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I love eating/living thru you guys who visit LA’s best sushi places.
Drooling over the sea bream, scallops,
and Hokkaido Uni.
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Glad you got to try Born: Wing of Japan / Nihon No Tsubasa! It is actually aged for 2 years at 32F / 0 C, similar to Senshin (offered at n/Naka and Tempura Endo), though Senshin is far more complex to me. So your next goal is to get a few others with you and try the 1000 mL Born: Dreams Come True / Yume Wa Masayume (that one is aged five years).
Should you ever get to have Wing of Japan again, try it with foie gras, and it should work quite nicely with Asian inspired high end fine dining (if there is something similar to Benu or Mosu in Southern California), except maybe not seared beef/squab/duck courses.
Great writeup on Shunji! Didn’t get the chance to revisit in May, maybe another time. I miss their cooked dishes a lot.
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@Chowseeker1999 You are my hero…I live vicariously through your posts sometimes. How much did your adventure set you back? I would love to try it sometime.
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Of course another wonderful write up. I hope one day to be able to afford a meal there! 
So sad to hear about the crab; it looks spectacular in the photo. All of the sushi seems to be glistening. 
Could you afford a pint of truffle ice cream??? 
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Hi @beefnoguy,
It was thanks to you that we got hooked on the BORN series of Sake. Thank you! 
Well, a bottle of BORN: Dreams Come True is going to be a long time until I get to try that… In my mind I’m thinking…
- 1 bottle of Dreams Come True Sake, or Dinner at Urasawa?
- 1 bottle of Dreams Come True Sake, or 2.5 Dinners at Providence?
- 1 bottle of Dreams Come True Sake, or 3 standard Omakase Dinners at Shunji?
One day I might be able to afford that. In the meantime I’ll live vicariously through your reports and others on that bottle.
Thanks on the tip for BORN: Wing of Japan Sake with Foie Gras. I can imagine it in my mind already. Maybe at Raku? Hm…
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Hi @attran99,
Thank you for all your reports as well!
This Omakase was $170 / person (before tax & tip). But we were really, really full. Shunji-san is such a nice Sushi Chef, pleasant and answers all your questions, that the night just kept rolling, and the pieces kept quietly appearing as we enjoyed the evening, LOL. In hindsight, we could’ve easily stopped maybe 3 - 4 pieces earlier, so the price would’ve been noticeably less.
Our previous visit ran us about $125 / person (no live specials that time (like the random live Hokkaido Crab, etc.).
Definitely give it a try sometime and you can mention your budget to the server ahead of time (to keep things near your budget as the night goes on).
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Thanks! Shunji isn’t a normal visit for us, either. I just make it a point to skip eating Sushi multiple times, and save up and then go once to Shunji (or Mori), instead of multiple visits to other places.
And, you’re right: I probably couldn’t afford a pint of that Burgundy Black Truffle Ice Cream anyways! 
But I’d be so tempted to skip all meals and eat Instant Ramen for a month to take back a Pint! It really was that good.
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I’ve eaten at Shunji quite a bit (usually on my expense account) and I still firmly believe that his nigiri isn’t all that great. Mori and Kimagure do superior nigiri imho. However, his cooked dishes are second to none and it’s what keeps me going back. That’s why doing his full omakase during dinner is such a special treat. Sushi is more of a second thought given how wonderful his concoctions are and the depth of flavor he can achieve with simple ingredients.
Hi @tailbacku,
Interesting. I definitely agree that Mori is better because of the special rice grown / sourced from a single farm just for the restaurant, but our visits to Kimagure have fallen short. They’ve never come close to Shunji’s nigiri.
In fact the last time we went to Kimagure, their were 3 different pieces we were served that were sub-par (let alone just average).
And while our trips to Shunji consistently yield at least a few fantastic highlights, at Kimagure we’ve yet to experience that (nothing really amazing). It was very solid, but not destination-worthy.
But I may need to go back again to see if they were just off nights.
Thanks.
you can also try mori’s rice at orsa & winston in centeno’s incredible satsuki okayu.
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Well if you’ve been to Kimargure more than once and didn’t like either visit, I think it’s safe to chalk that up as not a place for you. I personally think Ike san servers up some of the best nigiri in town.
Hi @tailbacku,
It’s definitely gotten strong praise here, so we were excited to try it. I want to give it another try again sometime, thanks.
Hi @PorkyBelly,
Definitely! I remember your pic when you posted it. The menu in general always seems… not very interesting / intriguing that we just never get around to going.
Did you try their “super omakase” 20+ courses there before? Worth it?
I have not, just their a la carte.
Which restaurants serve these dreams come true sakes ? They do sound very expensive based on your comparisons. Mr beef gut.
Aburiya Raku, Kinjiro (best price), Tempura Endo (most expensive so far) off the top of my head.
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Shunji has it too ? And what are the prices per bottle.
My apologies. I meant Mr. Beef guy rather than Beef gut.
Hi @Funtimes,
I don’t have all the prices in front of me, but for Raku it was $520 per bottle. I’ll let @beefnoguy chime in on the other prices.
Jesus fucking christ.
You brought that particular bottle to Shunji ?