Creative New Rice Village Restaurant Speeds Up Omakase — Hidden by Sushi is Full of Surprises

Love sushi and the elaborate Japanese tasting experience of an omakase but have precious little time to enjoy it? The new Sushi by Hidden restaurant in Houston’s Rice Village may be the answer. At Sushi by Hidden, you’ll receive 12 diminutive bites in 30 minutes flat. You can set your watch by it, too.

With just 10 seats available in the 1,200-square-foot space, they have seats to turn. So chop, chop, there’s no dilly-dallying around.

The condensed timeline for this multi-course meal is a new idea for Houston, but it is not exactly new in other metropolitan cities. For the uninitiated, an omakase experience translates to “I leave it up to you,” allowing the diner to relinquish complete control of their meal, putting themselves in the sushi chef’s capable hands.

Sushi by Hidden was created by the powers that be at the Galleria area speakeasy restaurant Hidden Omakase, the larger, slightly more extensive and pricier omakase experience “hidden” behind a faux retail façade that appears to be a comic book store. By contrast, Sushi by Hidden is a reservation-only, $60 per person omakase experience timed to take just 30 minutes from start to finish.

The interiors, designed by Rodrigo Tovar with rT3, include a gallery wall of NFT art destined to change quarterly. Concealed behind the largest of the framed works is a door in which a hostess ushers diners from the foyer through the entrance to the hidden sushi bar at the designated start time.

The menu changes daily, led by experienced sushi chef Jimmy Kieu and a rotating array of his culinary colleagues from Sushi by Hidden’s sister restaurant Hidden Omakase. You might encounter courses like akami (lean bluefin tuna) with chili garlic, fuji apple, sanbaizu, or engawa (flounder fin) with finger lime and ikura (salmon roe) that is tom yum marinated. Like Hidden Omakase, they will use similar techniques, such as dry-aged fish.

Sushi by Hidden is open Sundays through Thursdays from 5 pm to 9 pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 5 pm to 10 pm. Adding lunch service is in the works and will happen at a later date. Currently, the libations policy is “Bring Your Own Liquor” (BYOL) with a $20 corkage fee assessed for bottles of 720ml and larger. Reservations are available exclusively through Open Table.

Sushi by Hidden is in Rice Village at 5216 Morningside Drive.