Matsumi — Restaurant in Hamburg

TLDR: It's on the pricey side but this is the place you'd want to visit for taste, quality and ambiance - not for quantity or bang-for-buck. Take a course menu and you will eat at a slow pace to really savour your meal(s).

If you're hungry, have a snack before (or after) as portion size is quite small.

---📑 The Setup: We attended Matsumi as a couple and both went for a 6-course menu with the mains as "Sushi" and "Una-Ju" (eel on rice). We could only get a Bar seating so we could not try any Wagyu / Sukiyaki unfortunately. :)

---🍱 The Food: See pictures. The 'green tea' is nice and mild. The food was very carefully arranged and the courses came in well-paced (over the course of 2h as advertised). The portion size was quite small, this is something to be aware of in case you come in hungry - we came here for experience, taste and quality alone and deliberately had a small meal beforehand. Each dish is executed individually and carefully by the chefs which out great attention to small details - something which you an see well if you sit at the bar.

Taste wise all dishes were very tasty and seemingly became better and better with each course. The first "radish salad" was our least favourite (too salty) and the sashimi was our most favourite.

🍣 Sushi/Sashimi: all of it was incredibly fresh and tasty; the sashimi came presented on parilla leaves and other edible garnish and was well cut and portioned for sashimi. Our personal favourite was the Tuna Belly and Salmon.

⚠️ side note: when the menu mentions 'x rolls' they do not mean that you get a roll (as is common at other places) but rather that you get x 'pieces' in total of said roll. Something to keep in mind.

🗾 Wasabi: this is one of few places which optionally serves real, fresh wasabi. If you have heard tales of real wasabi tasting vastly different than paste - give it a try. Personally I found both equally pungent but the real wasabi has a more creamy texture and some earthy flavour notes which other paste does not have.

🍨 Dessert: the ice cream we were served was great. It was very flavourful (sesame) and creamy but did not contain an abundance of sugar. This was a pleasant surprise as its often way too sweet.

---⛩️ Ambiance: The music is a gentle, traditional Japanese background track list which plays at a low and comfortable volume - not overbearing, just present in the background. The interior has a very strong Japanese (traditional) aesthetic with a lot of wooden elements. Our Bar seating had a little origami crane on the 'table', which was comfortable to sit at.

---👤 Service: During the meal the waiters did not inquire much about our meal or if we had any additional wishes; this was okay for us as we were content with our experience but it couldn't hurt to check in once or twice. However, the staff was very friendly and went out of their way to try solve a problem we had with a Voucher, which we...

Not here to profess or debate opinions. Neither am I impartial to this wonderful restaurant and its superb team, both on stage as well as behind the scenes.

In fact, I have been a very happy customer for years, bordering on decades. In my view, Matsumi embodies so much of what is to admire and love about Japanese cuisine - and Japanese culture more generally. By no means is this restaurant the only valid form or interpretation of either. And they certainly would never claim to be.

However, you will indeed be hard pressed to find people - or a restaurant for that matter - more passionate about their cultural and culinary heritage, sense of hospitality and respect as well as benevolent perfectionism when it comes to helping and actually caring for customers as much as preparing and presenting the many dishes on offer.

Far from being confessionally religious or esoterically minded, in my humble estimation Matsumi is a preeminent temple to Japanese cuisine in Hamburg; its staff are high priestesses and priests of Japanese hospitality and excellent, mainly traditional dishes. I happily and freely bow 45°+ to that, any time of the day. Kowtows are not particularly liked in Japan, I hear.

As for the critique of steep pricing, I would like to point out that at Matsumi ingredients will never be chosen on account of being either cheap or exorbitant - only ingredients adhering to the highest standards of quality and with a clear purpose will be deemed worthy of the dishes, chefs' expertise and - in particular - customers eyes as well as taste buds.

Particularly in Germany, prominent thrifty tendencies have lead to entrenched expectations of discounter prices for food as a baseline, at least among a fair share of society. Hence pricing deviating from that norm must naturally seem steep to some.

But that critique is actually off-point: you are not paying for discounter food or conveyor belt sushi; but traditional Japanese cuisine, served by trained, respectful, knowledgeable and helpful staff and chefs, in a RESTAURANT, prepared with love and perfection, while being presented to your eyes and sensory palette with an intention that goes light years beyond mere satiation or optical delight.

Also: good fish that is actually what you think you are getting tends not to be inexpensive - let alone all the exotic choices on offer. Excellent "frutti di mare" all the more so. Another tidbit to dwell on, mayhaps.

If you were to accept to take this view, it must follow that Matsumi is a very good deal in literally all respects. And you will never leave the place hungry because of pricing or a lack of choices. Never ever.

Thank you, dear Matsumi team, for everything and mecha kanpai to many more...

I was surprised when reading the many reviews stating “best restaurant, best Japanese food in...” and so on. Having lived in Japan and dined in many Japanese restaurants in Europe (especially in Germany) I would rate Matsumi with three stars. This was our third visit. The food is very good, but very overpriced. This time we had the most expensive set menu at €94 per person for eight courses and did not find the quality to match the price. Many better restaurants, even in Tokyo, don’t charge that much for the quality we were served. The staff is friendly but nothing special. The restaurant itself is very basic with a cheap interior. It looks like it hasn’t been renovated for years, including the dirty restrooms. If you get seated on the tables that have a wall-mounted bench, bring a pillow! After three hours of dining without any back support but a low, wooden shelf we couldn’t wait to pay and leave. Hamburg has so many other great restaurants, and after having given Matsumi three chances we will...