Real sushi
September 18, 2009
We recently celebrated our nine-year anniversary. It’s hard to believe that I’ve known The Woman for a third of my life! To celebrate, we went to a very nice sushi restaurant in our neighborhood because I have never been to a traditional sushi joint before. I’ve been to plenty of revolving sushi places and a couple of “normal” sushi restaurants but I’ve always wanted to try a really traditional place.
For one thing, prices were not listed in the restaurant. This was a great sign! This meant the prices changed depending on season and fish stocks. I take this as a sign that the chef needs to carefully choose his stock.
Another thing, the restaurant was tiny. It had two small tatami rooms with kotatsu-like tables and a counter that could seat 6. We were the only ones there so we got counter seats, front row and center, right in front of the chef.
We decided to go for “o-makase” style ordering. Basically, you let the chef decide what to serve you. Literally, “o-makase” means “I entrust you”. Of course, there is some conflict of interest – I figured the chef would go for the most expensive items to maximize his income. Surprisingly he did not. He chose a lot of items that were in season, some expensive, some not so much. My favorites of the night included the matsutake mushroom sushi, the super-flaky unagi, the hamo which tasted so fluffly, and of course the tuna.
The maguro, the darker red cut of the blue-eyed tuna, tasted as soft and delicious as the fine cuts of tuna at lesser restaurants. It was fantastic. I was very curious – if the cheaper cut here was better than the expensive cuts at other restaurants, what about the expensive cut here? I had to try it.
We ordered the jou toro, the “top” cut of fatty tuna. It is much lighter in color and kind of resembles the soft fat around a nice steak. I was not disappointed. Placing the piece of toro in my mouth and chewing softly, I felt the oils just spread and the flavors were overwhelmed my tastebuds. It practically melted on my tongue. I immediately thought about wa-gyuu, or Japanese beef (like the famed Kobe beef, the Saga beef, and Matsuzaka beef) – it was a very similar texture; both tuna and Japanese beef melted on my tongue.
In the end we paid about 13,000 yen. It was totally worth it. I loved the experience and can’t wait to go back there, but probably not for a little while. $130 for fish is a luxury I can’t afford too regularly. I highly recommend this for any prospective tourists though!
