New Japanese restaurants always catch people's attention, myself included. And when you try them and realize you've hit the jackpot, there's no better feeling. And that's the case with Asagumo.

Asagumo Barcelona — *Asagumo, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.*

Asagumo is a family business, a small venture, which is and always has been our favorite kind of business. The owner came to Barcelona a year ago, hired an excellent sushi man, and trained a skilled staff in the intricacies of Japanese gastronomy and the culture surrounding it. Because here you come for an experience, not just sashimi.

The restaurant is beautifully decorated, with a calming blue. The restaurant's name means morning cloud, and you can see it in the details of the decoration, such as the cloud-like lamps. The highlight is the open kitchen where sushi-man Ben works. It is spellbinding watching him prepare the dishes. He is fast and so skilled: he has trained for years with a master in Japan.

The menu is long, with many exciting options. From the starters, we picked chicken gyozas, and they were breathtakingly beautifully presented and full of flavor. We also tried tuna tartar that came with an addictive sauce, and from there, we moved on to a mix of sashimi: salmon, tuna, and scallop. The dishes come out so beautifully decorated that I actually felt bad for ruining it all by taking a bite..!

We continued with eel and mango nigiri that were simply incredible, and tuna toro that melts in your mouth. The desserts were interesting: we chose a yuzu mochi and three different truffles, with matcha, chocolate and yuzu, and a sakura-flavored one. Magical.

The idea behind Asagumo is to be serving omakase, a tasting menu where the chef serves his favorites to the customers sitting around the open kitchen. The owner wants to transmit the rituals surrounding the Japanese culinary culture and pays attention to the details and the quality in everything from ingredients, details, and presentation. Quality is essential to discover the true, authentic flavors.

A lunch menu is served during weekdays, and now they have a shop next door which is perfect for takeaway. I very much recommend visiting Asagumo for authentic Japanese food with quality ingredients.

Asagumo, Carrer de Saragossa, 42-44, 08006 Barcelona (Putxet).

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