“Thanks to his larger-than-life personality, Leonardo Jun Sakamoto has left his unmistakable mark on this discreet restaurant where you won’t find any signage. Here, you will savour what may well be the finest nigiri in the city.”

Source: MICHELIN GUIDE SÃO PAULO 2019

An Exquisite Dinner Experience at Jun Sakamoto

As a large group reservations are in order on any day, especially if the desired seats are those at the bar. The restaurant caters to its patrons with a stylish and modern atmosphere and huge open bar where guests can witness the sushi chefs preparing the amazing served at the restaurant. The extensive drink menu offers everything on could wish for and has an expensive selection of sake to choose from.

The dinner started with some light starters, like an huramaki some ebi tempura (fried shrimp), unagi tempura (friend freshwater eel) with rice topping and and outstanding maguro (tuna back) tartare with ikura (salmon roe) topping. The unagi tempura and maguro tartare were excellent and immediately set the bar for the experience to follow.

With seats at the bar, it was nice to witness the chefs preparing one plate after the other. It certainly added to the otherwise already excellent culinary experience of dining at Jun Sakamoto.

Over the course of the opulent dinner, there were some sake (salmon) and suzuki (sea bass) nigiri, a plate of kanpachi (amberjack) and tai (sea bream) nigiri, another plate of breathtaking aji (mackerel) and kamasu (barracuda) nigiris and absolutely outstanding hotategai (scallop) and hokkigai (surf clam) nigiri. Of course, also the uni (sea urchin) gunkan (battleship sushi) had the be sampled. Like all other pieces, it was of incredibly taste and made this an outstanding experience unlike any other.

Then, the grand finale was serves with some amazing tuna pieces that were prepared at the sushi bar. Both the maguro (tuna back) and the toro (fatty tuna belly) nigiri were excellent and a worthy and triumphant close to this amazing meal. Even if it is hard to imagine, there was still room for a little scoop of green tea ice, rounding the experience off nicely.

Sushi Guide Verdict

Dining at Jun Sakamoto is certainly a unique and unmistakable experience. The restaurant caters to upscale clientele with warm and modern atmosphere, excellent menu options and excellent drink menu. The experience was outstanding and quality and taste of the fish was among the best anywhere. The service was friendly and welcoming and like you would expect from a MICHELIN start restaurant. Overall, this is a must for any sushi aficionado living in or visiting São Paulo and it deserves its spot among the MICHELIN start restaurants Sushi Guide sampled.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

Review date: October 20, 2019

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Amazing sushi dinner

The dinner started out with an awesome moriawase sashimi plate with umi masu (ocean trout), hamachi (yellowtail), maguro (big eye tuna) and fresh wasabi. The hamachi was absolutely amazing and among the best I have ever had. The umi masu was also delicious and melted in my mouth. Only the maguro was rather average. With this impressive start, I decided to try more specialties from the menu.

The nigiri plate I ordered was absolutely amazing. It came with tai (sea bream), hotategai (scallop), kamasu (barracuda), inada (baby yellowtail), hotaru-ika (firefly squid) and bincho toro (albacore tuna belly). It is difficult to say, what was most amazing. The hotategai was very creamy and an absolute delight, the inada was even better then the previous hamachi sashimi. The hotaru-ika was delicious and the bincho toro just melted in my mouth with an amazing texture and mild bus very distinct taste. It was amazing.

Sushi Guide Verdict

ICHI Sushi is an amazing restaurant in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights with a very classy and chic interior design. It’s a very small place and when its full, it also is extremely loud, the only downside to the otherwise very authentic restaurant. The menu options are exclusive but not very extensive and a advertised as sustainably sourced. The quality and taste of the fish is outstanding and among the best in the area. The drink menu is good and features many options for a nice night out. The service was friendly and welcoming but we I had to wait for my dishes for a long time. Apart from this restaurant just being too busy, it is an awesome choice and I highly recommend it.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

 

Review date: June 8, 2018

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Late Sushi Dinner

This time I went with 2 friends for a late seating. We started out with a sashimi moriawase plate. It came with king sake (king salmon), hamachi (yellowtail), hon maguro (bluefin tuna back), kanpachi (amber jack) and tai (sea bream). As usual, everything tasted really good and the tai was especially amazing. I had this moriawase plate many times, but it remains to be an absolute delight.

After the sashimi, I had a small dish of horenso (spinach) and then opted for some nigiri pieces. I had ainame (greenling), kamasu (barracuda), isaki (grunt fish) and toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly). Obviously the toro was outstanding, but I was also very impressed with the ainame, which I never had before. It was very tasty and a welcome surprise. The isaki was also pretty unique and was a good recommendation by our sushi chef. All of these nigiri pieces were sushi bar exclusives, so it was a good decision to wait for seats at the bar.

