#Good chirashi restaurant wa how to#
#Good chirashi restaurant wa plus#

She’s been baking them since she was a 14-year-old following recipes from YouTube. All the pastries will be turtle shaped “In Japanese and Hawaiian culture, the turtles symbolize longevity and good luck,” Phan says. In mid-April, Ama Ami will begin offering cream puffs in Asian-American flavors such as chocolate with macadamia-nut cream or mango-passionfruit lassi. For now, pre-orders are available beginning Sundays at 8 PM through their website. They’re working to set up a point-of-sale system that will make deliveries possible soon. Wednesdays, they move to rotating pick-up points in Maryland. Tuesdays are for DC pick-ups from Mess Hall, where Phan and Ramos prepare their food (and have hosted tuna-butchering events in the past). The jewel box-like selections of raw fish-including premium fatty tuna and sea urchin-range from $30 to $65.

The “homakase” dinners are now limited to weekends to make time for a weekday chirashi-bowl “pop-up tour” Phan and Ramos launched at the end of February.

#Good chirashi restaurant wa how to#

Zach Ramos and Amy Phan demonstrate how to butcher a tuna at Mess Hall. The dinners have run the gamut from people wearing pajamas to those celebrating anniversaries in fine-dining attire. Everything is highly customized: “We had one family that didn’t even like raw fish, so we seared every single course for them,” Phan says. For an additional $40, the duo will bring a live lobster then break it down for lobster nigiri, sashimi, and miso soup. “Homakase” prices range from $120 to $205 per person, depending on the level.

#Good chirashi restaurant wa plus#

On the other, expect plenty of seasonal imports from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market plus “funky stuff” like cod sperm.Īma Ami has relationships with the same distributors as Sushi Taro, allowing it to score top-quality fish.

On one end of the spectrum, you’ll find your introductory sushi staples like salmon and tuna. Within both, customers can opt for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. The couple called it Ama Ami as a play off Phan’s name and favorite sushi, ama ebi (or sweet shrimp)-hence,”sweet Amy.”Īma Ami offers two different packages-one with sushi only and another kaiseki option that includes small composed dishes, sushi, and dessert. By the end of the summer, they were booked every single weekend. In late May, they launched “homakase”-an in-home omakase experience. The pair were delivering meals during the first few months of the pandemic when clients started asking whether they might come into their homes to cook. That developed into a small catering operation called Aloha CR3W, which focused on Hawaiian food. In 2017, they used their limited spare time to start a sushi supper club, which they usually hosted in an apartment building’s community room, with live music.

The two met-and started dating-while working at Sushi Taro. Ramos cut his teeth cooking Hawaiian regional cuisine at acclaimed Roy’s in Honolulu before coming to DC where he’s worked for Abunai’s Hawaiian food truck and (now-closed) Sei Restaurant & Lounge. Phan’s resume has spanned from sushi-and-steak chain Kona Grill to DC’s fast-casual Donburi. Phan, a 25-year-old Virginia native, and Ramos, 30, from Hawaii, have both been working in restaurants since they were teenagers. What started with Hawaiian and Japanese meals delivered to friends has since snowballed into private in-home omakase tastings-booked up weeks in advance-along with luxe takeout chirashi bowls that have become an Instagram hit. Suddenly out of work, they began thinking more seriously about running their own business. INFO: Go to 7.Amy Phan and Zach Ramos had been working at Sushi Taro and running a catering side hustle when the pandemic hit a year ago. OPEN: Two lunch seatings on weekdays, noon to 1.20pm & 1.30 to 3pm WHERE: Aoki, Shaw Centre, 02-17, 1 Scotts Road, along Claymore Hill, opposite the HSBC bank branch, tel: 6333-8015 Other sets include nigiri sushi and other cooked items. Lunch here is value-for-money considering what Aoki charges for dinner (a minimum spend of $100++ a person from Monday to Thursday, and $180++ on Friday and Saturday).

The bowls here are filling enough to keep your tummy satisfied till dinner time. Eat each mouthful with a smidgen of wasabi for extra zing. Expect everything from salmon to tuna toro, ikura and uni. Go straight for the mazechirashi ($40++), sushi rice topped with mixed cubes of raw fish marinated in shoyu. Lunch sets start at $35++ and up, and includes a salad, small appetiser of the day, miso soup and dessert - usually a pudding, a mini scoop of ice cream and a piece of jelly. Okay, here's a secret: lunch at Aoki, a sushi bar-restaurant in Shaw Centre, is actually a lot more affordable than you think.