I have to admit that my knowledge about this place has been skewed. Many of you may have heard of the documentary on Netflix called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Jiro, who is an ultra-guru master of sushi has an apprentice named, Daisuke Nakazawa, who was in charge of making the tamago (egg) course for the restaurant. Well, that apprentice landed up in a sushi restaurant in Seattle, by the name of Shiro’s, under the tutelage of Shiro Kashiba. I had thought that Jiro’s apprentice had started up the restaurant himself. Wrong. You live and you learn. I’m not sure if Mr. Nakazawa is still at the restaurant, but his tamago persists. Mr. Kashiba has moved on from Shiro’s and opened up a new place called Sushi Kashiba.
The last piece in the torrent of sushi you get when you go the route of omakase, is that treasured piece of tamago. Just wait for it. It’s coming. But, I’ll be honest in that pictures just don’t do it justice. Alright, enough talk. Let’s get started. Omakase time.
This will be the stage where greatness happens.
I love sushi just like many others out there. There are some fish that I can recognize without second guessing myself. I still tried to document every course so that you may follow and learn more about it. But, as fate would have it, my phone for my note-taking died shortly halfway through the course. So, I’ll have to go by memory for those. Regretfully however, I cannot remember all of them as I’ve never tried them before as some are truly Japanese fish. Enjoy!
Boiled baby sardines. Chewy, tangy, and salty, but yummy.
Albacore and albacore belly from Oregon. Albacore is one of my personal favorites. The belly has an increased fat content adding to the overall butteriness of the fish and flavor. You just can’t help but smile with happiness after eating it.
Sea bass
Red snapper + charred golden-eye snapper. I’ve never had golden eye before. Both were a little tougher, I thought, but still good.
Meet Jun, our sushi chef for the evening. He masterfully compiled the piece of nigiri for us. He’s getting our salmon course ready in this photo.
Sake (salmon) three ways (left to right): sockeye salmon from Alaska, salmon with ponzu sauce, and salmon belly.
(Left to right): Seared scallop, seared conch, and geoduck. Can’t say I was a fan of the geoduck. It had a weird texture.
Can you tell which fish is which?
I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell by looks and taste. They actually tasted very similar, which is why it was probably included in the same course. Left: hamachi (yellowtail, another of my favorites) and to the right, is kanpachi (amberjack).
Next up, firefly squid. The name is given due to its bioluminescence capabilities.
Chef Jun is literally torching it.
Kawahagi (thread-sail filefish) with a surprise of fish liver underneath. The liver gave it a sublime creaminess. It’s the first time I’ve ever had this fish before.
There’s a certain dexterity that is required when attempting to assemble sushi.
MAGURO (tuna)!!!!
Right to left: Otoro (fatty tuna belly), marinated tuna with shoyu (soy sauce) and vinegar, chu-toro (medium fatty tuna), and akami (regular tuna). I consider the tuna the king of the sushi world. Nothing comes close in terms of depth of flavor, texture, and just simple goodness.
It’s so good, I had to give you another angle of it.
Then I had to give you a close-up of the absolute king: otoro. You can see all that fat nestled in between the muscle. It’s the equivalent of wagyu/kobe beef. Except, it didn’t go “moo”. My wife doesn’t like it, however. This saddens me.
This prawn was actually alive before it was deep fried. 
The tail is cut off and the shell removed. It is then served up as sushi. It’s sweet and incredibly fresh, of course. The head is deep fried for consumption.
There’s a Korean snack called 새우깡. It’s basically sticks that are made to taste like shrimp. Although we have a prawn here for sushi, I have to say it reminds me of them. Note, the picture of the snack is not mine.
These next few courses, I can’t remember the types of fish I had. Sorry everybody. I will assure you that with pretty much all the other sushi to be had at Shiro’s, it was a pleasure to eat. Comment below if you can identify them! I’ll update this post as best as I can.
Anago (saltwater eel – left). Unagi (freshwater eel – right). I really had to think about differentiating the two…for a while.
Pigfish (left) and Needlefish (right), both new experiences for me.
Tako (octopus – left). Ika (squid – right)
Uni (sea urchin – left) and ikura (salmon roe – right). I found that people have mixed responses to both of these. I love how creamy and delectable uni is and how briny and vibrant ikura can be.
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for folks. The tamagoyaki (egg) is here. By this time, I was ready to tap out. The thing about omakase is that you can tell the chef at any moment that you’re done. I wanted to conquer the menu, but my stomach was conquering my mind at the time. So, I told chef Jun to bring on the tamago because I was done. It literally was the sweetest ending to the ultimate sushi experience. 
Shiro’s has been my absolute, most favorite sushi restaurant of all time (from all the ones I’ve been too). There are many others to try, of course. It’s always difficult to state that a particular restaurant or dish is the best thing ever because there’s just so many copies of it out there. Despite that, you can’t argue with the quality of the fish served at Shiro’s. Additionally, the experience is unforgettable – it has the ultimate ending.
Just in case you’re wondering about my #2 sushi restaurant, that would be Gaku on O’ahu, Hawaii.
Shiro’s – 2401 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
If you want the omakase experience, I highly recommend getting there several minutes before opening. There will already be a line forming. If you miss the cutoff, you’ll have to wait up to 90 minutes for your turn. But, they do take your number down and call you when your spot is ready. Also, if you do miss it, it’s not the end of the world. There are a lot of nice bars to go to to enjoy a drink.
The Common Palate 