鮨食べる人 アメリカ人

Sushi Hashimoto (April 2023). Now entering a series of posts on "sushiya that are good and you actually at least have a chance of booking." Sick of 'grammers incessantly posting the Arai tuna rainbow, or smiling photos of Amamoto-san and Saito-san? Doesn't it feel like they are all just here to display their superiority and access over you? No, that's just me? Well, ok then 😵‍💫.
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The #1 question I get asked on this platform is how and if a certain place can be booked. I don't begrudge it. Researching high end restaurants in Japan is a different ballgame. Many "best-of" lists (including the tabelog rankings) are essentially worthless as they will produce a volume of places that are fully booked by regulars, VIPs, and those annoying international "foodies" who just want to post about how special they are and collect all the exclusive bookings like Pokémon (saying that last point with deep self-awareness).
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I have three things to say to this:
1. If it's your first (or even fourth) time in Japan, don't sweat it. The distinction between the "best", "top tier" and the "very good" won't be meaningful. I know at least, it wasn't for me until I had been visiting Japan for years.
2. Instagram/tabelog hype doesn't necessarily equal food quality or experience quality and it certainly doesn't equal cost performance.
3. There are places that are still tough resys, but can be booked without a bot that trolls OMAKASE (the worst-policed resy site of all time), or paying the exorbitant fees of Tableall or Shukuoku. Which means, there are many high-end experiences available to non-local, non-VIPs if you have an open mind.
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I certainly put Hashimoto-san in that category. While the vibe and format is different than his famed master, the ingredients used and preparations are more or less quite similar. There are large, powerful nigiri, with firm shari that has decently strong (I'd rate 7.5/10) vinegar flavor. One difference is that extra attention is paid to the nihonshu selection, and a pairing for the full meal runs under ¥6k, so it's well worth taking advantage of. Many of the regulars like to drink here, and it lends itself to a more relaxed, "dinner party"-like atmosphere. Less

Hatou, November 2023. Sushi grid is somehow in reverse order, which makes it look cooler? The sushi was what you'd expect based on Kumagiri-san's training. Simple and medium-sized, with medium strength aka shari. Similar to Amamoto in those regards. The neta quality was quite high, and the overall impact was "light" and almost refreshing. The pacing of the meal and ingredient selection was exceptionally tasteful. Less

These days, where "omakase" has become a verb in America, the distinctions between what are "typical" sushi versus kappo has become blurred. Pre-2010, "omakase" in America (if it was even called that) might mean you were basically served part of a typical kaiseki course - everything from a hassun plate to owan - before sushi started hitting the counter. In the past 7 or 8 years, this has evolved a bit. The bites are smaller and require less cooking, and we call them "tsumami". But they rarely resemble sushi tsumami in Japan, which are almost without fail raw items with one or two ingredients, and maybe a piece of grilled fish.
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In that vein, Kumagiri-san's tsumami might look typical to a well-heeled American diner. To a Japanese diner, however, they are exactly what a kappo or kaiseki restaurant would serve - a somewhat shocking choice for a sushiya. Indeed, ebi-imo ankake and kani served with its own roe and dashi are washoku staples in winter. Even the buri prep - cut into fat matchsticks and tossed in grated daikon - is something you're much more likely to find at a kappo meal.
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The kicker here is that these items are so tastefully calibrated that these serve admirably as appetizers for a sushi course. The flavoring is light, the portions are modest, and the natural flavors of the ingredients shine through. It is really delicious, without distracting at all from the fact that this is still a sushi restaurant. In the US @chefderekwilcox is probably the only one who was able to pull off a similar feat, drawing on his training at both washoku restaurants and sushiya. Less

See that little white "shaded" area on this piece of tuna? That is a sliver of suji (tendon), indicating this is "hagashi" - tender belly meat cut from between the sinew for maximum "melting" tenderness. Most people reading these captions probably know what hagashi is, but it's always nice to see some visual evidence of this ultra-luxurious cut.
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Arai offers a nigiri-only lunch a few days every week, and that was the menu I enjoyed here back in September. It's pretty substantial for lunch course and at around ¥40k is decent value when the volume, variety and overall quality is considered. Here's a rundown of the course:
1. Mitsuba w/agedashi tofu
2. Karei konbujime
3. Sumi ika
4. Kisu
5. Kohada
6. Shiro amadai
7. Mirukui ("black" mirugai)
8. Huge "oni" aji
9. Katsuo-don
10. Akami
11. Chutoro
12. Chiaigishi
13. Hagashi jabara
14. Nakazumi (large kohada)
15. Wild kuruma ebi
16. Mushi kuro awabi
17. Asari clam broth
18. Ikura
19. Aka uni (Amakusa)
20. "BBQ"-style anago (Amakusa)
21. Tamago Less

