WATARU: SEATTLE SUSHI RESTAURANT - REVIEW

This past weekend, I had the chance to try out Wataru Sushi Restaurant, a new edomae style sushi restaurant located in Seattle. This place is fairly new, just opening within the month, but I was impressed with the food and really happy overall with the experience! Of course I had to try the Omakase there and since I was with my family, we could only sit at the table instead of the traditional bar seat. They had two types of Omakase: Wataru ($55) and Kotaru ($45). With the 6 of us, three of us did the Wataru and the other half of us did the Kotaru. I'll break down items below.
First off, we ordered some sides, oysters on the half shell and chawan mushi.
The oysters were really light and fresh, not overly salty or briney, almost had a crisp after taste. The chawan mushi (steamed egg custard thing) was really nice. Not too salty like at some other places I've had it at, but it still had a strong bonito/dashi flavor. The shrimp steamed inside was succulent and juicy, not dry at all.
The Wataru Omakase came with three mini appetizers. First off is an oyster on the half shell, second was a piece Nanban Salmon, marinated with a little tang, topped with some pickled veggies. Lastly was the gobo (burdock root) also marinated and sliced thinly. 
For the Kotaru Omakase (which I personally had) it came with a marinated eggplant in bonito flakes. I forgot what this is called, but it was beyond tasty! The dashi/bonito flavor really seeped into the eggplant and gave it a meaty taste and texture. Absolutely delicious!
The Wataru Omakase also came with sashimi. Here's some shots of what they had. Looks like some albacore, hamachi, salmon, mackerel, and perhaps seared ahi? Not sure but everyone who had the sashimi really enjoyed it
For the Kotaru Omakase, it came with a roll. Our roll was a eel and cucumber roll with unagi sauce. The eels was nice and warm, just how I like it, and it was really simple but tasted good none-the-less.
 Next up is the sushi that everyone gets. For the Wataru Omakase, you get 7 pieces of sushi, the Kotaru Omakase gives you 12 pieces. Everyone starts with the same 7 pieces.
Each piece of the nigiri was delicious. It was so fresh without any fishness to them at all. 
The  shrimp/ebi was a firm, large piece that had a nice crunch to it. The tuna, both lean and fattier toro (belly) pieces were all melt in your mouth worthy. The salmon (looks like sockeye?) had a nice flavor but it wasn't overly strong. One of the favorites of everyone's was the smoked mackerel which I believe Chef Kotaru smokes himself. It had a light smoked flavor that didn't overpower the fish or any other piece of sushi and it was not dry at all.

For those of us that had the Kotaru Omakase, we ended our meal with another 5 pieces of sushi an these were a little more delicate and 'adventurous' if you will for the sushi newb. I personally love these types of seafood items so I was beyond elated to see these.
From the top left corner, I believe this was another mackerel in it's raw form. It was paired with some ginger and green onion and had a smooth texture and nice flavor.
Next up is the lightly seared sea scallop which was one of the best pieces of the night! So fresh, so sweet, and overcooked in the slightest. I honestly could have eaten 10 more pieces of this!
Following the scallop was squid. Squid is usually tough to do since it can be either too chewy or taste too much like the ocean. This was sliced thinly with  what I believe to be a paired with some konbu (a type of sea kelp) and chopped shiso on top. The shiso paired well with the squid and the tender squid made it easy to take in all at once.
The next piece is perhaps chu-toro? A medium fatty piece of the tuna where you can see the fat marbelization in the meat. Very smooth and flavorful. The last piece is one of my all time favorites, amaebi/raw sweet shrimp which I mainly like for the deep fried shrimp head! =) . The raw shrimp was sweet and had a nice bold crunch to the meat. Very satisfying.
 Since my mom didn't have scallop on her Omakase, she decided to order one for her own and we both split the King Salmon order as well. The King Salmon was buttery smooth and had a light salmon flavor that matched the smooth texture of the fish. My favorite part of course is uni/sea urchin. Since there wasn't any on my omakase, I had to order these. These were smaller pieces of sea urchin roe which reminds me of Hokkaido uni. This was one of the better uni I have ever had. These pieces were sweeter than what I am used to and the bold nutty flavor was light in the background, and of course these were silky smooth. Such a nice treat for your taste buds! (If you're into it that is).
Since we were one of the last customers at the restaurant, Chef Kotaru served us some samples of fried spanish mackerel which makes even the bones edible. There was some salt and maybe vinegar added to the fried fish bones and it was nice and crunchy. I could see it pairing perfectly well with some beer! He also served us this tamago/egg cake with bits of potato and shrimp in it. The potato and shrimp were very little and it was mainly egg but it was almost the same as the regular tamago yaki flavor wise, just a bit firmer in texture. Also, since the sort of messed up on our order, the chef offered complimentary ice cream for us (which was really nice of them!) and both the green tea and azuki/red bean were great!

Overall, this place has great service and a nice quiet atmosphere. The food is excellent and very fresh. I definitely want to come back and sit at the sushi bar for the true experience and also, it would be nice to chat up with the chef too! The service is great and I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking to try good edomae sushi.

Readers, do you like Sushi. Have you had an omakase before. What's your favorite kind of sushi?!

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