Sushi Guide Verdict

Sushi Ran is an absolutely superior sushi restaurant and always a good choice. It provides a very authentic atmosphere and very welcoming and warm setting. The menu options are extensive and the fish quality and taste is among the best to find. The drink menu is also excellent and offers lots of beer, wine and sake options. The service was outstanding, friendly and forthcoming. Although we only stayed for a very brief dinner, it was an excellent choice to make the trip to Sausalito.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

 

Review date: June 2, 2018

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Sashimi and Nigiri Dinner

This time I started out with an 1o piece moriawase sashimi platter with hon maguro (bluefin tuna), bincho maguro (white tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), susuki (sea bass) and king sake (king salmon). As always the taste and texture of the fish was breathtaking.

As I was sitting at the sushi bar, I decided to go with the sushi bar exclusives and opted for a 7 piece omakase nigiri menu. It starte out with umi masu (ocean trout with shiso leaf), toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly) with white sturgeon roe and katsuo (lightly cherrywood smoked bonito). After that it went on with kamasu (barracuda), zuke chu toro (red wine cured bluefin medium fatty tuna), a kusshi oyster and one amazing piece of wagyu (grade a5 Japanese beef striploin). To finish the meal I chose one final piece of shirayaki (grilled freshwater eel) as an alternative to my usual choice of unagi.

Sushi Guide Verdict

As many times before, this dinner was an amazing culinary experience. With seats directly at the sushi bar I could watch the sushi chef’s prepare the fish and could enjoy the select items of the sushi bar exclusive menu. The atmosphere at Sushi Ran is alway very cozy and welcoming, making me feel at home. The menu options are extensive and the quality and taste of the food was outstanding, above and beyond to be precise. The drink menu offered a wide selection of wine and sake and as usual the staff was extremely friendly and heartwarming.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

 

Review date: October 11, 2015

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Moriawase Sashimi Plate

This time I started out with a moriawase sashimi plate. The selection of the day was pretty good and I enjoyed the first pieces at the sushi bar especially since it has been a while since I have been there. The plate came with kausi uni (deep seas urchin), katsuo (lightly cherrywood smoked bonito), kamasu (seared barracude), tennen hamachi (wild yellowtail), aji (horse mackerel), kusshi oyster as well as hotaru ika (baby firefly squid), kinmedai (golden eye snapper) and buri toro (wild yellowtail belly).

Omakase Nigiri Menu

After that I opted for an omakase style nigiri menu and enjoyed every bit of it. It started out with kasugodai (babey red snapper), kinmedai (golden eye snapper) and buri toro (wild yellowtail belly). Afterwards I had chu toro (bluefin medium fatty tuna), toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly), kamasu (seared barracuda) and mahata (black grouper). I finished the dinner with a wagyu grade a5 Japanese striploin, one unagi (freshwater eel) and one shirayaki (freshwater eel) nigiri.

More information about this visit to Sushi Ran can be found at moritzrecke.com.

Sushi Guide Verdict

More true than ever before, I really love this restaurant. Its unique atmosphere with the picturesque backdrop of Sausalito always makes me feel at peace. The menu options are extensive and everything is fresh and often locally sourced. The fish quality and taste is above and beyond and can’t be matched my many other restaurants anywhere in the world. The wine and sake menu is also extensive and would allow for an exciting journey through the Japanese spirit world. As always, the service was outstanding, making every visit to Sushi Ran an experience to be remembered.

Review date: February 26, 2017

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As a group of 3 we were seated at the exceptionally beautiful open sushi bar and enjoyed the service of Sushi Ran’s executive chef, Mr. Takatoshi Toshi, their master chef since 2013. I had the opportunity to be his guest once before and cannot complain about any other chef there either, but this day truly was one to be remembered. It was a special delight to watch Takatoshi Toshi work. To give you an idea, here is a short video of him at a Gala Evening in Israel.

Omakase Sashimi Plate

Anyway, on this day we decided to go with an omakase style sashimi menu and basically went from one culinary explosion to the next. The first 1o piece sashimi plate came with 2 pieces of king sake (king salom), hamachi (yellowtail), hon maguro (bluefin tuna), ara (red spotted grouper) and kusshi oyster. We especially enjoyed the oyster, which seemed a refreshing and not so common addition to the mix, and enjoyed watching Takatoshi Toshi work on all the other delicious dishes he prepared for other guests in the restaurant.

Even more Omakase Sashimi

We went on to explore the amazing selection of sushi bar exclusives and were served even more delicious sashimi pieces one by one. We decided to stick with sashimi not only because we prefer to focus on the fish’s texture and taste but also because we wanted to make most of the experience and have room left for everything we wanted to try. This is true generally for me, I prefer sashimi most of the time and also enjoy nigiri but tend to skip makis most of the time.

During our culinary journey of the most exquisite menu items the sushi bar could offer, we enjoyed dishes like kasugodai (baby red eye snapper), iwashi (sardine), sagoshi (spanish mackerel). kamasu (barracuda), kurama ebi (Japanese tiger shrimp) and zuke chu toro (red wine cured bluefin medium fatty tuna). It was followed by kaisu uni (deep sea ocean packed sea urchin), toro (bluefin fetty tuna belly), kohada (gizzard shad), sujiko (salmon roe) and shirayaki (freshwater grilled eel).

