Raisu: Uni omakase in Kitsilano
Raisu is a Japanese izakaya style restaurant in Kitsilano. We’ve dined at Raisu many times before, one of them even on our anniversary, but we came again to check out their special uni omakase set menu at $145 for 2 people.
Interior
We didn’t have reservations when we arrived on a Wednesday night, so we had bar seating but it was actually more comfortable than I thought it would be. The bar table is very deep and so there’s a lot of table space. We were seated right in front of one of the sushi chef stations.
Uni omakase ($145 for 2 people)
They have a set price of $145 for 2 people or $228 for 3 people.
Aperitif – yuzu sake
We start off with a shot of yuzu sake. Usually I don’t like sake, but I’ve learned now that anything with yuzu in it tastes pretty good (lemon and citrus).
Uni shooter
The first item on the omakase is an uni shooter with uni (of course lol), ikura, mountain potate, quail egg and a dashi ponzu truffle jelly. This is a very appetizing first course as it’s a cold dish and slightly sour with the dashi ponzu jelly, so it stimulates your appetite. The uni tastes fresh and sweet and I love it with the burst of flavour from the ikura/fish eggs.
For a shooter, it’s actually kind of large and it was not a one-biter.
Uni & otoro blue fin tuna sashimi
The next course is sashimi with 2 pieces of uni and 2 pieces of blue fin tuna sashimi, served with some seaweed. The blue fin tuna is not the super fatty one (more red), but still a pretty good one. It tastes really great with the uni. Again, the uni tastes sweet and not too fishy and have a great colour.
Uni & otoro temaki sushi
Next we have a hand roll with uni, minced otoro, takuan (pickled daikon radish) and ikura. I like the way they presented it because you can see how much filling is inside this hand roll. You roll it up yourself and eat it.
The otoro and uni are the same as the previous sashimi course (the otoro is just minced) but with the ikura and pickled radish, it tastes like a full sushi roll.
Uni tofu
Last of the appetizer course is the uni tofu. It is a smooth mixture of uni and tofu, topped with mentsuya jelly. I thought this dish was very interesting because the tofu didn’t taste like regular tofu. It was VERY creamy and thick – very rich. It had snow crab on it too, which was nice.
Spicy lobster uni cream udon
For your main carb, you can choose between the cream udon or a snow crab hitsumabushi. If you order the omakase for 3 people, you get both. We decide to get the cream udon.
The udon comes with a full lobster tail that is grilled, an uni-based spicy cream sauce with udon noodles. It is not that spicy but the sauce is definitely creamy. They present it in probably the biggest bowl I’ve ever seen lol.
Yuzu gelato
For dessert, we get a yuzu flavour gelato which is refreshing and not sweet – a nice way to end your meal.
Drinks and add-ons
We were worried the omakase wouldn’t be enough food, so we also ordered a few additional things al le carte.
Raisu moscow mule ($8)
I love moscow mules so I order this cocktail. They use frozen organic lime, vodka and homemade ginger ale. I thought it was pretty interesting how there was literally a dollop of ginger in the middle of the drink.
Yuzu gelato drink?
I don’t remember the name or price of this drink, but my boyfriend orders it and it’s so cute lol. Comes with a cute little umbrella and a scoop of yuzu gelato. It is similar to a root beer float in that way. A fruity cocktail.
Tako wasabi (free)
Regular price for this item is $6 but we got it as a free item because I think we ordered too much food lol. This little appetizer is raw octopus with wasabi sauce and you eat it wrapped in some seaweed – chewy, a little spicy.
Bluefin tuna aburi sushi ($29)
This aburi sushi comes with 8 pieces – all of them have seared bluefin tuna on top with different toppings. Each piece is actually really big so even though it’s only 8 pieces, it is more filling/more food than it looks.
In the omakase menu, you can add on uni and wagyu aburi nigiri sishu for $20 or $30 for only 2-3 pieces, so I actually think ordering this from their regular dinner menu is a better deal.
I love blue fin tuna, but I feel like eating it aburi style where it is seared is not the best. I enjoy eating blue fin tuna in its natural sashimi form the most.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We were very full from our dinner at Raisu. Originally, we were worried the omakase wouldn’t be enough food but we were wrong lol you really don’t need to add on anything if you are worried about just being hungry. We even took the leftover udon and added more seafood and udon noodles the next day to eat the rest of the creamy uni sauce.
I think the uni omakase is definitely a great deal especially if you love uni. For $72 per person, you get 5 pieces of uni through the appetizer course, plus 3 servings of blue fin tuna, which is another pricey ingredient. The set meal was well balanced and I actually think very smart because a lot of the items use similar ingredients (uni, blue fin tuna, ikura, the jelly, etc.). Even when we were looking at my boyfriend’s cocktail, we had the scoop of yuzu gelato at the end for our dessert course, so it’s a very smart menu that maximizes the ingredients they have.
I highly recommend you check out this uni omakase at Raisu while they still have it daily (no need to reserve). Service is excellent as usual and we had a great dinner.
Sincerely, Loewe