Last night’s dinner was at Friends Only, an omakase counter that is also the R&D kitchen for Akikos (at which we ate in February). The restaurant only seats 10 and for our reservation there were only 6 seated to we were all spaced out nicely and it was quite nice to not have things so crowded or busy which made the whole experience more intimate and relaxing.

The cocktail menu looked to be similar as the one at Akikos and were just as tasty. The omakase started with a Hokkaido scallop, uni, kaluga caviar, and a bit of gold leaf on a crisp. Wow, what a way to start the meal!

Next came the sashimi course which also featured some of the dry aged fish that this restaurant specializes in. It’s the same idea as dry aging meat in that drawing out moisture concentrates and develops flavor. The sashimi was also served with an aged soy sauce and fresh wasabi. There were also little shiso flower buds that gave a delicate bit of floral shiso flavor (and not the big flavor that Andrea doesn’t like at all).

I won’t go through every course/bite since there were 17 before dessert. The unagi was a very different presentation being dried and not served with any sauce as is typical at sushi places. There was chawanmushi, which I’m always a sucker for with the only failing was that the truffle that was used was pretty much dead (see how dry it is in the picture) and consequently had no aroma and minimal flavor. There was the tarabagani (japanese red king crab) and ikura (salmon roe) rice dish that was tasty. During the sushi part of the meal, there was were two different unis in one bite. There was also later an uni handroll with a generous amount of uni (yum!). The last course was a lobster dumpling in bone broth.

To finish there was an ice cream (I don’t remember the flavor, but it definitely wasn’t oyster like at Aphotic) and a creme brulee, both were decent finish to the meal. All in all, it was a very enjoyable more intimate dining experience than a typical restaurant and we’d definitely go back.