Food

Omakase Experience at Friends Only in San Francisco!

October 21, 2023 / Comments Off on Omakase Experience at Friends Only in San Francisco!

One of my top San Francisco Omakase experiences was at Akiko’s, and I recently got to experience their other omakase spot – Friends Only!

Info – Friends Only

Address: 1501 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

Price (as of October 2023): $325/person (for the omakase only, drinks are extra)

Reservation and Getting There

Luckily I wasn’t the one making the reservation this time; I just showed up at the restaurant! We had a reservation for 3. The place was a mile up California Street from my work, so it was nearly a pure uphill walk to the restaurant. It doesn’t look like much on the outside (think no label, etc., but you know you’re at the right place if you got the address right). They open the door during your seating time, so don’t expect the door to just open beforehand and such. You can’t just walk in here. Speakeasy-esque vibes. 

Omakase Menu and Drink Menu - as of 10/12/23

Friends Only Omakase Style

Very few seating, bar only. Great vibes and experience. Our group of 3 was the only group there that was not in a couple that evening. Friends Only, not couples only! Anyways, the menu for the evening and a drink menu is by your seat, and they confirm allergies you may have. Luckily the items on that night’s menu didn’t contain any items we were allergic to. Our drink orders were taken, and we were all given some champagne to “celebrate.” Now let’s get started! 

Cheers! What a nice surprise… we all got some champagne “on the house” and it was pretty good champagne too. I usually dislike champagne, but when it comes to the good stuff, it isn’t so bad. 🙂
1st Course - Tostada - Hokkaido scallop & sea urchin, golden kaluga caviar, nori. So much luxury in one bite. This was so amazingly delicious, both in its separate components and together. I really wished I had more of these. The fried nori had a small bit of oiliness to it that overpowered a bit of the good stuff (caviar, urchin, scallop), but this tostada play on was delicious nonetheless.
2nd Course - Sashimi - Madai, aki sake, tsumuburi. Madai = sea bream. Has a really good bite/texture to it, very light and slightly Smokey as well. Aki sake = a chum salmon that returns to the coastal area of Japan in the fall. The texture is a bit thicker than “regular” salmon and the balance of this thicker salmon and fattiness to it was a great bite. Tsumuburi = rainbow runner, yellowtail? Ah so good, can’t go wrong with yellowtail type fish! They recommended we eat each piece with a bit of the petals from the flowers provided with just a tiny bit of sauce. A little goes a long way.
My drink arrived! I got the Contraband - joven mezcal, citrus, black truffle, hibiscus. The glad this came in is super ergonomical! The square ice cube adds a nice luxury touch to this drink. Flavors were deep yet refreshing. Highly recommend.
3rd Course - the start of the sushi stuff! This is the Amadai - tilefish. This specialty works really well if the texture is right since they do something to the skin that packs on texture and flavor. So light and good that I was trying to press the textural skin to my tongue to prolong the deliciousness and flavor.
4th Course - Sawara - Japanese Spanish Mackerel. I love raw mackerel. Nice firm texture with great flavor. yum yum.
5th Course - Chawanmushi - egg custard, nasu, truffle, duck liver. A small break from some raw stuff with some Chawanmushi. So damn good. I love an amazing Chawanmushi as these are hard to get right. This one was packed of subtle flavors and there was a generous amount of truffles in here in comparison to other truffle Chawanmushi we’ve had. Give me another one, please! Definitely my favorite non-raw item of the evening.
6th Course - Mirugai - Giant clam. This one reminded me of raw geoduck in terms of texture and slight flavor. Huge fan of the texture of this fish, though the flavor comes from the sauce and is very subtle. Extremely refreshing dish, especially after the richness from the Chawanmushi.
7th Course - Zuke - Soy cured bluefin. I’m extremely picky with my tuna, and bluefin is one of the better ones, especially when the piece is more pink and less red. This one was soy cured so some flavor was added to it, and it was a great bite.
8th Course - Ensui Uni - organic sea urchin. Holy moly, this is the smoothest uni I’ve ever had and uni is pretty smooth as is. This one just blends in with the rice underneath and it was a rich and subtle flavorbomb to the mouth. Wow, I was super impressed as it was very different than other uni I’ve had.
9th Course - Sanma - Pike Mackerel - They did the slicing on this piece as it’s a much thicker piece of mackerel compared to the other one we had. It was really enjoyable, especially with that texture play on top.
10th Course - Unagi - Eel. I’m usually not an eel fan unless it’s topped with quite a bit of eel sauce, and this one didn’t have such sauce, but it was really good. Not overly dry like most eel. So great how something plain and simple can taste if cooked at the optimal temperature for optimal texture! Nice bit if crispiness there as well.
11th Course - Sujiko - Salmon Roe. WOWOWOWOWOW, my first time having salmon roe in this way. Deeper coloring, partially connected to each other, hence how it was able to stay in this shape. So so good that I wanted 5x more of these! Rich omega 3s (I think) and full of flavor without it being overpowering and was a superb party in my mouth with this one.
12th Course - Gokujyo Uni - Friends Only reserve sea urchin. Such a beautiful piece of art/food here. The uni you can only get at Friends Only! It was extremely tasty.
13th Course - Kinki - Thorny Head. Pretty sure this was my first time having this type of fish. It’s found in the coastline of Hokkaido and goes for over $100 a pound or something. It has a natural sweetness to it and some extremely well distributed fat throughout the piece. I understand how this is a desirable one. Yum!
14th Course - Toro - Bluefin Belly. One of my favorite types of tuna cuts - the belly! The fattier the tuna, the more yum it is for me, especially the toro and o-toro. This bite was really good too, as it sounds and as expected. The fat was marbled throughout and each part of the piece was rather consistent.
15th Course - Handroll - Hokkaido Sea Urchin. The last piece of raw stuff for the meal. This handroll is made one by one, handed to each customer one by one before the next one is made. Made to be eaten right when it’s made so I quickly snapped a photo and ate it. Ah, so delicious as uni should be. Seaweed was toasted and crispy and the uni was really creamy and flavorful. Can I have some more, please?
16th Course - Gohan - King crab, summer corn, truffle. One of the best rice dishes I’ve had. Packed full of flavor, with some king crab and truffle in there for richness and some corn for texture. So damn delicious.
17th Course - Shirumono - Scallop Shinjo, Matsutake, Dashi. What a refreshing way to end the meal. A lot of favor was in this broth, and it was somehow light and salty at the same time. Real talent to make something like this.

Friends Only Omakasae Overview – Before Dessert

That was truly a delicious meal. Usually at Omakase spots, there’s usually one or two items where I didn’t quite enjoy or thought it was just alright, but everything was really good at Friends Only. I did wish they had a Wagyu option and some add-on options/supplements, if you want to order a la carte afterwards, but I completely understand that most people would be rather full after this point. My favorites were the salmon roe, tostada, Chawanmushi, handroll, and the reserve sea urchin. The Kinki and bluefin items were my faves as well… in fact, it was all so good! If I had to pick items that were just “ok,” they’d be the giant clam and the shirumono. They were both good, but if I had to pick my just ok portions for this meal. Everything went well with each other and the continuous of each course made a lot of sense in terms of flavor/texture and such. 

Dessert! A matcha ice cream with a chocolate chip cookie. There was a honey drizzle as well, and I really liked the matcha ice cream. I could have gone without the cookie, but it was a good chocolate chip cookie. It had crispy edge and very soft center, but I could have used more matcha ice cream!

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