We eat out a lot so always in something new and unique. This week I had us booked at Yuji, a kappo-style Japanese restaurant with a scant 8 seats in the heart of Japantown that just opened up a couple weeks ago. You can’t book them on OpenTable, Resy, or Tock (or even Seven rooms) and only took reservations via email. Finding the restaurant was a little tricky too because there is no street level signage and they had a big non descript piece of plywood blocking the stairs to the restaurant so we thought that section of the building was closed. In any case, we eventually found our way to the restaurant by calling them.

The space is intimate (I.e. small) with only seating for 8 or 9 at the counter. Service entirely came from Chef Yuji and the one server. The only offering is the 12-course (if you include the amuse as a course) kappo-style omakase, which features a variety of preparations (e.g. raw, boiled, fried, steamed, etc.). The concept was very interesting and the menu featured a lot of interesting ingredients. Favorite courses were the clay pot dobin mushi and the sea perch (fried tied with a generous serving of Hokkaido uni) handroll. Andrea also really liked the chawanmushi wick I thought was decent but I thought the one we had last week at Wako was better.

Again, we really enjoyed the concept, but the execution was uneven. For me, the wagyu shabu shabu was not my favorite presentation of wagyu (definitely prefer shivering with a flame…) and the mucroplaned truffle had to be the driest least flavorful truffle I’ve ever seen and (not) tasted. 12 courses is a lot and having the rice dish for the penultimate dish was too much and filling for that matter in the meal and neither of us could finish. The dessert was ok (deviation from the menu), pumpkin flan with strawberries didn’t seem particularly Japanese.

Overall, we enjoyed the novel unique experience, but we’re a bit disappointed in the execution (granted out expectations are quite high).