The people's omakase - Wakasan

Wakasan has been the gold standard of omakase dining in Los Angeles for many years. They serve only the chef's choice menu of traditional Japanese dishes. I always want to eat there but it's difficult to get a table without reservation, and I don't like making reservations :P Finally today I made the reservation because I tried Morinoya and really missed this place.

First course was a cold chawanmushi with egg and mushrooms. The egg custard is silky smooth with good salty flavor.

The sashimi appertizer is of kampachi, albacore, halibut and salmon. The soy sauce is just the right amount of sour and saltiness to bring out the best flavor of the sashimi.

I think the "hassun" plate was the highlight of the course. Clockwise from top left: spinach with egg, potato salad with apple, hijiki seaweed, spinach and mushroom, beans with sesame sauce, pumpkin purple yam and young bamboo, ceviche in tortilla cup, steamed shrimp, omelette, and shrimp in chilli paste. Every item has a unique taste that combines to makes it a big party.

Then came the hot fried beef with zucchini and fried pork with shiso leaf.

Beef with zucchini. The zucchini provides the juice that works well with the thin slices of beef. It goes well with the sauce.

Pork with shiso leaf is great by itself with the pork providing much of the flavor.

Next came the snapper head simmered in soy sauce. The soy sauce is just right without being too salty. It's a bit of work to eat the whole thing, but it's not not too messy because the bones in the fish head are pretty big. I noticed the neighbor table getting beef cubes instead of the fish without asking for it, maybe they give different items based on people's chopstick skills.

Next was hot pot with beef and vegetables.

The broth gives interesting flavor to the ingredients. The beef is tender even if it's slightly overcooked. It's great to have some warm soup in the stomach at this point of the course.

Shrimp tempura handroll marks the end of the savory portion of the meal.

The tempura was good, but the seaweed wrapping is a little moist that makes the handroll difficult to eat. 

The dessert was panna cotta with matcha sauce. The matcha was good and balances with the panna cotta nicely. In the end it kinda leaves you wanting more though.

For $45, the chef's choice menu at Wakasan is probably the best deal for a good omakase course in Los Angeles. It is quite a bit better than Morinoya that I tried recently. I highly recommend this place.

Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 9002