A little short of a year later, I'm pleased to finally complete the series on our San Diego honeymoon. It's been fun remembering everything we did and all the great food we ate. We packed a lot of activity into our eighth and final full day in San Diego. In the morning, we went parasailing over the Pacific Ocean. Since we went up together, I don't have any photos of us, but I took one of one of the other people in the group. This was a totally new experience for me, and was a lot of fun.
Back on dry land, we took a quick trip over to the "other" USD: the University of San Diego. The main goal was to get some t-shirts to wear around Vermillion, but we also explored a bit. The campus has a nice Spanish colonial revival style to it.
We stopped back at the hotel to eat the buns we picked up the previous day. On the left, a milk tea bun, and on the right, a chocolate chip bun.
We enjoyed them so much we went back to 85C Bakery for more. Pictured are a cheese pastry, dan tat (egg tart), and sausage bun.
For our afternoon activity, we went to Fiesta Island, a public park located between our hotel and Seaworld. There was basically no one there, so it was like we had a private swimming area!
We decided a sushi dinner would be the best way to spend our last evening before heading home. We managed to snag a late reservation at the bar at Sushi Tadokoro. It's an unassuming spot, nestled in a small strip mall just off of Old Town.
We decided to go for omakase style, in which the chef decides what to give you. He occasionally sent out plates to tables, but for the most part was focused on us. We also made a few requests. For items with a special seasoning (Himalayan salt, hot sauce, and so forth), he specified "no soy sauce."
I took photos of almost everything we had, and will show them all with minimal commentary. I don't remember which specific fish most of them were, but you can see all the unique toppings that you wouldn't see in a more run-of-the-mill place.
Scallop sushi is one of our favorites.
One of the most memorable moments was when our chef took two live, local shrimp and removed their heads right in front of us to make sushi. It doesn't get fresher than that!
A few courses later, the shrimp heads reappeared. We chose to have one deep fried and the other as a soup.
Uni (sea urchin) is a rare treat!
The pink topping here is the fish's liver.
I've had octopus sushi many times, but none this artistically done.
We finished up with a dessert of lychee sorbet.
When it was all over, Ariel and I agreed this was probably the best meal of our lives. I've had a lot of sushi over the years, and enjoyed most of it. I'm usually happy with competent sushi. This last dinner showed me what is possible with the freshest ingredients, thoughtfully and skillfully prepared. While it's definitely a splurge, a real omakase sushi meal must be experienced to be appreciated.
As COVID-19 drags on, this will be my last travel article for a while. Whenever we manage to reschedule our Hawaii vacation, I'll be ready to report on it!
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