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Many readers of this blog know I abhor the lack of decent "neighborhood" restaurants back in the Ahwatukee area where I live. I love the area I live in, but the lack of decent places to eat drives me up the wall. One place I had been meaning to try forever, but just never seemed to make it to is Shinbay, a small Japanese Sushi-Kaiseki restaurant hidden in the back of an obscure strip mall. What got me motivated to actually check it out was a small blurb in my local community paper noting that they would be closing at the end of the year. My friend Tim made us reservations for four for Monday night. Pere was worried that since they were planning to close at the end of the month, we might not be getting the chef's best effort. I didn't think that would be the case given my experience with Japanese culture.

Upon entering the restaurant, my first impression was "wow, this place is pretty sparse". There were a few pub style tables jammed in a corner, with the rest of the seating along a long "L" shaped bar. Behind the bar was a small open kitchen. I don't mind sitting at the sushi bar when I'm alone or dining with one other person, but for a party of four, it doesn't make for the best conversation. Luckily for us, we were the only people in the entire restaurant, so we were able to sit two people on each side of the corner of the bar and still sort of face each other. From what I've read on the Shinbay website, they don't seat more than six people per seating, with a total of 2-4 seatings a night. It's kind of funny that the bar is setup to seat about 14 or so people, considering.

The place is run entirely by husband and wife team Shinji and Kumiko Kurita, with him doing all of the cooking, solo, and her handling the service and reception duties. On the night we were there, there was also a guy I assumed was an apprentice, as all he did the entire night was stand there with his arms folded watching the chef do his thing.

After we took our seats, we were promptly brought hot towels. This is traditional in Japanese restaurants, but something that's sorely lacking in most Valley establishments. After wiping our hands, we ordered drinks. Tim and I both ordered 6oz carafes of Ginban Daiginjo sake. Tim had had it before and recommended it. It turned out to be fantastic. Completely smooth and moderate in dryness without any overly floral tones. Unfortunately, it was also the only sake that was by the glass only and not available by the bottle. That got a bit expensive at $12 a glass when I ordered three glasses over the course of our meal.

After drinks, we were served small bowls of salted edamame. This was a nice starter for the meal ahead and did a good job of keeping us from gnawing our arms off while the chef prepared our first course.

Pere, Tim and I all had the Omakase (translates as "trust", or "entrusting" and is the Japanese version of a chef's tasting), so we didn't know for sure what we would be getting. Camille opted to go à la carte for here meal, and started off with a sampling of sushi. The first course of our tasting consisted of three items. The first was monkfish pate with daikon. It looked just like a standard mammal liver pate, but had a less organy (if that's a word) taste. It was very good. The second item was lightly cooked salmon with crispy skin. I love crispy salmon skin, and this rendition did it justice. The final item was thinly sliced fluke with ponzu. The ponzu was bursting with citrus flavor, leading me to believe it might be homemade. By the time I finished the last bite of the first course, I couldn't wait for the next.

Our second course was a sashimi course consisting of uni (sea urchin), giant clam, fluke, and three slices of the most perfect looking blue fin tuna I'd ever seen. I'd had uni twice in the past, and both times I found it completely foul tasting. I was a bit hesitant to try it again, but this was Omakase, so I figured I would trust the chef and see what he could do with uni that my two previous sushi chefs could not. I was hooked on the first bite. The uni was amazing. It was smooth, buttery, and totally sublime. I now understand what people who say they love uni are talking about. I'd never had giant clam before. It was one of those things I'd always seen on sushi menus, but just didn't feel like ordering. This turned out to be another pleasant surprise. It was similar to (good) octopus in texture. Firm, but not overly chewy and had a pleasant, lightly brined taste. The tuna tasted as good as it looked. It was melt in your mouth soft and velvety. I only wish every piece of tuna I've had tasted that way.

The third course was white fish in hot oil. The specific fish was okoze, and it was served super thin sliced with scallions and drizzled with ginger-sesame hot oil. I know I've used the word amazing in this review several times, but here's another instance where it just fits. The dish was just bursting with flavor. So much so, that this has to be one of my all-time favorite fish dishes. We were still licking our lips when the fourth course arrived. This course was a mushroom course consisting of two kinds of mushrooms over a piece of steamed Chilean sea bass. The mushrooms had a nice concentrated flavor and complimented the sea bass very well.

The fifth course turned out to be clams served in broth. There were about six small clams in a cup of broth. The clams reminded me of steamers, and were very good. The broth, though, was even better. Very flavorful, indeed. It was at this point that I started to slow down and went from hoping there were still several more courses to wondering if the procession of goodness would ever stop.

Luckily for me, the next course turned out to be the last (sans dessert). For that final main course, we had sushi. There wasn't anything particularly inspirational about the sushi I had at Shinbay, but it was extremely fresh. If I had to pick a course that left me wanting a bit, this was it. There were four pieces on the dish - toro (fatty tuna), scallop, uni, and fluke. They were all good, but nothing really stood out and made me say "wow!" like the sashimi did.

Dessert consisted of a small bowl of fresh fruit. Nothing special or fancy here, but it seemed like a perfectly light ending to an immensely memorable meal. As we finished our fruit, the proprietors were busy cleaning up and shutting down the restaurant. It turned out we were the only seating of the night. We struck up a conversation with Shinji and let him know it was a shame he was closing down. He mentioned that they were looking into reopening somewhere in Scottsdale at a later date, which would probably benefit them as far as exposure goes. Scottsdale's a much more visible location than the strip mall in Ahwatukee, but the rent's also a lot more, so I wonder how the 6 person per seating rule would hold up. Regardless of the logistics, I hope things work out for Shinji and his wife. He's a very talented chef, and it would be a shame to see his talent squandered.