Sushi Inaba Manhattan Beach

Very quaint (6 seats, at most) with hyper personal service (they adjusted my wasabi vs. everyone else in every bite). The appetizers are inspired and I had a number of fish for the first time (and I eat a lot of good sushi). Bring your own saki (small charge) and parking is horrible in Manhattan Beach. Otherwise, an amazing experience with great personality!

Only 6 seats at the sushi bar, it's omakase for dinner expensive but worth it. The chef Shin as we learned started learning 28yrs ago our of Jr. High. He's been a sushi chef at Matsuhisu, Sasabune and Q. It was great watching him make each piece, with half of them with fish from Japan or others prepared in a way I've never had. Definitely one of the best sushi meals I've ever had. They are waiting for their liquor license license so it's Byob which actually would reduce the avg price from any of the other restaurants I mentioned significantly.

Thank you sushi inaba for bringing omakase to Manhattan beach. By far the best sushi in the area, bringing authentic Japanese experience and taste to the table. Seats 6 people max and must reserve in advance. You won’t find a friendlier chef with chef Yasu.

I am saving for for my Birthday dinner here. I just want to spend it with the best Chef Yasu

Without further ado, let 's move on to the nuts and bolts the FOOD of the omakase. You can refer to the captions on my photos. Below the dishes are described in the order of their presentation during the 素晴らしい subarashii splendid, excellent meal. 1. ウニ　蕎麦 Uni Soba To my knowing that the Inaba restaurant group makes soba every morning in house, from the scratch. It 's fresh and a little bit chewy with the taste of buckwheat nuttiness. Served with the Santa Barbara uni based broth and paired with the Hokkaido bafun uni on top. 2. 天ぷら Tempura Chef chose the Tachiuo タチウオ Beltfish for tempura tonight, garnished with simply salt. The belt fish is typically not a classic Edomae sushi but I totally fell in love with its pleasant texture of a white fish and the clean taste. It 's simple... Simply good! 3. 茶碗蒸し Chawamushi Savory and full of sea aromas with Ezo abalone (Awabi アワビ The steamed egg beautifully delivers a delicate and excellent umami with its smooth, buttery finish! 4. Bonito Smoked suma kazo garnished with chives, onion pickles, and chili vinegar. You cannot miss the classic while dramatic cooking technique in any Omakase. Chef Hirano elegantly incorporated Binchōtan charcoal in his searing process, which added visual and olfactory artistry to this fire seared delicacy. 5. 黒バイ貝 Japanese Babylon Shell Simmered in sparkling water, konbu, shoyu and sake for 16 hours. The Japanese sea snail was tender, naturally sweet and crunchy. Tasted like a trip to the ocean. 6. ノドグロ 棒壽司 Nodoguro Bozushi I am not 100% sure if the fish was akamutsu (black throat sea perch but the smoked fat and umami was undoubtedly impressive! Let alone the presentation and fragrance of the seaweed that helped perfectly capture the creamy and rich sensation of the fat. 7. Sunomono 酢の物　 Before we proceed to the FIESTA of nigiri, the appetizer of seaweed salad cleverly served its purpose to cleanse our palate and arouse the appetite for the jewel like cuisines! Tonight 's Sunomono was perfected by the Mozuku もずく from Okinawa, that provided the light, healthy and incredibly refreshing taste for the base. On top, we enjoyed the sea urchin from Ensenada which I was pretty surprised with joy! It was warmly sweet as honey but also lightly briny for its saline quality. The angel shrimp 天使のエビ (Tenshi no Ebi played the best supporting actress in this performance, wearing her graceful makeup that is made of lime zest. 8. Nigiri x 12 Akami Zuke 赤身漬け from Kagoshima 鹿兒島 11 day aged and marinated blue fin tuna Kasugo Dai 春子鯛 baby sea bream with kobujime Aji 鯵horse mackerel Nishi gai 西貝 Japanese cockle graciously delivered the snappy consistency while giving you a surprise gift in his sweetness that goes with the stickiness of the sumeishi (seasoned sushi rice . What a mysterious lover! Takabe タカベ torched yellow striped butter fish with lemon drop and seaweed salt. Shima style (Island Sushi Japanese butterfish UNI Duo 赤ウニ vs 馬糞雲丹 Served without the seaweed (nori is such a clever choice because the grassy taste of seaweed may overwhelm the subtle flavors of the protagonists sea urchins. I personally appreciated the mineral driven sweetness from the aka uni. Its long lasting creamy taste was quite pleasant. O toro おとろ This 17 day aged tuna belly was warmed slightly using a plate that had been placed in a hot water pot. A technique that I hadn 't seen before and felt apparently sweet and considerate of the chef to do so! The fat dissolved a little bit, resulting in a particularly perfect balance of the umami of the fish. Shima Aji 縞鯵 Striped Jack Kohadaコハダ an ultimate edo style neta, the gizzard shad soon became my personal favorite with its noticeably salinity and freshly fruity flavor! Superbly cured. Anago 穴子 Not just the tenderness and purity, paired with the subtle hint of menthol from the shiso, but also the cooking technique Chef Hirano executed with the sea water eel it excellently demonstrated another flawless dining experience! Tamagoyaki 玉子焼き the castella styleカステラ for Japanese transitional confectionery, containing shrimp and scallop The end. As well as the prelude to my next fine dining Japanese omakase. Hat off to the Chef Hirano and Yoshi for the amazing wonderful night at Sushi I NABA. We will definitely come back (as long as we can secure a spot. I mean two lovely seats.