Hayes Valley, San Francisco

Eight seats.
One counter.
The tide decides.A seasonal Edomae omakase of eighteen courses, served by hand.

No menu to choose from. Chef Daisuke Mori builds each evening around what arrived that morning from Toyosu and the Pacific coast, served piece by piece.

8Seats
18Courses
2Seatings nightly
Assorted nigiri sushi pieces arranged on a dark plate under low warm light
Omakase — I leave it to you
You hand us the evening. We hand you the season, one piece at a time, warm rice and cold fish meeting for exactly as long as it takes to reach you.
01 — Shari

Rice seasoned twice daily

Koshihikari rice with two aged red vinegars, held at body temperature in a cedar ohitsu.

02 — Neta

Aged, cured, never rushed

Fish is dry-aged from two to fourteen days, kelp-cured or lightly smoked over straw.

03 — Ma

The space between

A pause after every piece. No music, no screens, just the counter, the knife and conversation.

The Menus

Three ways to sit at the counter

Every menu is set by the chef on the day. Tell us about allergies when you reserve and we will adjust without ever making it feel like an exception.

90 minutes · Bar seating

Kaze

$185per guest

Our core omakase. Fourteen courses that move from light to rich, finished with tamago and a seasonal sweet.

  • 3 small plates, 10 nigiri, 1 hand roll
  • Miso soup with clams
  • Tamagoyaki and dessert
Choose Kaze
2.5 hours · Chef's counter

Hana

$265per guest

The full eighteen-course evening at the four seats directly facing Chef Mori, with rare cuts and aged fish.

  • 5 small plates, 12 nigiri, 1 hand roll
  • Otoro, uni tasting and A5 wagyu
  • Matcha whisked at the counter
Choose Hana
60 minutes · Thu–Sat, 10 pm

Tsuki

$95per guest

A late, relaxed seating. Eight nigiri, one hand roll and a flight of three sakes chosen to match.

  • 8 nigiri, 1 hand roll
  • Three-sake flight included
  • Walk-ins welcome if seats are free
Choose Tsuki
Sake pairing $90 Premium sake pairing $160 Tea pairing, zero-proof $45
Hana Omakase · Autumn

This week's eighteen courses

01 / 18
01Sakizuke

Chawanmushi

Dashi custard, ginkgo

Silky egg custard with Dungeness crab, ginkgo nut and yuzu zest.

02Otsumami

Hirame Usuzukuri

Fluke, ponzu, momiji oroshi

Paper-thin fluke fanned like petals, with house ponzu and chili radish.

03Yakimono

Nodoguro

Blackthroat seaperch, binchotan

Skin blistered over white charcoal, served with grated daikon and sudachi.

04Mushimono

Ankimo

Monkfish liver, sake-steamed

Rich and gentle, with a sweet soy reduction and a leaf of shiso.

05Wanmono

Matsutake Suimono

Clear broth, pine mushroom

An autumn broth that smells like the forest floor after rain.

06Nigiri I

Madai

Sea bream, kelp-cured

Cured in kombu for a day, brushed with nikiri, a few grains of salt.

07Nigiri II

Kohada

Gizzard shad, salt and vinegar

The test of every Edomae counter. Ours is cured for exactly forty minutes.

08Nigiri III

Akami Zuke

Lean bluefin, soy-marinated

Seven days aged, then dipped in warm soy for ninety seconds.

09Nigiri IV

Chutoro

Medium-fatty bluefin

Cut from the belly side, the balance point between lean and rich.

10Nigiri V

Otoro

Fatty bluefin, lightly seared

Kissed with a hot iron so the fat softens just as it reaches you.

11Nigiri VI

Sumi Ika

Cuttlefish, lime, sea salt

Scored with a dozen fine cuts so it yields like velvet.

12Nigiri VII

Kuruma Ebi

Japanese tiger prawn

Poached to order, served warm with a whisper of prawn-head miso.

13Nigiri VIII

Saba Bo

Cured mackerel, straw-smoked

Smoked over rice straw at the counter, the room fills with its aroma.

14Nigiri IX

Uni Tasting

Hokkaido and Santa Barbara

Two sea urchins side by side, so you can taste how the ocean differs.

15Nigiri X

Anago

Sea eel, tsume glaze

Simmered for an hour, glazed with a reduction we have kept going since 2019.

16Temaki

Negitoro Hand Roll

Toro, scallion, crisp nori

Handed directly to you. Eat it within ten seconds, the nori will thank you.

17Tamago

Tamagoyaki

Shrimp and egg castella

Baked slowly with shrimp and mountain yam, sweet and custardy like a cake.

18Mizugashi

Hojicha and Persimmon

Roasted tea ice cream, fuyu persimmon

A quiet ending, with matcha whisked to order at the counter.

