Arab News Japan

Dubai’s fine dining scene closed out 2024 with a once-in-a-lifetime Omakase experience at TakaHisa that brings together three Japanese culinary masters: Daisuke Miyamoto, the visionary behind Osaka’s two Michelin-starred Miyamoto restaurant, and Takashi Namekata and Hisao Ueda, TakaHisa’s own revered chefs.

While being the final one for 2024, Miyamoto’s collaboration with TakaHisa brings things full circle, with a return to the roots of traditional Japanese omakase.

For three days, these culinary luminaries collaborated to present an extraordinary Omakase that married Japanese tradition with contemporary artistry, offering Dubai diners a truly unparalleled journey into the soulful heart of Japanese cuisine.

Miyamoto: Elevated Japanese dining, rooted in tradition

At Miyamoto in Osaka, Chef Daisuke Miyamoto crafts a dining experience grounded in a unique philosophy: creating “a place that serves good things.” His cooking style is both free-form and deeply rooted in tradition, combining the fundamentals of Japanese cuisine with a personal touch that reflects the spirit of Hōzenji Yokochō Alley.

With a relaxed stance toward cooking, Miyamoto serves dishes that are deceptively simple yet profoundly thoughtful—delicate drinking snacks like crumbed shrimp and seasoned mincemeat patties, each designed to accompany rice in a nod to Japan’s culinary heritage.

After rigorous training at Osaka’s renowned Honkogetsu, Chef Miyamoto opened his namesake restaurant in 2012, where he quickly earned two Michelin stars—a distinction he has maintained through his commitment to blending authenticity with his own distinctive approach to Japanese cuisine.

From Nov. 19 to 21, Miyamoto, Namekata, and Ueda presented an Omakase menu that fused their individual talents into a harmonious celebration of Japanese cuisine.

The menu included: 

A starter of finely sliced ozaki beef with simmered turnip with spinach.

An appetizer of limushi: Steamed sticky rice topped with ikura, sea urchin and fresh sansho pepper sauce. As well as Botan shrimp marinated with kelp on seared scallops.

For soup, guests were served a clear soup with shrimp ball and grilled kamasu fish, steamed matsutake mushroom.

The sushi served was part of the Chef’s selection, while the main dish was a soy-butter grilled steamed abalone with kimo sauce freshly grated truffle and paired with steamed bun.

Diners were also served Hokki clam with leek sauce served with asparagus, as well as grilled eel and cucumber, myoga ginger dressed in vinegar and bluefin tuna katsu.

A rice dish of matsutake & wagu shigure-ni, ginger -simmered beef in sweetened soy sauce and cooked with wagyu dashi broth was served with Aka miso soup.

Finally for dessert, a Warabi mochi & rich vanilla ice cream was served with kinako powder, brown sugar syrup.

This collaboration captured the essence of Miyamoto’s Michelin-starred restaurant, combined with TakaHisa’s dedication to Japanese culinary excellence, offering Dubai a taste of Japanese haute cuisine elevated to new heights.