A note on the words: omakase means you leave the order to the chef and eat what he hands you, piece by piece. Nigiri is a slice of fish pressed onto a small oblong of vinegared rice, and shari is the name for that rice. Gari is the pickled ginger you eat between pieces. Kohada is gizzard shad, cured in salt and vinegar; shinko is the name for the youngest, smallest grade of it. Chutoro is the medium-fatty cut of tuna, between the lean akami and the richest otoro. Uni is sea urchin roe. Anago is saltwater eel, simmered and brushed with a sweet glaze. Owan is the lidded bowl of soup that comes near the end, and torotaku is a rolled piece of fatty tuna with crunchy pickled daikon. Tamago here is the sweet, dense block of cooked egg that traditionally closes the meal.
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Sushitsu on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. One way or another this must be about my fifth visit. Back to “Sushitsu” again this year. The tide of rising prices has caught up with it, and lunch has finally hit 16,500 yen! Well, everywhere is expensive right now, lol. When I first came here it was 5,500 yen. Anyway, there aren’t many sushi places I come back to regularly, and this is one of them. Looking forward to it again!
Lunch Sakura Course (top-grade nigiri only) — 16,500 yen
Of course, the lunch omakase again this time!
It’s cooled down a bit, but it’s still muggy outside, so first a cold tea ^^
The gari (pickled ginger) is laid out, greetings are done, and we’re off!
First, tai. From Cape Muroto in Kochi, apparently, and the dense, melting texture and the depth of flavor are irresistible.
Kohada from Amakusa. Not quite young enough to be called shinko, but still a young one, he said. The vinegar curing is perfect — delicious!
Shima-aji, also from Kochi. It tastes different from plain aji, and that’s the good part. Nicely fatty, the best.
Aori-ika from Mie Prefecture. This goes for all of them, but the knife work is so sharp that the texture comes apart in your mouth while still keeping a definite squid character. The citrus zest and salt suit it perfectly.
And this is kue from Mie Prefecture. Kue is a fairly large fish to begin with, and this one apparently came from a really big specimen. That solid layer of fat against the clean, delicate flavor is the best. Kue is delicious!
And here’s the scallop from Aomori.
Sushitsu’s scallops are seriously good!!! So plump. I remember being blown away on my first visit, when they pulled one out, split it right there and laid it on the rice. This scallop was excellent too!
Aji. From Izumi in Kagoshima Prefecture, apparently. A firm, substantial aji with real depth of flavor and a clear, defined texture. Good.
And then the shrimp, aged to exactly the right point!!!
This shrimp is so soft it melts. Sweet and really delicious!
And this is the chutoro.
Perfect knife work — it just comes apart and apart. It breaks down at the same moment as the rice and spreads through your mouth. So good.
The grilled course has usually been nodoguro, but this time it was ebodai.
Ebodai is nicely fatty when you grill it, and it tastes good. Of course nodoguro wins hands down on sheer fat content, but this was delicious too.
Murasaki uni, apparently. Raw sea urchin is hard for a private person to get hold of, so it’s a real treat.
Not that I could eat this much of it, lol.
S-so good!
At this point it’s basically dessert. Sweet, fall-apart anago. Delicious!
I missed the focus, but this toro comes from the same fish as the tuna earlier, so it’s excellent!
Castella! is what I think every single time, and then I eat it and it’s egg, lol.
Ice cream to finish, and that’s that!
Satisfied again! Because I come here often, I can see the menu and the sushi itself shifting little by little, and that’s a pleasure in its own right. When I want sushi that’s reliably delicious, I’ll come to Sushitsu. If I go in winter or some other season, I’d probably get a different lineup. It costs a fair amount these days, but I think it’s sushi worth the money, so I recommend it!
Edomae-zushi Sushitsu (Sushi / Roppongi Station, Nogizaka Station, Azabu-juban Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