Since that left some pieces left on the menu, we also tried tarabagani (king crab with crab butter aioli), which was an absolute delight. We continued with bincho toro (white fatty tuna belly), zuke sake (white soy sauce cured fatty salmon), meso anago (braised young sea eel) and a final piece of wagyu grad a5 Japanese beef striploin nigiri. If we would have asked for any more, we would have probably started from the beginning. I can’t remember anything important we left out on the menu.

More information about this truly one of a kind visit to Sushi Ran can be found on moritzrecke.com.

Sushi Guide Verdict

This truly was an amazing experience. With seats at the sushi bar and Sushi Ran’s executive chef Takotoshi Toshi as our chef for the day, we made the most of our visit for sure. As always the atmosphere was an absolute delight and we stayed there for many hours to taste everything we could think of. The menu options are truly extensive with even more exclusive items being available at the sushi bar exclusive menu. The quality and taste of the food was outstanding, with the rights words amiss to truly describe the experience. The drink menu offered everything we were looking for and as usual the staff was not just extremely friendly but also heartwarming. This was definitely one of the most amazing experiences I ever had at a sushi restaurant.

Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Average

Review date: October 16, 2015

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Omakase Style Dinner

This time I started out with an omakase style sashimi plate. It came with hon maguro (bluefin tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), aji (horse mackerel), zuke maguro (red wine cured tuna), suzuki (sea bass), hirmae (halibut), king sake (king salmin),  kanpai (amber jack) and ika (squid). Afterwards I had an amazing nigiri plate with zuke chu toro (red wine cured bluefin medium fatty tuna), sawara (cherrywood smoked spanish horse mackerel) and kamasu (barracuda). The last order was an unagi (freshwater eel) nigri, which is always of supreme taste.

Sushi Guide Verdict

The atmosphere at Sushi Ran is truly unique. It is a very cozy and quiet restaurant with an open sushi bar with an overall traditional and exquisite interior design. The sushi menu is extensive, offering both local and sustainable fish with additional special dishes available only at the sushi bar. The food is of the highest quality and the most amazing taste. The wine and sake menu is also extensive, allowing anyone to find what he might desire. Both the sushi chefs and the waiters are exceptionally friendly and forthcoming, making every visit to the restaurant an experience to be remembered.

Review date: September 11, 2013

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Dinner at Sushi Ran

Seated at a table close to the sushi bar, I opted for a lengthy and opulent dinner. Starting with a moriawase sashimi plate, I was swept away on my gourmet journey. It came with umi masu (ocean trout), king sake (kink salmon) and hamachi (yellow tail) among other things. Afterwards I opted for a huge omakase style sashimi plate that was truly amazing. It came with kanpachi (amber jack), tako (octopus), kamasu (young barracuda), king sake (king salmon), toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly), aji (horse mackerel) and kankachi (amber jack). For a last course, I tried some most amazing unagi (frehswater eel) nigiri and some even more breathtaking wagyu a5 grade strip loin nigiri.

Sushi Guide Verdict

As always, Sushi Ran caters to its tenants with its traditional approach and the cozy atmosphere induced by the uniquely designed interior. The menu options are up and beyond anything you could desire with the most amazing quality and taste of every fish I had. The extensive wine and sake menu invites people to enjoy themselves even more while being served by the most friendly and forthcoming people. It you get a seat at the sushi bar, you can chat with the sushi chefs, who gladly share exciting anecdotes. If you are looking for more privacy, any table in the restaurant or on its lovely terrace will do just as fine. I can also recommend it as a very romantic restaurant within the picturesque and dreamy backdrop of Sausalito. Whenever you are in the area, make sure to get a table at Sushi Ran.

Review date: November 6, 2012

The post Sushi Ran – An All Time Classic appeared first on Sushi Guide.

Omakase Dinner

We started our dinner with an omakase sashimi plate that blew us away right from the start. It came with ji-kinmedai (cold smoked golden eye snapper), unimasu (ocean trout), isaki (grunt fish), hotategai (scallop), mirugai (giant clam), suna zuri (yellowtail belly cut) and mebachi maguro (big-eye tuna). It this would have been all we had, it would habe been an amazing dinner. Still, we stayed for more, omakase style of course.

Next we got some chu toro (bluefin medium fatty tuna) filled with uni (sea urchin) and must admit, I have never eaten anything quite like this. The textures of the fatty tuna and the soft sea urchin were just an awesome combination. Afterwards we had shima aji (stripped jack) sashimi, kamasu (barracuda) nigiri and ayu (river trout) nigiri. Finally we finished the meal with wagyu A5 grade miyazaki strip loin nigri, which was also truly amazing.

Sushi Guide Verdict

As always, dining at Akiko’s restaurant was a truly amazing experience. The atmosphere was just as always and the menu variety is just great, as is the food’s quality and taste. The drink menu still lacks any items that would amaze me, but I wouldn’t do there for the drinks anyway. The service was outstanding as usual and once again I can attest that this is one of the very few world class sushi restaurant on this planet.

Review date: October 7, 2015

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