It's that time of the year again where guys scramble last minute to get the perfect gift for their girlfriend, and girls wait anxiously to see what kind of gift their boyfriend got them. I was one of the girls that waited anxiously. I know many people say that Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday that pressure couples to spend tons of money on gifts, but I am not looking for fancy gifts. I don't need expensive jewelry or brand name accessories, I just want an appreciative gesture that motivates me to keep doing what I'm doing. For a few days now, my husband and I were deciding where to have dinner for Valentine's Day (V-Day is for both people; not just the girl). We asked our friends for suggestions and a couple of them recommended Shumi in Somerville. Like everyone else, we looked up reviews on Yelp, and Shumi received 4.5 out of 5 starts. We decided Shumi was our Valentine's Day dinner destination!
Shumi is located in a mini strip mall that is dislocated from the main street of Somerville. The door to the restaurant is tiny, almost hidden from the street. There is an Italian restaurant attached to the same building with florescent lights that steals your attention from Shumi. I grew up in the next town over and I've never heard of this sushi restaurant before. When you enter, there is a short hallway before you reach the entrance of Shumi. We reserved our seats at the bar, as recommended by reviewers, and introduced ourselves to our chef, Jack. My husband and Jack hit it off right away because their ancestors were both from Thailand...I patiently listened to their conversation while my stomach growled.
I just want to eat! John and I were open to whatever Jack suggested and it was the best choice we made! We started off with 3 appetizers: Monk Fish Liver Sunomono, Oyster Sunomono, and Torro.
How do I begin to describe Monk Fish Liver? It's soft, but firm, almost like firm tofu. The way they steamed the liver brought out its naturally clean and buttery taste. It did not taste fishy at all and it actually reminded me of spam. haha The sauce it came with is light and is a great pairing to the liver. Who would've thought liver could taste so good?!
These oysters were freshly shucked right before they were served to us. The texture was perfect. It was firm and smooth; just the way I like it. The scallions on top brought out the sweetness of the oysters. Yum!
This, this right here is the gem of the restaurant. What appears to be juicy tender beef is actually grilled Blue Fin Tuna cheek! Usually, tuna that is cooked lose its tenderness and juiciness, but this was just the opposite. The meat was full of juice and it melted right in your mouth. You don't even have to chew it; it was like butta! The marinate is a type of Japanese BBQ sauce and it was perfect. This Torro was amazing. I've never had anything like it.
After the appetizers, Jack began our '
Omakase' experience and explained each dish in detail. He also informed us the correct way to eat sushi. Apparently, you are supposed to use your fingers to pick up the sushi and dip the fish side (not the rice side) into the soy sauce. If you want to use chopsticks (like we did), you gently pick up the sushi up from the longer side and not from the top (your chopsticks should be parallel to the sushi, not perpendicular to the sushi). Doing so will prevent the sushi from breaking apart. Also, it is recommended to eat each sushi piece whole to benefit from all the ingredients used for that piece. We started off with a sashimi plate.
(Bottom-right counter clockwise) This sashimi plate includes 6 types of fish. Japanese Mackerel accompanied by scallion and ginger paste, White Albacore Tuna, Blue Fin Tuna, Escolar, Squid Wrap with cucumber and scallion, and Salmon. Jack made a soy sauce dish with garlic and it was delicious! He says that's the house dipping sauce and it is only good with sashimi, not sushi. The garlic sauce gave each fish a different taste. Amazing.
These two pieces are both from the Blue Fin Tuna, but from different parts of the body. What can I say? I love Blue Fin Tuna! (Take that pregnancy that made me miss out on it before!)
I love how Jack paired our sushi each time. This combination is sweet shrimp and squid with secret sauce. The squid had a crunchy texture to it and I love how crunchy it was. Maybe they massaged it like "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"
Look at those thick white strips in the Salmon. This pair is Salmon belly and fluke. I liked how sweet and natural the fluke was!
Spanish Mackerel with scallion and ginger paste, and Aji. The Spanish Mackerel was really flavorful, but a tad bit salty for my palate for some reason. It was still good though.
I was surprised when I saw this. I just stared at it because I wasn't sure what to do with it. Jack called this the "Japanese Shrimp Cracker" as a joke. lol He suggested to eat the whole thing in one bite and it was crunch-hay! It does remind me a lot like shrimp cracker but the taste lasted until I cleansed my palate with the pickled ginger. Don't they look like mini dragons? ;)
The cream color piece is Long Island Scallop and the white piece is another piece of shrimp. The scallop reminded me of the HUGE Clam sushi we had earlier (forgot to take a picture before we devoured it)
Jack asked if we wanted to continue after the last set and we said yes. Ike, the owner and head chef, looked over surprised that we wanted to continue. I guess he assumed that we couldn't eat a lot, but we just kept going! This was when Jack gave us the good stuff.
He didn't explain what this was...but it seems like the orange one is Salmon with Monk Fish Liver and the other is Tuna with Monk Fish Liver. This was a hearty set.
Jack said this is the "Japanese Cigar" haha. Yes, our chef joked a lot and he made our experience memorable. This roll contains Monk Fish Liver with Spanish Mackerel. John was so please with this dish and couldn't stop talking about it on the ride home. The combination was so good!
Oh. My. Gosh. This was the most memorable piece we had all night. This is Uni with quail egg! I swear I tasted happiness when I started to chew this baby up! The egg yolk exploded and covered the Uni; it made a super creamy consistency. No fishy taste with the Uni either! What a special delicacy.
Last but not least, we had the Tomago-roe wrap. This was the perfect ending piece to our dinner. The Tomago was sweet, tender, and fluffy. Just like how it's supposed to be. Amazing. No need for dessert.
Now comes the bill. We knew it was going to be expensive from all the reviews, but the bill came out to more than we expected. The Omakase ala carte alone was $192, so you can picture how much the whole bill came out to. We gave a generous 20% tip because the service was fantastic and very personable. I would recommend anyone who wants to experience an authentic sushi house to try Shumi. It has really high quality service and food. I am still stuffed from dinner and we arrived at 6:45pm. We also stayed there for 2 hours, so we ate quite a bit. Overall, Shumi was definitely a memorable experience and I can't wait to go back again later in the future! This is my kind of Valentine's Day gift! Omakase-omgosh!
Happy Valentine's Day!
