Neither my dad nor my brother enjoys or eats seafood, respectively. In our family, Mom is the only one who ever craves seafood, but recently she realized her stomach is slightly intolerant to raw fish because she often gets sick after eating sashimi. Since we were vacationing at a city by the sea, though, we couldn’t leave without eating some fish. I found out about a Japanese restaurant called “Gami,” a place recommended by different food blog, so we decided to check it out.
Unfortunately, because we didn’t make a reservation, the restaurant was full (can you believe it? On a weekday?) so we had to wait for about an hour. We remained optimistic, thinking, “If the place is pact at this time of the week, it must be delicious. It will be worth the wait!”
And it sure was. Mom told the sushi chef, “This is the best Japanese restaurant I have ever been to!” and I agree. We had the $22/person lunch course, which started with tomato salad in sweet wasabi sauce. The tangy dressing enhanced the taste of the otherwise bland tomato.
The waitress brought, clockwise from top left, seaweed soup, steamed eggs with oyster, and seafood porridge. The soup had a baby clam and some greens; it wasn’t anything too special. The steamed egg was soft and slimy at the same time—an odd combination of texture, indeed, but it still had an interesting taste. I am not sure if it was that wise to have the piece of oyster there because it added to the sliminess of the egg. I think a different texture, perhaps something crispy or hard, would have worked better. The porridge needed a bit more salt, so I just added a dollop of wasabi.
Because Mom and I sat in the bar, we got to see the sushi chef in action as he prepared our sashimi plate. He fired the mackerel, grilled the salmon, and sliced the tuna and three other fish whose names I do not recall. My favorite was the salmon in the middle. I could taste the fire from the grill on the outside, while the rawness inside melted in my tongue. So delicious! I also liked the fish on the bottom right, except the skin was way too scaly so I had to close my eyes while eating it. Overall, the sashimi was so fresh and chewy! Yum.
I dipped these sea urchins not in soy sauce with wasabi, but in cho-gochujang, or sweet Korean chili paste. I liked the orange stuff but too much would have upset my stomach because they were very slimy. The long, warm-like urchin was very chewy, while the spikey sea urchin at the bottom were too crunchy and jerky that I ended up spitting it out.
Another platter of sashimi. This is the same type of fish as the white fish served on the bigger sashimi plate, except the sushi chef told us that this filet is from a smaller fish with more bones. The black sesame seeds on top were a nice touch.
I have been craving good, fresh oysters and these satisfied my need. The oysters were marinated in light, lemon soy sauce with cucumbers, seaweed, and scallions. The sauce was too sour.
The salmon sushi was exquisite. Like the salmon on the sashimi plate, these were lightly grilled so I could taste the fire burning through the fish on the surface while the inside was moist, chewy, and sweet. A piece of perfection!
These pan-fried fish were full of eggs in their stomach. Even looking at them makes me feel nauseous. The eggs were also encapsulated in thin, sticky, and liquidy film. Absolutely disgusting, in my opinion. I feel sick even looking at it.
The yaki udon was another one of my favorite dish. It was a bit spicy from the pepper, and had ample amount of seafood (salmon, squid, mussels, oyster) and vegetables (cabbage, mushroom). The dried squid flakes on top added a nice smokey flavor.
I made a promise to myself to not eat fried food, but I had to break it this time because they served us fried kabocha squash! I took of the tempura skin, dabbed the squash in the napkin to get rid of any grease, and ate it. Oh my, no matter how good of a dish I am eating, squash trumps it all.
Nearing the end of the course meal, we had a huge bowl of fish cake soup. The soup was warm, a good change in the temperature of food from mostly raw and cold to cooked and hot. The fish cake tasted homemade, or at least not mass-produced.
Koreans don’t call it a complete without rice. The mini bibimbop had sprinkles of scallions and roe on top of the rice with a bed of kimchi underneath. Mom and I were satiated and extremely satisfied with the meal. I tend not to go to the same restaurant twice because I am always up for a new adventure, but I am willing to make an exception for this place.
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