A note on the words: omakase is a chef’s choice tasting course, paired here with an extensive lineup of curated sake. Tsurumurasaki is Malabar spinach, a fleshy green with a gentle earthiness. Kasugodai (young sea bream) and isaki (grunt) are delicate white-fleshed fish served as nigiri. Sakamai is specialized brewing rice, served cooked alongside steamed abalone and a glass of Dassai sake in the shop’s signature “tripling.” Gyoku is the sweetened rolled egg omelet traditionally served at the end of a sushi meal like a dessert, followed by shijimi, small freshwater clam, miso soup.
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Roppongi Sushi Muku/Sushi Hakugin on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. “I want to eat sushi!” — while searching around for that, I found this spot. It sits in the basement below Hoshino Coffee, just steps from the Roppongi crossing: “Sushi Muku/Sushi Hakugin”. Muku? Hakugin? Does it mean two restaurants merged together, perhaps? Apparently it is a place that serves sake paired with each course dish, so being curious, I decided to go. Heading down to the basement below Hoshino Coffee, there is just a single blank door, ha. Pretty intimidating to enter, ha.
Plucking up my courage and stepping inside, the interior is a regular sushi restaurant!
There is a counter and a “counter booth” — if that’s what you call it? Booth seats set up right adjacent to the counter.
Omakase course — 8,000 yen
Omakase course with premium sake pairing — 14,300 yen
If you go with the pairing course, it comes with eight kinds of sake selected by a holder of the SAKE DIPLOMA qualification, and they say you can adjust the pouring amount to match how much you can drink. Since I’m here, might as well get the pairing! So I chose the pairing.
The course got underway right away. For those on the pairing course, the first drink comes on the house, so I chose beer. Right at the start, rather than sake, I was really thinking a gulpable beer would hit the spot. A thoughtful service that scratches right where you itch.
Tsurumurasaki (Malabar spinach), cream cheese, and mizutako (giant Pacific octopus) suction cups. Every one of them goes great with beer. In particular, tsurumurasaki was an ingredient I had rarely eaten before, but it was delicious. They say preparing it at home is quite a hassle because it releases a lot of bitterness and astringency.
The first pairing is a dainty bite of sushi rice topped with negitoro (minced tuna with scallions) and salmon roe. Served on a spoon-like dish, you just pop it straight into your mouth. Delicious. The sake paired with it is Sparkling Mizubasho!
Here is the sake to pair with the dishes that followed: “Niwa no Uguisu.”
A very easy-drinking sake. They give off the vibe of, “If you run out, want a refill?”, so it feels practically like an all-you-can-drink setup. Truly marvelous. Since this was the pairing for the next three dishes, the food kept arriving one after another.
The first nigiri is squid. Gari (pickled ginger) was served alongside it too. Instead of thin slices, the gari comes in plump little diced chunks.
The sake paired with the next dishes is AKABU. They say it is brewed by Akabu Shuzo, and that logo is really cool!
This is also a sake paired with the dishes that follow. Refills are available, so if you don’t pace yourself carefully, you won’t last until the end, ha.
Next up to pair with is a sake called “Atago no Matsu.”
Apparently this is the specialty of the restaurant! A set of steamed abalone, Dassai sake, and the sakamai (sake rice) used for Dassai. So “tripling” means a pairing plus one! You transfer the rice into the abalone’s golden vessel, mix it up, and eat it, and it really feels like they go together somehow. It was delicious!
What we’re pairing next is… well, honestly, I’ve been getting progressively drunk, ha: a sake called Azuma Tsuru.
Was it tachiuo (beltfish)? (The alcohol is gradually fuzzing up my memory!) — paired with dashi broth. Having dashi broth arrive at this point lets you breathe a warm sigh of relief.
And heading toward the finale, a pairing with atsukan (warm sake).
Ah! I can’t remember what this was at all!!!
A very sweet egg omelet that feels like dessert. Then shijimi clam miso soup arrived to conclude the meal.
For starters, all I can say is that 20 dishes is an immense amount, ha. Even though each portion is small, you end up quite full. The sake pairing is also wonderful! I wonder how many go, the measure sake comes in, I ended up drinking in the end… I feel like I drank quite a lot. Still, the snacks and small plates left a stronger impression than the sushi, ha. For someone who strictly wants to eat sushi, this might not be quite the right fit. But for someone who wants to drink lots of sake!! I truly recommend it!!!
Roppongi Sushi Muku/Sushi Hakugin (Sushi / Roppongi Station, Nogizaka Station, Roppongi Itchome Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
