Multi-Culinary

Inventive, Unique Sushi NOMU

Combines Cultures with Tapas Creations

By Joseph Peterson

Photography by Turner Photography Studio

When it comes to tapas, Japanese food doesn’t typically come to mind. That might change, however, now that one of Frederick’s newest restaurants, Sushi NOMU on Westview Drive, is bringing an inventive playfulness to the world of tapas, pairing it with the quintessential precision of Japanese sushi plating.

“It’s not traditional, it’s a new creation; it’s not just sushi or Japanese food, not just the raw fish on top,” says Kittichai Kittiwarakarn, partner-owner and head sushi chef at Sushi NOMU, located on Westview Drive. While Kittiwarakarn explains what his concept is not, he lets his creative vision and culinary skill describe what it is.

Take the Tuna Onimochi: fried tortilla chips, warm and sturdy, heaped with a creamy tuna and crab salad garnished with avocado and a ponzu sauce drizzle. Essentially sophisticated seafood nachos with an amuse-bouche sensibility, but it’s a tapas bullseye, every chip its own perfectly composed bite.

The Tower is the showstopper, however. Imagine a poké bowl assembled into a sturdy pillar built on a crosshatch of drizzled mango sauce with thinly sliced avocado for its roof. The result is a stunning, Instagram-worthy column of colorful tuna, salmon in spicy mayo, and crunchy tempura flakes. A base of fresh seaweed salad completes the structure’s composition that’s as pretty as a pastry and twice as delicious.  

Of course, NOMU isn’t only tapas, as it offers a broad menu of sushi rolls, ramen and donburi (rice bowls) equally adorned with the same inventive creativity and attention to detail as the tapas. “If you try our ramen, it’s a little bit different,” says partner-owner Natapong Thongsuk, who goes by his Thai cultural nickname, Oat. 

Oat is also a co-owner of the popular local eatery, Thai Meric, but his new venture takes him back to his roots working at a sushi restaurant in Florida and where he fell in love with Japanese food. “I’ve been to Japan five times and I think I know what it is about the food,” he says. “We adapt the taste of ramen not too salty like everywhere.” 

The spicy Tan Tan Ramen is a triumph of the genre, created by the third partner-owner and head ramen chef Anekchai Nojit. Intoxicating with warming spice, the tonkotsu broth carries a subtle sweetness as well, an echo of its roasted corn garnish. The pork ChaShu is a slice of luxurious decadence, and the egg, smokey in color from what appears to be a light soy marinade, comes cattle-branded with Japanese block letters and sits like a beautiful painted stone atop a nest of perfectly chewy noodles. A symphony of flavor that, as Oat says, is not overpoweringly salty, this ramen allows for all its complexities to find expression as it’s savored.

While not small, NOMU’s dining room has an unexpected intimacy, and, even when bustling, is intentionally uncrowded. Its sushi bar is adorned with studded chairs of lush green velvet above which a massive glass panel becomes the window to see the whole kitchen in vivid transparency.

Oat says the intention is to not make it look like the old style of a Japanese restaurant and points out that the design of the seating is diagonal across the dining room, limiting the number of possible tables and seats.

“We don’t mind about the smaller space, we mind about the ambience and we mind about what people like and what people can experience with us,” he says.

Artistic lighting and oceanic hues from the dishware to the walls establish the relaxed mood for this cosmopolitan chic restaurant that draws its inspiration from the sea. A wall fresco of the iconic The Great Wave off Kanagara woodblock print can also be spotted. Kittiwarakarn says this ambience helps diners feel at ease. “We make the place nice and cozy,” he says.