Udatsu Sushi — Restaurant in Tokyo

This is the first michelin star omakase I’ve had in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I don’t think they deserve a star and would not recommend this restaurant to anybody with experience in sushi fine dining.

The location is great and in Nakameguro hidden in a low key suburb, away from the noise of a place like Shibuya. The interior decor and vibe was modern and thoughtful.

The service was on par with its price point but the hospitality was below average. There were 7 seated at the 6 pm reservation, 4 being English speaking tourists and the other three being local ladies and a 7 year old son. For the 2 hour dinner service, the chef and his staff briefly explained the dishes but spent most their time chatting with the locals and entertaining the 7 year old. The kid was well behaved and obviously had an appetite for sushi being Japanese but towards the end of the dinner service, the chef forgot to explain the dishes because all his attention was towards the locals and started hooking them up with Uni and special cuts, outside of the omakase or a la carte options. The tourists including my party were effectively ignored towards the end. I’m sure there was a language barrier, but I’ve been to other high end restaurants in Tokyo that have shown much better hospitality. Also, it’s probably not appropriate to have kids at the adult table, especially at a Michelin star restaurant.

I wish that was the only negative thing I had to say.

One of the first dishes was caviar on a sweet potato sandwiched in a flaky cracker. It looked excellent but the sweet potato was overpowering that the caviar couldn’t be tasted and it ultimately tasted like a sweet potato tempura.

The nigiri dishes lacked variety and artistic creativity that you’d expect from a michelin star restaraunt. O toro was served a few times, which is delicious because its fresh o toro, but ought not to be more than 3 of the dishes. The rest of the nigiri was solid but nothing more than rice, a cut of fish, and a dash of wasabi. Nothing beyond that, which you can get at any local Tokyo restaurant for a fraction of the price. One of the dishes was two types of uni stacked on each other on type of a roll rice. Half of the customers struggled to eat it because it kept falling apart since it was stacked liked a jenga puzzle. And mixing two types of uni didn’t allow me to appreciate the differences between them. The unagi nigiri tasted like it was steamed/boiled, not cooked over charcoal. There was a steamed tasteless sea herring dish that tasted slightly better than canned chicken from the sea. The soup dish had shitake mushroom and swordfish, which was tasteless and tasted like water. The finale was a sushi roll with o toro and regular toro, which was only for the more expensive dinner service. To me, that’s like having a burger patty with 50/50 A5 and choice beef. Why bother mixing the two? The only dish I though was quite unique and slightly caught my attention was this tempura fig sitting in a savory broth.

Overall, the experience minus the hospitality was average but overpriced. The hospitality though in the end put a bad taste in my mouth, especially for a dinner service where a chef cooks in...

Udatsu Sushi, a Michelin-starred gem, seamlessly blends the worlds of sushi and art. With its concept of a “sushi restaurant in an art gallery,” the space is adorned with works by renowned artists, creating a truly unique atmosphere. But the real masterpiece lies in the culinary artistry of Chef Udatsu himself.

At ¥14,400 (approximately $150 AUD) for lunch or ¥24,000 ($250 AUD) for dinner, this omakase experience is an investment in both taste and presentation. Chef Udatsu brings a modern flair to traditional sushi, elevating each dish with a balance of innovation and classic technique. The attention to detail, both in flavor and aesthetics, is evident in every bite.

The quality of the ingredients is impeccable, allowing the natural flavours of the seafood to shine. Highlights included grilled oysters with sweet miso, a hand roll filled with avocado, Japanese nuts, fried lotus chips, and radish, sea urchin with crispy nori, toro, surf clam, and sea eel.

One standout for me was the surf clam sushi, a dish I don’t typically enjoy due to its often rubbery texture. Here, it was perfectly tender, allowing the delicate flavour to come through. I also appreciated Chef Udatsu’s attention to personal preferences - for example, offering a choice of salt or their special sauce to pair with the sea eel. It’s small touches like these that make the omakase feel tailored and thoughtful.

I was lucky enough to have Chef Udatsu himself preparing my meal that day, which made the experience even more special. His charisma and humility shone as he and his sous chef shared laughter, and insights into each dish. However, it’s worth noting that Udatsu Sushi has expanded to Hong Kong and LA, and Chef Udatsu is not always present at the Tokyo branch. If having him as your chef is important to you, be sure to read the fine print when booking!

The Tokyo restaurant is tucked away in a quiet backstreet, and its intimate setting with just nine counter seats makes for an exclusive experience. Reservations are essential, so plan...

My friends and I had high expectations for this Michelin Star Omakase which was 40+ mins away from our Airbnb. We spent time to go back to the Airbnb to get ready for this nice dinner, and on the way back, we got a phone call from them which we thought it was a confirmation for reservations phone call which they already confirmed via email in the beginning of the week, so we tried to pick up, but it hung up right away, never called back, did not send a message of any sort. So we didn’t think anything of it. We got to the restaurant and they came up with a lame excuse to not serve us.

When we made it to the restaurant, some lady is at the door holding 2 bottles of wine and asked if we were looking for Udatsu Sushi in English, which we replied yes and she speaks into the door to a staff telling them in Japanese “Uh, your customers are here…” in a kind of confused way?? And not soon after, a waitress from the restaurant walks out and greets us. She then tells us we are not able to dine in today due to a staff getting Covid, and they are sorry, we can reschedule or get take out. This is an omakase…. If I wanted take out I wouldn’t come to pay Michelin Star price for damn take out sushi… also if staff got Covid, how can you still serve us the take out and not allow us to sit in? Not to mention the loud party we hear happening inside the restaurant right now. And some guy walks out with a wine glass to smoke… they also confirmed our reservation 2 times before the dinner. One at the beginning of the week. Another point is why did the restaurant call us just 2 hours before the dinner to let us know they can’t serve us today… if they knew a staff got Covid, they don’t need to wait until 2 hours before our reservation to let us know. We went all the way over there and did not get any dinner and was told a very unbelievable lie. They could’ve told us the truth or let us know way earlier instead of confirming our reservation multiple times. If I can give this a 0...