Category Logo Category background
Category Logo
Category logo Category BG
.


The Hump - Santa Monica, Los Angeles

The Hump seems to be quite famous as a sushi bar in LA. I have come across it on “best of” lists and in many of the food magazines that I have read, so we wanted to go there.

They have amazingly fresh sushi and sashimi and other Japanese delicacies and the restaurant is located over looking the Santa Monica Airport runway. Just while we were there, people came flying in, literally, parked their airplane, went for dinner and went flying off. It was that kind of place. A great place to take your date. If you can afford it…

We specifically asked to be seated at the sushi bar. They don’t take reservations for that, so we had to sit and wait for a little while. It was actually quite nice to sit and look at the many airplanes taking off and landing while watching the sun set.

Our masta was playful and made us feel welcome and the pretty much all the other guests where obviously someone that used to come here. It was a loud and jovial atmosphere. I guess we said something like that we wanted sashimi moriawase and omakase. What this meant - and we did not know - was that it included meeting the food we were eating… Oh no. Not ikezukuri again… Iiiik.

In Japanese cuisine, ikizukuri (生き作り, lit. “prepared alive”) is the preparation of sashimi from a living animal. First time I had this in Japan I left the restaurant. This time I am supposed to be a “sushi critic”, so I put on a brave face and tried to think of it as an old tradition…

The fish that “got it” was a scorpion fish, and they are feisty little beasts. Scorpion fishes have venomous spines along their back and fins with a grove and venom sack, so for the sushi chef it is quite dangerous to handle these. It was hard to watch him filet the fish… (I think I have to wrote some on ikezukuri later).

The presentation was really spectacular! It was maybe one of the most beautiful plates of food that I have ever seen. It looked like a piece of art. I actually did not care too much for the sashimi from our poor, not even dead fish, on our plate. It was a bit too smoky and chewy for my taste. The aji and several of the other types of fish we got I liked much better. The rolls were good, and in the end, the fish got to go over to the other side and came back to us as Miso soup. A great meal.

The Hump - Santa Monica, Los Angeles The restaurant The view The restaurant
The sushi bar and friendly sushi chef Our plate - with our friend the scorpion fish Soft shell crab maki The ex-fish as Miso Soup

Summary:

Now THAT was an experience. I will never forget this place!

Overall rating: SterneSterneSterneSterneSterne
Presentation: SterneSterneSterneSterneSterne
Fish/rice: SterneSterneSterneSterneSterne
Service: SterneSterneSterneSterneSterne
Price level: Expensive!!!
Times visited: 1

General information:

Street address: 3221 Donald Douglas Loop S, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Opening hours: Lunch: Tue-Fri 12pm-2pm, Dinner: Mon-Thu 6pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 6pm-10:30pm
Phone number:(310) 313-0977
URL: http://www.thehump.biz/

How did you like The Hump - Santa Monica, Los Angeles?
View Results





2 Responses to “The Hump - Santa Monica, Los Angeles”

  1. 1 My top five sushi restaurants in Los Angeles at Sushi or Death

Please leave a reply



Preview :



RSS Posts
  • How To Make Organic Fruit Sushi
  • Sushi celebrities - Justin and Jessica
  • Sushi & Thaimat - St.Hanshaugen, Oslo
  • How to make a duck hashi-oki
  • Sushi as stuffed animals
  • Eat with your eyes
  • Another fantastic sushi cake!
  • Sushi Awards 2008 - book tickets now!
  • How to make nigiri sushi
  • Lutefisk sushi
  • Stuff white people like #42…
  • Trevor on Iron Chef America!
  • Beautiful porcelain sushi set
  • How to make bento box cars and fish
  • Grand sushi - Carl Berners Plass, Oslo








  •  



    .
    SushiFlickr
    • IMG_8584 Spider Roll Catapillar Roll sushi plate sushi sweetest gifts are from friends & loved ones Sushi Ya Sushi Ya Sushi Ya Homemade Sushi (Part II) Homemade Sushi (Part II) Homemade Sushi (Part II) 

    VisitFriends