When it comes to getting great sushi, Phnom Penh has its ebbs and flows. I’m happy to report that these days in Phnom Penh the sushi is flowing, and it’s better than ever. Ebinosekai on Street 63 offers an experience that’s as close to eating in Japan as you’re likely to get in Cambodia, and offers great value for money for the quality they’re serving.
A piece of chutoro nigiri as part of Ebinosekai’s omakase menu.
The highlight of the menu are the various omakase selections. The term omakase loosely means “I’ll leave it up to you,” and is an invitation to trust the chef to serve whatever is best that day. It’s served at the sushi bar, and the chef presents each piece, one by one, which feels more like an experience than a meal.
There are three main omakase menus, silver, gold, and premium, ranging from $27 for silver up to $60 for premium. For this, you get between 10 and 12 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, steamed egg custard, and three types of appetizers. The premium set comes with additional appetizers and sashimi, shrimp ramen, and dessert (as well as more expensive types of fish).
Starters: ankimo, marinated snails, and takowaso.
Our group went for Ebinosekai’s gold omakase menu, which at $37 felt like both a decadent treat and great value for money for those in the group visiting Phnom Penh from abroad, considering the price of a similar meal elsewhere in the world. We started with a diverse selection of izakaya-style starters, including the Japanese delicacy ankimo, made with monkfish liver, and takowaso, raw octopus marinated in wasabi, which provided a nice contrast to the sake we were overindulging in.
Then our guided culinary journey began, as we were served one piece of nigiri after another, from a real-life Japanese sushi chef who clearly knew what he was doing. There were some embellishments that I thought might be designed to cater to the local market, including the performance of the Cambodian chef-in-training blowtorching the wagyu beef nigiri, dry ice on the sashimi platters, and the admittedly over-the-top sushi adorned with gold-flecked caviar.
The shrimp zanmai served with dry ice was as much performance as food.
If you aren’t set on the omakase menu, Ebinosekai also has regular tables as well as a private room that can seat eight for those who prefer privacy. If raw fish isn’t your thing, they also have several cooked options, including claypot rice dishes, bento boxes, tempura, and udon. Lest you think the extravagant menus I’ve written about are all that’s available, there are lunch menu sets with sushi and udon starting at $10.
Because we were celebrating, we also decided to sample the sea urchin and ordered a stunning two-person shrimp zanmai (shrimp boat), recommended to me by a friend who begged me to “gatekeep this place” and only later relented and allowed me to review it. So please, treat yourself with a meal at Ebinosekai but don’t tell everyone you know. We still want to be able to get a table.
Ebinosekai
253D Street 63, BKK1, Phnom Penh
Tel: +855 96 9505 444
facebook.com/ebinosekaicambodia
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