I last visited Sushi Arai in 2015. At that point, he had just ceased using two types of shari, and was still in a basement space that would later become a second counter helmed by @mei3158. The restaurant was surprisingly austere - wooden tiles on the wall with the day's menu, low ceilings, and no pottery or ikebana. It reminded me more of #鶴八 or #新橋しみづ than one of Ginza's sushi temples, or #すし匠 , where Arai-san spent the bulk of his training years. It was only a few years later, when Arai-san became yet another impossible booking, that a regular told me this was deliberate choice - that he sought not to emulate his master Nakazawa-san, but rather the style of sushi he personally loved. That Arai-san's vision was a sort of hyper-high-end traditional sushiya.
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The ensuing years have only made bookings here more difficult, and I had basically given up on the idea of returning until a friend who is a regular invited me. The "inside joke" of only allowing pictures of maguro gives the impression that Arai-san is a maguro specialist. And that's not entirely wrong - on some nights as many as 7 or 8 different tuna cuts may be served. But it's still definitely a joke...because Arai-san has incredible range. Flavors are powerful (strong shari, big nigiri), classic, and executed basically flawlessly across the full range of edomae techniques, from sujime (kohada) to konbujime (karei) to various cooked items (kuruma ebi, awabi, anago). The ingredient quality across the board is about as high as it gets, yet - just like the sushiya Arai-san emulates - nothing necessarily stands out or steals the show. For me, most items here approach a personal platonic ideal. The impact is almost like ur-sushi - a template for comparison for all others.
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Arai-san's current space is a few floors upstairs and brighter but still fairly basic, with the exception of a beautifully reflective laquer counter. There is one apprentice whose only job the entire meal is to polish continuously after each nigiri is served - the sort of grunt work that is probably even below the level of plating tsumami or preparing the shari. It is so extraordinary you can see your own reflection while eating. Less

Hashimoto-san's tsumami format is very similar to his master (pics here are in reverse order). There is sashimi served directly on the counter, chawanmushi, a chinmi selection, yakimono and a norimaki (pending seasonal availability of saba or iwashi). But they are delivered a bit more quickly, and there are a few tweaks. The sashimi at Sugita is almost always flatfish, but here it often includes clams. And the norimaki is a little more rustic, has more takuan, and larger in size. They are also served much more rapidly, lending to a somewhat relaxed atmosphere. Notably, the gari is identical - thin square slices, with zero sugar and a sharp bite. Less

Sushi Hashimoto (April 2023). Now entering a series of posts on "sushiya that are good and you actually at least have a chance of booking." Sick of 'grammers incessantly posting the Arai tuna rainbow, or smiling photos of Amamoto-san and Saito-san? Doesn't it feel like they are all just here to display their superiority and access over you? No, that's just me? Well, ok then 😵‍💫.
.
The #1 question I get asked on this platform is how and if a certain place can be booked. I don't begrudge it. Researching high end restaurants in Japan is a different ballgame. Many "best-of" lists (including the tabelog rankings) are essentially worthless as they will produce a volume of places that are fully booked by regulars, VIPs, and those annoying international "foodies" who just want to post about how special they are and collect all the exclusive bookings like Pokémon (saying that last point with deep self-awareness).
.
I have three things to say to this:
1. If it's your first (or even fourth) time in Japan, don't sweat it. The distinction between the "best", "top tier" and the "very good" won't be meaningful. I know at least, it wasn't for me until I had been visiting Japan for years.
2. Instagram/tabelog hype doesn't necessarily equal food quality or experience quality and it certainly doesn't equal cost performance.
3. There are places that are still tough resys, but can be booked without a bot that trolls OMAKASE (the worst-policed resy site of all time), or paying the exorbitant fees of Tableall or Shukuoku. Which means, there are many high-end experiences available to non-local, non-VIPs if you have an open mind.
.
I certainly put Hashimoto-san in that category. While the vibe and format is different than his famed master, the ingredients used and preparations are more or less quite similar. There are large, powerful nigiri, with firm shari that has decently strong (I'd rate 7.5/10) vinegar flavor. One difference is that extra attention is paid to the nihonshu selection, and a pairing for the full meal runs under ¥6k, so it's well worth taking advantage of. Many of the regulars like to drink here, and it lends itself to a more relaxed, "dinner party"-like atmosphere. Less

I guess you could claim, that in the tiny Instagram food snob bubble, heavily aged kajiki is famous for being an invention of @sushikimurakoji and anybody else who does it is an imitator. The fact that Shirayama-san is serving it must undoubtedly be related to its popularity.
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This piece was aged 65 days. Just step back and think about that. More than two months, longer than most butchers are willing to age steaks for fear that they will spoil. This has the texture and scent of any other fatty white fish. The only giveaway that this had been aged were the deep umami flavors resulting from the breakdown of complex proteins over time. Parmesan, shiitake, red wine - basically the same amino acids you taste in any complex protein that has broken down over time. It's like a bite of pure flavor. Extraordinary. Less

Tsumami at Yorozu included hotaru ika aged over a week in its own guts, 17-day aged mirugai (🤯), sawara aged in sake-kasu for more than 3 weeks, and aori ika that had been rested in salt and ginger. The textures were incredibly soft, but there were no "off" or "funky" flavors.
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Heck, even the slice of young potato had been aged over a few weeks so that it was pleasantly crunchy and soft, like a prototype salt-and-vinegar potato chip. Less