Hinoki sur Brest

The Hinoki restaurant is a real gem for sushi lovers. The quality of the fish is exceptional, varied and always very fresh. The chef has mastered the art of sushi to perfection, and seeing the sushi come to life under his expert hands is a spectacle in itself. The ambiance of the restaurant is calm and relaxing, providing an ideal setting to savor this gastronomic experience. The decoration, for its part, invites you to travel, with a refined aesthetic that subtly recalls the elegance of Japan. At Hinoki, everything is designed so that every detail contributes to immersion in this delicate and refined universe. The chef happily shares his knowledge on how to prepare fish or even real wasabi. These exchanges enrich the experience and add an educational dimension to this culinary immersion. Hinoki offers much more than just a meal: it is a complete experience, combining authentic flavors, exceptional know-how and friendly exchanges with a passionate chef. An essential address for anyone looking to escape for a meal in Brest.

Exceptional dinner, the quality of the dishes is extraordinary, and this includes not only the fish (which is of a great variety) but also the Wasabi, exquisite, brought and selected directly from Japan, the rice of exceptional finesse, the teas, sakes... The setting is magnificent, the superb welcome by Mr Xavier Pensec, his Japanese wife, the young person who participated in the service in perfect symbiosis with the spirit of the restaurant, all associated with valuable information historical and geographical information about Japan. The (very rare) people who have in the past criticized the high price of the menu surely have no idea of ​​the work carried out upstream to find on their plates fish meticulously selected with passion, of impeccable freshness, and the years of experience to acquire such mastery in the preparation of sushi. Certainly a restaurant deserving not one but three stars for sushi as well as for rice, teas and Japanese alcohols...

