted. Front of house service is not typical for him, it seems, and he's not quite sure about us. I mean, we made the special unlisted request. we could be the "demanding pain in the ass" sort.
Chef Nuri is from Japan, family from Japan, but has been living in Hawaii for much of his life. He reflects a blend of Japanese and Hawaiian cultures, heavier on the Japanese side.
First course is Otsumami Moriawase. Japanese Tapas, of a sort. 3 dishes served at once. The first is 3 pieces of what I think was a tuna... triangle. One side of it is crusted and so briefly seared over the coals that the pink/white/cooked portion is less than 1mm. But that edge is crunchy and has that "seared over coals" taste. This is sitting in the tiniest bit of a house-aged soy sauce, with a tiny grating of fresh wasabi on top (we watched him grate the root). I don't think I've ever had straight grated wasabi before. The second dish was oyster, raised on the resort (the oyster beds are throwing distance from the room we stayed in), with salmon roe and a cube made from a fish broth (gelatin cube). The third dish was a puffed seaweed cracker, filled with a wasabi uni paste, topped with those thin shavings of tuna and a chiffonade of I-don't-know-what-but-it-was-green. I cannot pick a favorite among them. Oh, that trio was paired with Owaza Shuzo Sawanoi "Fountain of Tokyo" sake, cold sake.
Second course was unplanned. Chef saw it today, and decided it should be on the menu (good, that's as it should be, heh). Tuna collar (one side). Roasted on those coals. We watched him roast it. Minimally seasoned, minimally treated. They had given us forks, knives, and chopsticks. We figured flaking cooked fish off the bone would be best done with the forks. Both of us found that awkward. I picked up the chopstick and... that grabbed the fish flesh wonderfully. We picked off the easy-to-get-to tuna. Then started turning it over and over. And finding more bits to pick out. This part, that part, etc. Then there was a dark part. Nugget grabbed a bit of it and OH A BONE. I told him to take the other big chunk that was still on the collar. I grabbed the chunk with the bones. Shoved the pieces in my mouth and picked the bones out. Of my mouth. Is that rude? Do I care? We are picking that collar CLEAN, damint. This course had a different filtered, cold sake. Don't remember which. The fountain of tokyo tasted better.
Next course was Chawanmushi, a savory egg custard. Chef Nuri told us it was his grandmother's recipe, that it fills the role that chicken noodle soup has, that grandma made it for him when he was sick. He made it for us, with lobster claw and tail, and uni, and other bits as well. I'm thinking "savory fish-egg custard? Am I going to hate this?" I take a bite of just the custard. ... Japanese comfort food indeed. That warm, safe feeling. Of course the bits in it were fantastic, too. An unfiltered sake with this one. It was harsher. I did not like it so much.
Then came a carpaccio. Wagyu beef cooked over those same coals, well, barely seared over them again. Thin slices. Black truffle grated on top. Generously grated on top. More of that house aged soy sauce. More wasabi. Absolutely amazing. Deliciously beefy. But not heavy. Somehow. Paired with a sake chef added late, for us, I forget the full name but something-something "demonslayer". It was smooooooth. It was also extremely strong. I didn't finish the other sake, but I finished this. Maybe not the wisest choice. But oh that beef.
Next was a palette cleansing course. The beef stuck around. Next is sushi. Need palette cleansing.
Kalamansi sorbet w/ pineapple shaved ice and sake sauce (cold). Champagne with this course. Very strong citrus flavor. But the flavor evaporated quickly. It did its job. And it was delicious.
And then, chef made sushi. This part was like the typical omakase in that chef prepared a piece of sushi and put in on the plate in fornt of us immediately. The fatty tuna and not so fatty tuna were there. So was olive flounder (this one topped with more black truffle). The not-so-fatty tuna had a caviar topping IIRC. In total 8 pieces of sushi. I forget all the variations, but every one fantastic. Final one was "unagi taco". Seaweed, tempura fried, into a squared-off taco shape. Eel grilled and in the sauce you expect. Some paste, I forget exactly what, in the bottom of the "taco", strips of eel on top. Most sushi is one bite. This was three. Also, it would fall apart. This could not be put on the plate. Chef handed it straight to us. It was fantastic. I forget what was pained with this. Too drunk.
Finally, dessert. Yuzu rinds (zest? but not grated, the entire rind, but without the pith) around savarin, topped with lilikoi orange slices. Sweet, but slightly. Citrusy but not sharp like the sorbet. Subtle. light. Disolved in the mouth. Perfect finish. With a white dessert wine simply named "Dolce" from napa valley.
After the first course, Chef relaxed a lot. Started talking to us a bit more. And I think the way we picked the tuna collar clean showed we weren't the delicate sort, and he opened up and relaxed more. We got into a pattern, and it was good. A wonderful experience overall.