Ginza Onodera @ Shanghai

Shanghai is one place in China with an excellent selection of sushi-ya. Not just those trying to pretend they are sushi chefs, but sushi chefs that earn their stripes in Ginza.

Ginza Onodera is a chain of high-end sushi restaurants with branches around the world. Its New York branch got one Michelin star, while its LA store got two. This one in Shanghai got a Plates mention. Nothing for the HQ in Ginza though even though it was highly placed among the connoisseurs. Of course you don’t need a Michelin guide to know a good sushi place in Tokyo!

Chef Abe was our Itamae for the lunch. She spent many years working in Kyoto before joining Onadera in Shanghai. She spoke very good English for a native of Kyoto.

鮨10贯おまかせ

Lunch menu in Ginza Onodera is a value-for-money affair. The 10-pieces sushi omakase set lunch goes for around USD 80, featuring air flown fish from Toyosu.

The omakase includes Appetizer, Sushi 10 Pieces, Miso Soup, Dessert.
前菜、鮨10貫、打椀、デザート

The appetiser is a chawanmushi with shredded crab. There was little crab meat and one could not figure out what type of crab was used. I guessed it was blue spanner crab that was farmed locally because of the sweetness.

The fish choices were quite common, but it’s a lunch menu and given the quality and freshness of the fish, the CP value of the meal was really high, much higher than the other one I ate on this trip. One of Onodera sushi’s most distinctive features is that they season their rice exclusively with red vinegar, which has a stronger taste than white vinegar.

And after all the nigiri sushi had been served, we were treated to nice pice of tamago castella cake. Unlike the typical tamagoyaki served at other sushi-ya, this castella-style tamago has garnered lots of following in the newer sushi-ya together with the red vinegar shari (sushi rice). Also rather popular recently is the used of red miso for the misoshiru. The only disappointment was the passion fruit pudding – refreshing but I was hoping for something like a pudding or fresh Japanese fruits.

Afterthoughts

I usually did not feel full after these Japanese omakase lunches, but the amount hit the right spot between hungry and comatose. The technique and quality were top notch. It was a solid sushi-ya that has its roots firmly placed in the Ginza tradition. At the end of the dinner, the chef sent us all the way to the lift lobby, a tradition I have not seen outside of Japan except at the best of the best sushi-ya. The location is at The Bund, so it is popular for business lunches and even more so for evening drinks and dinners. So reservation is a must.

Ginza Onodera 鮨 銀座おのでら
18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road, Shanghai, China
中山东一路18号

Tel : +86 21 6333 9818

Date visited : Dec 2021