Seattle: Amber & Umi Sake House

So after walking around Pike Place for the majority of the day and resting at the hotel, we decided to go somewhere where we can watch Game 6 of the Lakers VS Suns series. We just happen to pass by Amber, which apparently is a popular lounge/bar at night in Seattle. They had a great happy hour so decided to sit at the bar, take advantage of the happy hour, and cheer on the Lakers (or wish for their demise like Diana did).

Amber

2214 1st Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

Located in Belltown. All happy hour items are only $3!

Kobe beef sliders. Small Kobe beef patty, pickles, mustard, and ketchup. Nothing really special about them. It's probably not Kobe beef. Heck it's probably just American Wagyu... and the cheap parts haha.

Margherita pizza. For $3, this is a great pizza. Good amount of basil and it's a decent size too.

Pepperoni & sausage pizza. $3 as well.

After witnessing Lakers advancing to the NBA Finals, we bid our Taiwanese bartender goodbye and headed off to our dinner spot, Umi Sake House. I was already full from beer and the food we ordered, so going to Umi was just a bad idea haha. Nevertheless, it had the highest review out of any Japanese restaurants so I was determined to eat as much as I could.

Umi Sake House

2230 1st Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

Had to wait about 45 minutes on a Saturday at 8pm. Place was popping.

Cool wall of sake bottles as decor.

This being a sake house, we had to get a bottle. Our sever recommended the Kamikokoro Toukagen Shiboritate since Diana and Connie wanted something sweeter. This unfiltered sake is fermented using the same yeast found on white peaches in the area so it has a fruity and floral nose to it. Very smooth. It actually has a higher alcohol content since it is unfiltered, and we learned the hard way :P

Something Miko & Connie ordered. Totally forgot what it was but it had too much avocado for me :P

Connie's nigiri sushi set. A little over $20. In her words... "Not worth it" hahaha

007 roll with spicy tuna, avocado & cucumber wrapped with salmon, lime, cilantro, shishito pepper & jalapeno. Definitely a kick from the lime.

Casino Royale Roll. Spicy tuna, avocado & cucumber wrapped with yellowtail, lime, cilantro, shishito pepper & jalapeno. Almost the same as 007 except for the yellowtail. Fail on our part to notice it lol.

Tarantula Extreme Roll with soft-shell crab, cucumber & tobiko wrapped with avocado& topped with spicy crab, mayonnaise & jalapeños. Favorite roll of the night.

The best dish of the night, hamachi kama!!! This gigantic piece was for only $10. It could seriously rival Sushi Gen. Actually, it is better than Sushi Gen. Probably the freshest and the best kama (fish collar) I ever had. I should've just ordered this and the salmon kama instead of the rolls haha.

So at Umi, I experienced the food wall, for the first time ever. If you don't know what a food wall is, it is when you eat so much and when you hit a certain point, you just can't take another bite. In fact it actually hurts, both physically and mentally. You get this dull ache in your stomach and the thought of eating another bite just makes you feel sick. Not fun at all haha.

Lesson learned: never go to happy hour, then eat a crapload of seafood and rice.