Tokyo Eats - Sushi Dai

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last few months. It was brought on by a mix of work being busy, life being crazy (at times) and us being lazy. We hope we can start posting regularly again though!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Tokyo for a week without K. Being the caring soul that I am, I took plenty of photos of my food adventures so that K could live vicariously through them (and be incredibly jealous). Unfortunately, I am not blessed with the gift of the gab so the Tokyo posts will have more photos and less words.

Sushi Dai

One of the sushi restaurants high on my list of places to visit was Sushi Dai, in Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Markets. The Tsukiji Fish Markets are world famous for having some of the best seafood and being in Tsukiji, Sushi Dai has easy access to them.

I've heard so much about Sushi Dai: the incredibly fresh fish, the rave reviews by all and sundry (it won Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice for 2014) and the insane lines; so when my flight arrived at Haneda Airport early (4:30am), I decided to quickly check into the hotel and head straight for the restaurant.

I got to Tsukiji Fish markets before 6:30am figuring I'd sneak in before the lines got too bad and kick start the trip with some amazing sushi. That didn't happen. I got to Sushi Dai and the line was at least 3 or 4 hours long.

Lesson learnt. Cue day 2.

The next morning, I got to Tsukiji at 3:30am. The place was surprisingly busy (with these little turret-trucks whizzing everywhere, I'm surprised people aren't run over more often). To my surprise, there were already 7 people in line ahead of me! And Sushi Dai only opens at 5am.

Tsukiji at 3am

Sushi Dai line at 3:30am

First in line

Those blasted turrent-trucks that nearly run you over

By about 4:15am - 4:30am, the line grew to something enormous. If you get there after 4:15am, you'll probably miss the first seating and have to the wait an extra 45 minutes to an hour for the 2nd seating.

Sushi Dai line at 4:30am

At 5am, the doors opened and the first 10 of us in line squeezed into this tiny restaurant. My back was almost against the wall and I pity people that had to later squeeze past me.

The restaurant is dominated by a long sushi counter behind which 3 sushi chefs work. Instead of putting your sushi on a plate, they place it directly on the wooden counter in front of you.

First seating

Chefs at work

There are only 2 menu options, the first of which I didn't understand. However, I knew how to say "omakase" (meaning chef's selection) so I went with that. At the end of the omakase selection, you can choose one further piece of sushi (I chose abalone).

For those who are a bit picky about what they eating, omakase may be a bit intimidating. You don't know what the chef will serve you. But it really is the best way to eat sushi. The sushi chefs know what the freshest seafood in the market was that morning and will only give you the best. Also, the sushi chef will put wasabi and brush soy sauce on the sushi where appropriate so you can just pick it up and put it straight in your mouth.

Instead of describing each piece of sushi, I will just give an overview of the experience after the sushi photos.

Tamago (Egg)

O-toro (fatty tuna)

Snapper with a touch of salt

Golden Big Eye Snapper

Uni (sea urchin)

Saury

Akagai (arc shell)

Akami (lean tuna)

Ikura (salmon roe)

Tuna roll

Aji (Spanish Mackerel)

Anago (sea eel)

Abalone

Overall, the sushi was incredibly fresh and was far better than most sushi available in Sydney or Melbourne. You could taste the freshness of the fish and the chef treated each piece in a way that accentuates its individual flavour.

However, there were some flaws here and there (for example, when I picked up the lean tuna nigiri, instead of sticking together, some chunks of rice fell off, also the abalone nigiri was quite hard). It may have been due to high expectations, but I left thinking that the sushi was very good, but it wasn't a mind blowing/transcendental experience like some describe eating at Sukiyabashi Jiro or the like.

Sushi Dai was both very good and reasonably priced and I'm glad I went. Its one of the two most famous sushi restaurants in the world (apart from Sukiyabashi Jiro) and I couldn't go to Tokyo without stopping by. But taking into account the early morning and the long wait (and my experience at Sushiko Honten, Ginza - which I'll blog about next), I'd probably give it a pass next time I'm in Tokyo.

Tsukiji Fish Markets

All in all, my meal at Sushi Dai took about 45 minutes to one hour. When I got out, there was a mass of hungry people outside. I can imagine they were silently willing us to hurry up and finish our meal so they could go in and eat.

When you're done with breakfast, I highly recommend having a wander around Tsukiji Fish Markets as there are some very cool shops around (though make sure you watch out or you'll be run over by one those blasted turret-trucks). In particular, I'd recommend visiting the Tsukiji Masamoto knife shop and picking up a few kitchen knives. Its much cheaper than buying an equivalent quality knife in Australia and its hard to believe how sharp those knives are.

Hungry, looking in

Sushi Dai line at 6am

Sushi Dai - Backdoor view