Tradition & Tea·
On omakase, the counter, and the cup.
Edomae sushi has been served counter-style in Tokyo since the 1820s. Almost everything we do at Hokusai is a careful inheritance of that tradition, with one or two adjustments for Ontario fish and Toronto winters.
Omakase·
The phrase translates as "I leave it to you."
At its simplest, omakase means the chef chooses the courses. You sit at the counter, the kitchen sends what is best that evening, and the meal moves at the pace the room sets. There is no menu in the omakase room. There is the chef, the fish, and the order they should be eaten.
Edomae omakase moves from light to rich, cool to warm, vinegared to fatty. A sashimi course opens. A soup course follows. The nigiri progression is the heart of the meal. A hand roll closes the savoury portion. Tamago and tea finish the room.
The Counter
Twelve seats, by design.
Twelve seats is the number a single chef can serve at a true counter pace. More than twelve and the courses begin to back up; the rice cools before it reaches the last guest, the chef cannot keep eye contact with both ends of the room. Less than twelve and the cost of the kitchen, the prep team, and the sourcing becomes hard to justify at a price most people can consider. Twelve is the count Edomae masters arrived at in the 1960s. We have not improved on it.
Our counter is hinoki, a Japanese cypress wood with a soft grain, a pale colour, and a faint citrus aroma. It is sealed once and then left alone. The grain darkens slowly with use. We do not coat it.
Tea moments
Considered tea, served between courses and at the close.
Tea at Hokusai is not a ceremony. It is a considered moment between courses and a closing course in its own right. Sencha for the first half of the meal. Hojicha, the roasted leaf, for the closing pour. Both are brewed at the counter and served in ceramics thrown by a potter in Mashiko. The cup is part of the dish.
The tea closes the room. When the last cup is poured, the service is finished, and the chef bows. You may sit as long as you like. The next seating begins ninety minutes later.
Materials
Hinoki wood, ceramic, copper, indigo cloth.
The room is built from four materials. Hinoki for the counter and the trim. Ceramic for the cups and the small dishes, sourced from a single Mashiko studio that we visit twice a year. Copper for the rules on the menus and the trim on the tea kettles. Indigo cloth for the noren at the entrance and the shop coats the kitchen team wears.
None of it is decorative. Each material is a response to a kitchen problem the room has to solve. The counter has to be quiet under a knife. The cups have to hold heat without burning the hand. The cloth has to soften the threshold between street and seat.
