Delage: A Friendly Omakase Experience

My partner and I have been on an omakase food tour, searching for the best omakase around the San Francisco Bay Area. We came across Delage on a recommendation from my partner’s younger brother. My partner’s brother enjoyed the omakase here, and so, we wanted to know what all the hype is about.

Delage is at 536 9th Street in Oakland, CA 94607, and it’s a perfect walking distance to the 12th Street BART Station. It’s around other local restaurants and the Oakland Convention Center, where plenty of year-round events happen.

The restaurant has an intimate atmosphere with a minimalist vibe. You can sit at the sushi bar and interact with the sushi chef. However, there’s limited seating, and you must make reservations. Overall, though, this is a great place to take a date or gather with a friend or two, but it isn’t a place for large crowds or families. Furthermore, the restaurant has a disclaimer note on its website stating that you should refrain from potent perfumes and lotions as they may irritate other customers.

As for the service, the servers were friendly. One of them even complimented the dress that I had on. The servers came out with the dishes promptly and would monitor whether or not we were finished with a course or were in need of more water in our glasses. They were also very knowledgeable about each dish and gave instructions on how to eat it.

The restaurant has a fixed menu based on the Chef’s choices. The food uses the freshest local and seasonal ingredients and presents Japanese cuisine in a Western-inspired way, highlighting the delicacies of Japan while still having a modern touch to Western cuisine.

If you are vegetarian or vegan, this wouldn’t be the best place to eat as you cannot alternate what is on the set menu, and you can’t share food. (Even though I let my partner eat some of my uni since that is his favorite. Don’t worry. He gave me some of his sashimi in exchange.)

The omakase is around $125 per person but does not include additional costs like wine and spirits. The reason for the expensive price is mostly due to the costs of ingrideients since they want the freshest and unique fish to eat. The set menu consists of eight courses, and I must say, I was impressed by the aesthetics and the experience I had eating each dish.

One of the dishes that stood out was the first course, a sake tataki salad. The dish consisted of organic mixed greens surrounded by pickled red onion, red onion pearls, and black garlic caviar. There was also a portion of seared wild king salmon and a Take sumi cracker on top. The dressing of this salad is shiro goma. The presentation of this course was amazing. It was like you are in a terrarium where the greens are in the garden and the black Take sumi cracker on top of the bowl is like a spider web. The fun part is breaking the cracker and mixing it in the small white salad bowl.

The other course that stood out to me was the fourth course: Gindara Katsu. The Gindara Katsu is a deep-fried Wild Alaskan Black Cod surrounded by miso white sauce with spots of shiso and chili and topped with micro green onions and chili string. The cod was fried perfectly, and you can easily bite and slice into the black cod. What made the dish was the white miso sauce. I could drink that sauce all day if I wanted to.

Overall, every dish was delicious. Would I return? I would when there is a new set course menu.