Ishikawa
Sushi Ikuta
鮨 いくた
Opened in 2020, Sushi Ikuta is a perfect new find for visitors looking for excellent value. Tucked away from the bustling streets of Katamachi, the restaurant’s elegant and simple exterior creates an inviting atmosphere. Inside, the young owner Takeshi Ikuta greets with a friendly welcome, making even first time guests feel at home. A devoted fisherman himself, his passion is to serve his best local catches. With the omakase menu set at reasonable prices, the restaurant is destined to be a local favorite.
Surrounded by colorful ramen stalls and ethnic Asian restaurants, Sushi Ikuta stands out with its classic exterior. You will spot the white walls and a wooden sliding door with a white curtain hanging over it. Once you step inside, you will see the friendly owner chef standing behind the light shiraki wood counter, greeting you warmly.
Born in Kanazawa, Ikuta grew up fishing since he was a young boy. By elementary school, he already knew he wanted to become a chef and cook his fresh catches. He began helping at a fishmonger while in high school and later attended a culinary school. He took his first job at a popular sushi restaurant, Mitsukawa, and later worked at Sushi Reki Reki to build up his experience.
He finally opened his own restaurant in 2020, taking over the property from Ikkon, a famous Japanese restaurant. Despite only being open for a couple of years, Sushi Ikuta is receiving high reviews and is starting to rank among top sushi establishments in the city.
The biggest allure of Sushi Ikuta is that many of the fish he serves are his own catches off the local coasts. Thanks to his long-time fishing career, he has many fishermen friends who can help source the best produce. He also visits the market daily.
For lunch, the restaurant offers a casual nigiri-only menu, making it a perfect place for a casual bite. In the evening, the omakase menu will take you through a slower sitting, allowing more time to enjoy the delightful meal with paired local sake.
CUISINE
Enjoy the best local fish
At Sushi Ikuta, the experience is all about offering the best local fish at great value. The restaurant offers several course menus to fit your appetite and budget.
The menu typically begins with a parade of fresh sashimi, showcasing the best fresh catches like shrimp, squid, flat clams and marinated white-eye tuna. Each dish is elegantly mounted on beautiful hand-painted small plates.
The pieces of nigiri are delicate and gem-like, each worked on with specific sushi techniques. For example, the soft and moist piece of sea bream sashimi is rested for a few days to deepen its flavor and served with citrus. Marbled tuna from Toyama is aged as long as two weeks. It brings out its buttery and sweet flavor.
Cherry salmon is also matured. It’s so rich and creamy it melts in your month. Tossed with some fresh shiso leaves, seasonal oval squid is sliced into delicate thin strips so they caramelize as you chew.
The rice used at the restaurant is a Koshihikari brand from Ishikawa Prefecture that is known for its bold flavor. They mix old and new crops and season it with a mix of red and rice vinegars. The perfect rice is never too hard nor too soft. Ikuta visited many restaurants trying all sorts of sushi rice and this particular brand tasted the best to him.
In addition to the sushi, he creates beautiful seasonal dishes. The saikyo-style grilled sandfish is aromatic and flavorful, the miso on the skin is perfectly broiled. Steamed local monkfish liver is shaped into rounds and bathed under a thickened dashi sauce. Topped with grated daikon radish, green onions and perilla flower, the dish is stunning to look at.
The end of the meal is a warm soup, made with deep and rich seafood dashi. The flavorful broth soaks into your full stomach and warms your soul.
INGREDIENTS
Almost all ingredients used at Sushi Ikuta are sourced locally from areas such as Wajima, Noto, Himi, Shinminato, Nanao and Kanazawa. The chef finds the best catch of the day from fishmongers friends he trusts and has known for a long time.
Even if it’s before dawn or after midnight, he’s off on a fishing boat every chance he gets.
“I’m the happiest when I get to serve a delicious dish made with the fish I caught,” he says.
For sake, the restaurant favorite is Kagatobi, an Ishikawa vintage. They focus on stocking local sake for visits from outside the prefecture and abroad.
CHEF
Takeshi Ikuta
VISION
Just like his own experience at Sushi Mitsukawa, Ikuta hopes to pass on his expertise to the future generation so they too can eventually open their own restaurants. He believes it’s important that he continues learning and polishing his own skills, so that he can pass them onto his apprentices.
KAGATOBI
Ikuta carefully selects dry and clean sake that bring out the pure flavors of the sushi. His top recommendation is Kagatobi, a bottle made locally by Fukumitsuya, the oldest brewery in the area. Named after the Kaga firefighters from the Edo Period, the sake has a bold and powerful character. The brewery crafts each vintage with selective rice grains such as Yamada Nishiki, Kinmon-Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku.
The Kagatobi Ai Junmai Daiginjo vintage (pictured) is made using Yamada Nishiki, one of the best sake rice grains. The flavor fills up lightly in your month and pairs beautifully with sushi.
Course
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
- The price includes our booking fee of ￥8,000
Ishikawa
Sushi Ikuta
鮨 いくた
- GENRE
- Sushi, Kanazawa
- ADDRESS
-
1F, 1 Chome-4-4 Katamachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0981, Japan
- OPEN
- Lunch: 12-1PM( Last entry), Dinner: 6PM-8:PM (Last entry)
- CLOSED
- Irregular
- URL
- NA
- PHONE
- NA
