I better start by apologizing for getting this restaurants name wrong in my first food post(I’ll learn how to embed that here in good time, I’m just a beginner....). It’s not Ose, but Ooze. Now if you’re familiar with nihon-go, no worries of course, though chances are most people who read the title would have read “booze” without the “b”. I’ll quickly explain. Ooze or O-ze. The “O” is pronounced like the “O” in opera, add the second “o”(or -) and it just means to hold that sound a little longer. The “ze” is the same as in zen (I was going to use zebra but a lot of people say “zee bra”). Anyway, forget the booze less b. Let’s crack on.
We went to Awaji Island (Hyogo, Japan) yesterday to visit my in-laws. We sometimes go to Ooze but the wife’s parents are a little worried about the Rona, so we got take out. If you’re living local, they can deliver. I was a little gutted really, only because I wanted to get some pics of the shop, and the dude who owns it. When the owner is as good as the food, it’s worth a shout out!
Now......that’s a monstrous plate of absolute goodness right there! If I received anything even remotely close to looking like that outside of Japan, it would’ve come from a high end, popular restaurant. Ooze is this small place down a small side street and only locals know it, it’s incredible really. It’s one of the great things about living in this country, the quality of food, and restaurants, is out of this world.
Left to right - salmon, mid-level grade tuna(chu-toro), salmon eggs(ikura), grilled eel with sweet sauce(anago), squid(ika), sea urchin/ sea egg/ kina (uni), 3x sushi rolls (sarada maki with shrimp, egg, cucumber, mayonnaise/ tsuna mayo with tinned tuna and moyonaise/ and tuna).
This pic gives a better look at the sushi rolls. Also, that little gem with the heads and tails is raw shrimp (amaebi). On the left is some yellow pickled ginger(gari), I love this stuff! My wife and son both said it’s to cleanse the mouth between sushi, which I have heard many times, but apparently the original intention was to help combat germs on raw food. Either way, it tastes great, and if you want to eat it with the rice, you go right ahead!
Even the red miso soup (akadashi) is amazing! It’s like good fresh miso soup on steroids! Added to the broth are spring onions, burdock root (I’ve only ever known it as “gobo”, I guess you do learn something new everyday), mushrooms (shemeji I think they were), and yellowtail or kingfish (buri). My son has loved this soup since he was able to eat the stuff!
Deep fried octopus (tako karaage). It’s pretty easy to find this side-dish in Japanese seafood restaurants, I pretty much order it every time I can. Ooze got my families vote for having some of the best fried octopus out there. They also do boiled octopus (tako no butsugiri) which is Devine. I guess it helps when the fishing boats are a stones throw(well, maybe for someone with an arm like Ichiro) from the restaurant.
I think it goes unnoticed by many how important it is having the knowledge to select the right ingredients, that’s why these old fellas who run successful sushi restaurants keep their customers coming back. Not only the eye for good product, but the relationships they form with fisherman etc. It’s a long process becoming a beast in the sushi world.
And this is how it looked before being demolished by our family! We are extremely appreciative of the fact that we can have this kind of quality food. This was a meal for 5, though my son isn’t going to order as many sushi rolls next time. It cost ¥20,900. That’s about $200us, so roughly 40 per head for top shelf products. It’s been so long since I ate in a restaurant outside of Japan, but from memory, nothing I’ve eaten comes close to this. I’m not talking about only sushi, I’m talking about dinner.
Everything on that table will make you close your eyes mid-chew, and think, “man, this is the best ~~ I’ve eaten!”, or at least on a par with the best.
I know there’s a ton of restaurants out there like Ooze, small businesses with hard working bosses who want to make their customers happy by putting their hearts on their plates. Now, more than ever they are in need of putting smiles on faces, and paying their bills. So, get out there and support small local businesses.