The short version: if you want a proper omakase experience, consider skipping this and going for the real deal, which can now be found at several major European cities (let alone Japan and elsewhere in East Asia). It may cost more but it will be worth it, whereas this will be omakase with several asterisks. The long version? Here we go. Hinoki has been known as a more or less 'conventional' sushi restaurant in Brest for some time, until more recently, the French-native chef decided to change to an omakase-style sushi concept only (*for a bit of background on this, scroll down). Unfortunately, this doesn't quite work out for several reasons. Overall experience: On the day of the booking, we were informed that the entire service was postponed by the host by an hour. That is unorthodox in itself, but the even weirder, unsolicited explanation given during the service was that due to the heat, the chef had to drive to the fish market *earlier* to go shopping. Why that meant that the seating would start *later* for all guests remained a mystery. (Mind you that spinoffs of some of Tokyo's top omakase restaurants, e.g. in Hong Kong, will fly to the Tokyo fish market to shop certain products. Be assured they do not let this affect their schedule.) In any case, no big drama. Speaking of unsolicited explanations, the chef gave many of those on the topic of sushi. Unfortunately, they often came across as teacherly and one couldn't help the impression of dealing with a bit of 'an explainer'. Moreover, some information was just dubious. For example, the chef claimed his fresh wasabi root (an ingredient that is admittedly hard, yet not impossible to find in Europe) grew at 1.000m altitude and was the hardest to find in the world. However, a bit of Google research revealed that these are actually grown in Israel at 1000m and are commercially available, so I'm not sure what to believe here. At another point staff explained that Junmai sake means that no flavours were added, which is incorrect as well. In any case, as a result, the whole experience felt like a workshop and was awkwardly focussed around the chef, who palpably basked in the attention and often sought eye contact with people who didn't watch him or asked them questions to gain their attention. This felt obtrusive, theatrical and creepy and stands in stark contrast to the restrained professionalism of sushi chefs at Japanese counterparts, where the atmosphere is often surprisingly casual and relaxing. Overall dinner time was well over 3 hours. At similar restaurants in Japan these types of menus are often served in 30-45min, but never more than 2 hours. The food: The menu (priced at 168 EUR) contained 3 appetisers, around 12 or 14 nigiri and a dessert. Sake and tea pairings are available. Some wines are served by the bottle - nothing is served by the glass. Our champagne was warm, and mediocre unfortunately. Drinks seem like bit of an afterthought (despite this being France!). The uninspired appetisers – a type of flan with shredded crab, a piece of plain sous-vide (over-)cooked octopus, and a bowl of fish-broth – all offered little in terms of flavour and texture. By contrast, a shrill and somewhat distasteful aesthetic detail was that a prawns was added to each bowl of broth in the style of Mr Crabs sitting in a hot tub and leaning out on the rim – except that their lower body had been removed like in Terminator or Alien and they were – yup – still moving (they were already dead, of course, but still showed contractions). I'm not squeamish by any means but considering the insipidness of the dish, this was a twisted and unnecessary thing to add that disturbed some of the guests. (The meat from the lower bodies were served later of course.) The nigiris were... OK. Definitely better than your average sushi – but as far as omakase sushi goes, they were nothing to write home about. The chef's technique seemed weirdly theatrical and unauthentic – there was way too much fiddling and the technique resembled nothing you will see from formerly trained Japanese chefs. Some nigiris contained unusual seasoning (something that more unorthodox chefs like e.g. Kit from Undercover Amsterdam have developed quite successfully), but those were usually bland ('Bio lemon', 'bio chives', salt) and poorly calibrated to the dishes. In general, all nigiri were way too heavy on the wasabi and while the chef did offer guests to adjust this on request, this is again a weird idea as the wasabi should simply be barely tasted at all in well-crafted sushi in order to not overpower the taste of the fish. The dessert was some ice cream, which – home-made or not – tasted of little else than cream or milk, lovelessly paired with 2 green plums that tasted of, you guessed it, nothing. This would have been a lovely gesture if served for your birthday by your 8-year old. A few other details that were just way off: - Cheap disposable chopsticks: unacceptable at a restaurant of this profile - The tamago (an intricate and usually delicious dessert made of stirred egg baked into a cake typically served last) was almost unrecognisable and carelessly added to the rim of a chirashi sushi (!) bowl (which was served as last course, oddly); like the awful dessert, nobody would have missed this if they had omitted it – but it's half-hearted addition backfired and just seemed plain bad. - Pickled radish was served instead of pickled ginger – apparently because their supplier was out of stock. There is nothing wrong with trying pickled radish per se, but pickled ginger is really easy to make at home, so admitting that they procured this from a supplier seemed embarrassing considering the profile of the restaurant. So what's the bottom line here: If you are desperate to try omakase sushi and won't be able to go to the established places that have been popping up in Paris, London, Amsterdam etc. for whatever reason – by all means stop by. It may well be the best sushi you'll ever eat. That being said, for somebody familiar with sushi at this level, it is going to be underwhelming in terms of food – and plain weird and uncomfortable overall in terms of the customer experience. And while the overall price tag may seem OK compared to e.g. the Michelin-starred counterparts, one could not help but feel weirdly ripped off at the end of it. An honorable attempt at omakase sushi by a chef who is without doubt passionate about sushi – but considering the many flaws, this would need a full reset to be truly attractive. *Omakase means that patrons usually sit at a counter around the kitchen and the chef serves a set menu, whereby they prepare each nigiri fresh and serve it piece by piece to each individually. Oftentimes there are a few warm appetisers first. This is considered the most refined setting to have sushi in Japan and is an art of its own, on par with the most advanced cuisines in the world. I have had sushi this way at some of the top restaurants in Japan, hence have a good reference to compare this with.

Un vrai maître sushi qui nous a fait partager sa passion. Nous étions au Japon le temps d’une soirée. Des produits d’exception et un grand raffinement.

Excellent meal in a setting that transports us to Japan and makes us forget the flow of time. Thank you to the whole team for this moment.

Unique experience. The mi-cuit oysters are incredibly fine! Sensationally good authentic food that corresponds to the price. Thank you

Exceptional products and chef's expertise. The whole team takes you to Japan in a very warm setting.

A timeless moment: a delicate welcome, a technical gesture so well mastered, a very demanding selection of fish and seafood and above all a sushi master who communicates his art and his struggles. We had a unique experience! Thank you so much ! A family from Saint Brieuc.

Exceptional time spent with Xavier, Mika and Cécile. We were amazed by the quality of the products served and by the execution of the chef who hypnotizes you throughout the service. I was also reconciled with the Sake, which were really excellent, the pairing is not to be missed! Thank you again for sharing your passion and love of products. I will come back to Brest just for your restaurant, especially for the mackerel that you promise us :)

Back from Japan, I took the opportunity to try HINOKI.. Great experience, quality products and a chef who likes to show his know-how. An evening to remember for this excellent address. The unique menu increases from July 1, 2024 and will be reserved for a restricted clientele.