Omakase Style Dinner

Even though the restaurant has no sushi bar to enjoy witnessing the preparation of the sushi, I was happy to see that the menu offered chef selected options. I decided to go with an omakase style plate of their finest and started the meal off with some ika geso yaki (grilled squid tentacles). Even though presented as a small starter plate, it was a large dish that made me worry about the rest of my selection. The squid tentacles were excellent and a great start for a fulminant meal.

The main sushi plate came with a small bowl of ikura (salmon roe), which easily ranks among the best I ever tried. There were 8 nigiri pieces, maguro (tuna back), ika (squid), karuma ebi (tiger prawn), sake (salmon), hotategai (scallop), hokkigai (red calm) and hamachi (yellowtail). It is hard to pick what stood out from this selection. All of them were outstanding. The ika and hotategai were really delicious and the usually average maguro (tuna back) was of outstanding quality and texture. It made me curious about other tuna cuts they had on the menu as well. The plate was rounded of with a maguro (tuna back) maki (roll), which was also surprisingly nice.

Looking at the specialties of the day, I decided to go for another place of 4 nigiri pieces. I chose anago (conger eel), which was amazing and a worthy alternative to my usual favorite unagi (freshwater eel). The did not have any unagi, so this was a great substitute. Another special of the day was katsuo (bonito fish), which is a rare find in Düsseldorf, and it was also excellent. Most impressive however, was the bluefin tuna cuts they had on the menu. I chose one piece of chu toro (medium fatty tuna belly) and one piece of otoro (fatty tuna belly). Even though I usually prefer chu toro over otoro on most occasions, I have to say that the otoro at Hyuga was outstanding and tanks among the best in Düsseldorf. Fort his alone, I would come back any day.

Sushi Guide Verdict

Hyuga is an amazing restaurant and rare find among the many Japanese places to choose from. It is so small and easy to overlook even when walking by frequently. Based on this night’s experience, it now ranks among my favorites and is one of the best in Düsseldorf without any doubt. The atmosphere is elegant, yet authentic and the staff was super nice and made the meal a very nice experience. The menu options are extensive and the quality and taste of everything I had was outstanding. The drink menu is ok, but a bit basic for a sophistic dining experience. This is usually not a big issue for me as I like to focus on the fish. All in all, this is an amazing restaurant and I can recommend it without hesitation for any sushi aficionado.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

Review date: June 17, 2021

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Operating since 1987, Toni’s Sushi Bar claims to be the first sushi restaurant in Miami Beach. High Zagat ratings underline the ongoing success of the restaurant. The menu ranges from soups and salads to large entrees such as Toni’s duck or Toni’s steak. The Sushi selection is quite good and offers various choices of both moriawase or omakase style sashimi plates. Toni’s Sushi Bar leaves nothing to be desired on terms of menu options.

Sashimi Dinner

The omakase sashimi plate was quite amazing with cobia (finfish), hamachi (yellowtail), kanpachi (amber jack), maguro (tuna) and sake (salmon). I ordered some additional aji (horse mackerel), tai (red snapper) and toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly) from the daily specials menu. All of these were amazing and if the toro hadn’t sold out, I would have ordered even more.

I finished the dinner with a sake cava temaki (grilled salmon skin handroll), an unagi (freshwater eel) nigiri and a anago (sea eel) nigiri. I never had anago before and liked it very much. Still it falls behind the unagi, one of my absolute favorites.

Sushi Guide Verdict

The atmosphere of at Toni’s Sushi Bar is cozy and familiar. It is quite dark and one feels at home even when the place is packed. Although there is no particular style to the interior design, it feels like a very original place. The sushi menu offers a great selection of fish with additional items on the daily specials menu. The quality and taste of the fish was outstanding and far better than to be expected. The drink menu offers a good variety of wine, beer and premium sake options. The service team was very polite although there were some language issues from time to time.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

Review date: December 31, 2015

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