After the omakase

Extra pieces & sake

Add individual nigiri at the end of the meal, or choose from forty small-brewery sakes.

Nigiri Per piece

Otoro 大トロ$22Fatty bluefin belly, seared or raw
Hokkaido Uni 雲丹$24Bafun sea urchin, gunkan style
A5 Wagyu 和牛$26Miyazaki striploin, torched, fresh wasabi
Ikura いくら$14Salmon roe marinated in dashi and sake

Sake & Tea Glass / Bottle

Junmai, Niigata$16 / $88Dry and clean, served chilled or warm
Junmai Ginjo, Yamagata$19 / $110Melon, white flowers, a crisp finish
Junmai Daiginjo, Hyogo$32 / $210Rice polished to 35%, delicate and long
Sushi chef in white uniform slicing raw fish with a long yanagiba knife at a wooden counter
Assorted sushi and nigiri arranged on a dark slate board
Our story

Twelve years in Ginza. Seven in a basement on Linden Street.

Chef Daisuke Mori trained for twelve years at a small Edomae counter in Tokyo, where he spent the first three only washing rice. He moved to San Francisco in 2016 to cook, and in 2019 opened Kaze in a former tea room below street level, with a single slab of 200-year-old hinoki cypress as the counter.

Kaze means wind: something you cannot hold but always feel. That is how we think about service, present but never in the way.

2019Opened
38Fish per season
40Sakes on the list
Daisuke MoriChef & owner
At the counter

An evening, in five frames

Hinoki wood, river stones, low paper lamps. The room is designed so that the only thing you look at is the food.

Intimate Japanese restaurant counter of pale wood lit by warm low lamps
The hinoki counter
Close-up of glossy tuna nigiri on a dark ceramic plate
Akami zuke
Traditional Japanese temple among autumn red maple trees in Kyoto
Where autumn begins
Slices of fresh salmon sashimi arranged on a plate
Sashimi
Row of nigiri sushi pieces on a wooden board
Nigiri
Behind the counter

Three people, one rhythm

A small team on purpose. The same three faces greet you, cook for you and remember what you liked last time.

Portrait of head chef Daisuke Mori

Daisuke Mori

Itamae · Chef-owner

Twenty years with a knife. Ages his own fish, grates his own wasabi and still seasons every batch of rice himself.

Portrait of sous chef Aiko Tanabe

Aiko Tanabe

Sous chef · Wagashi

Runs the small plates and the sweets. Her persimmon and hojicha dessert has its own regulars.

Portrait of sake director Ren Okada

Ren Okada

Sake director · Host

Certified sake sommelier who visits small breweries every spring and brings back bottles you will not find elsewhere.

Guests
"The kohada alone was worth the flight, and the chef remembered my wife's shellfish allergy without being reminded once."
James W.Visited from Chicago
4.9Average rating
412Verified reviews

Booked Hana for our tenth anniversary. Ren paired a sparkling sake with the uni that I still think about. Quiet, precise, generous.

Priya S.Anniversary dinner

The Tsuki late seating is the best-kept secret in Hayes Valley. Ninety-five dollars for this level of fish is almost unfair.

Marco K.Regular since 2021
Reservations

Request your seat

Seats open on the first of each month for the next month. We confirm every request by email within one business day.

5:30 pmFirst seating
8:15 pmSecond seating
10:00 pmTsuki, Thu–Sat
4–8Private buyout

Please arrive ten minutes early: the omakase begins for all guests at once. Cancellations within 48 hours are charged $75 per guest.

Menu
Guests
2
Estimated total before tax and service$370

Opening your email app with the request ready to send.

Questions

Before you sit down

Anything else? Write to reserve@kazeomakase.com and Ren will answer personally.

Can you accommodate allergies or a pescatarian diet?

Shellfish-free, gluten-free and pregnancy-safe menus are possible with 48 hours notice. We cannot offer a vegetarian omakase or serve guests with severe fish allergies.

Is there a dress code?

Smart casual. Please avoid strong perfume: it changes how everyone at the counter tastes the fish.

Can I bring children?

Guests aged twelve and over are welcome at the counter and receive the full menu at the full price.

Do you offer private events?

The whole counter can be reserved for four to eight guests, Tuesday to Thursday, from $2,100 including the Hana menu. Ask about a sake-brewer dinner.

Visit

Down the stairs, behind the noren

Address418 Linden Street, lower level
San Francisco, CA 94102
Hours
Tue – Wed5:30 pm & 8:15 pm seatingsThu – Sat5:30, 8:15 & 10:00 pmSun – MonClosed
Checking today's seatings
Getting hereFive minutes from Van Ness Muni. Paid parking at the Performing Arts Garage on Grove Street.