Here, as promised, is my last meal report from Tokyo. We left for Kyoto by train before lunch on a Monday—almost exactly a week after we’d arrived. Our original plan had involved a light breakfast at home and then a bento-based lunch on the train. Well, the bento-based lunch on the train still happened (courtesy bentos from Ekibenya Matsuri at Tokyo Station) but the older boy and I had decided the night before that, if we managed to wake up early enough, we would head back to Toyosu Market for a farewell meal of breakfast sushi. So it came to pass. The missus and the younger boy elected to stay at home and eat sandos they’d purchased from the Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi the previous day, while the two of us repeated our first Tokyo metro trip from the day before. This time we were headed not to Dokoro Yamazaki but to the establishment right next door: Ichiba. Here’s how it went.
As you will recall, we had loved our meal at Dokoro Yamazaki the previous week. Why didn’t we go back there? Well, because it’s nice to try new places and on the occasion of our first visit Ichiba had been quite full. So we were intrigued to see what they had to offer. We arrived at Toyosu Market about 45 minutes later than we had the previous week. On this occasion, Yamazaki had more diners than did Ichiba, which was almost empty. Undeterred, we went in and got two seats at the counter. Their menu also has a number of set options on it but we had decided we were going to get the omakase—quite reasonably priced here at 5800 yen (almost 3000 yen cheaper than Yamazaki’s offering). Green tea, miso soup and 13 pieces of nigiri is what it comprised and that is what we received.
What we did not expect, however, was the speed at which we received it. We sat down at 7.44 am, received the first two pieces of nigiri at 7.47 am, and had the check in hand at 8.04 am (I know because I have the time-stamps on my phone pics). I’m aware that there are sushi restaurants in Japan that have this ethos of very quick service (indeed, so does the most tv-famous one of them all) but it was not really something we enjoyed. The meal had started before we’d barely gathered ourselves and then pieces of nigiri were being placed in front of us two, three and even four at a time with no regard for the fact that we had not yet finished eating the previous pieces. Where at Yamazaki the vibe was very much of the “hang out and take your time” kind, here they seemed intent on getting us out as quickly as they could.
Also, unlike at Yamazaki, neither of the two older chefs serving us (and they tag-teamed us with an efficiency that suggested they had a pressing appointment at 8.30 am) had anything even approaching a pleasant demeanour and also neither had any English. Now, I only note these two things because most of my readers, if they visit Japan, are—like me—likely to be non-Japanese-speaking tourists. If you’re a non-Japanese-speaking tourist at Yamazaki you’ll know what you’re eating because the chef will default to to telling you the English name of the fish he is giving you. At Ichiba, on the other hand, the chefs muttered the Japanese names of the fish and turned away. If you don’t know what those names refer to, then you’ll be shit out of luck.
The fish itself was all rather good—maybe a step behind Yamazaki where the selection was more interesting. The order in which the nigiri in the omakase was presented was also a bit different from my previous (limited) experience. I know this is very much a chef’s preference kind of thing but a generally common thing in most such meals I’ve had is that the richer pieces come later in the sequence. Here, the second piece set down (about 7 seconds after the first) was chutoro and the second and third pieces were aburi/torched toro and otoro respectively. I think I would have preferred to build up to the more unctuous fish but, again, these are matters of preferences.
What was the full sequence?
- Hirame/halibut/flounder
- Chutoro/medium-fatty tuna belly
- Aburi/torched toro
- Otoro/very fatty toro
- Hata/grouper
- Akami/lean marinated tuna
- Aji/Japanese horse mackerel
- Murasaki uni/sea urchin roe
- Ikura/salmon roe
- Tamago/egg cake
- Ebi/Shrimp
- Akagai/ark shell clam
- Anago/conger eel
All were very good. Our favourites were the hata, the aji and the uni. We probably would have been more enamoured of the ikura if not for that transcendent bowl of marinated ikura at Manten Sushi 36 hours prior. We might have wanted to add on a few more pieces but the chefs seemed like they were done. And so we didn’t bother asking what else was available.
For a look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.
Price? 11,600 yen or a total of just about $78 or $39/head. Speed and general vibe of the meal, notwithstanding, this was an outrageous value, in American terms, for the quality of the fish (and also the quantity). However, if back at Toyosu Market for breakfast again, I would pick Yamazaki every single time. Your mileage may vary.
Okay, that’s a wrap for my Tokyo reports. I’m not done with Japan, of course: I still have five reports to come from our much shorter stay in Kyoto. But I’m thinking I’ll hold off on those for a bit and get started on my reports from Seoul, which is where we went from Tokyo. I’ll try to get the first of those up this weekend.