At Yamazato, Expect to Have Sushi Like You’ve Never Had it Before

You don’t exactly need to enter Hotel Okura to get to Yamazato. Although the fine dining Japanese restaurant is located in the second level of the luxury hotel, it can be accessed through the Grand Wing entrance of Newport World Resorts or any of the other hotels connected to the property. 

The foyer of Yamazato at Hotel Okura

Yamazato's sushi counter

Yamazato may be the flagship Japanese restaurant of Hotel Okura Manila but its roots extend far beyond this decade and this country. Established in Tokyo in 1962, it opened in Amsterdam in 1971 and became Europe’s first Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant in 2002. Yamazato is carrying on that vaunted legacy and tradition when it opened in the Philippines in 2019.

A simple minimalist sign and a smiling hostess welcome diners to the restaurant. The restaurant itself has warm wood paneling, delicate shoji screens, and stone accents that echo a Zen garden more than a dining room. It’s divided into three sections: a kaiseki area led by Executive Chef Keiichiro Fujino, a teppanyaki grill with Chef Katsuji Kato, and the sushi counter headed by Chef Ikuma Sato. 

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Led by the hostess, I made a beeline for the sushi counter, where Chef Sato-san was already stationed with a welcoming smile. You can get sushi almost anywhere in Manila, but in the hands of a true sushi master—someone with over two decades of experience in luxury Japanese restaurants from Switzerland to Hong Kong—I knew I was about to experience something special. 

Sushi platter

Chef Sato practices the Edomae tradition of sushi preparation. I found out later this style focuses on preserving seafood through marinating and curing and even some light cooking. Watching him work made me think of a surgeon, with movements so delicate and precise—shaving fresh wasabi, brushing soy with a single stroke, forming rice by feel.

“Is everything all right?” Chef Sato asked as I reached for the piece on my plate. I could only muster an “mmmm” as I nodded my head in response.

Sushi at Yamazato

Unlike other forms of Japanese cuisine, where cooking contributes to the overall integrity of a dish, preparing sushi is almost entirely dependent on the freshness and quality of the ingredients and how the sushi master brings them all together. In this case, it was almost a privilege to sample plates like a silky botan ebi brushed with yuzu zest; kohada (gizzard shad) aged to coax out its bold, briny complexity; anago (saltwater eel) that melted like warm butter under a glaze of sweet soy. 

Each piece was simultaneously a work of art and no-nonsense food that was as filling as it was satisfying. There was a slice of Hokkaido scallop, two kinds of uni (from Hokkaido and from Kyushu), and at the end, black sesame ice cream to cap off an amazing meal.

The sushi omakase at Yamazato

The only issue with experiencing this level of expertise is that you start expecting it from other sushi places. You can maybe find echoes of it in top-tier Japanese restaurants around the city, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find an omakase meal as truly decadent and divine as the one at Yamazato.

Yamazato is located at Hotel Okura Manila, Newport World Resorts, Pasay City