Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market Sushi Roundup

Two days ago I had stuffed my face with sushi at the conveyor belt place in Shinjuku upon arriving in Tokyo. After that meal, I knew that sushi was never going to taste this good ever again. So my priority was to eat as much of it as I could. It seems that everyone must make an obligatory trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market and eat what can be argued as the freshest sushi to be had. There are several sushi joints at the fish market. Here is the story of how hype can get even the best of sushi places.

I had done my research. My chance to become a sushi snob was at stake, and so I had to find out the de facto sushi joint to visit at Tsukiji Fish Market. It appeared that people would go bright and early to see the tuna auctions, but that is now closed off to the public. Then people would stumble upon the area with the sushi restaurants, and inevitably hit up Dai Wa for sushi. There are stories of seemingly infintely long lineups that created a maze of people outside the door. So fine, it was decided. Dai Wa was officially on my list.

I actually made two visits to Tsukiji Fish Market. The first attempt was to find Dai Wa, but it was extremely difficult to navigate through the massive grid system of fish selling stalls. When I did walk upon the sushi joints, I couldn’t find Dai Wa. I got impatient and ate at Bentumo Sushi. It looked clean, and was empty. At this point I didn’t want to wait in a line, and was frustrated. I just wanted to eat.

The sign showed a decent set meal at Y3600, and some little old lady kept shouting at us to come inside and we obliged. Dai Wa would have to wait.

I had my giant backpack with me, and knew it was going to be trouble once we walked inside. The sushi joints typically just have a bar setup, with stools and a table that surrounds the sushi chefs. I looked like a fool attempting to sit down at a stool with the bag beside me. Finally I was told to put it near the entrance, so people could actually walk down the extremely narrow space between the wall and customers. I also put my messenger bag on the shelf area above us. Then the chef shouted at me! I didn’t know what he said, and he looked pissed. He made a gesture to fix the dangling strap of my bag, and I quickly did that. So terrifying!

So as we were waiting for the set sushi meal, the chef gets more cheerful as he prepares the sushi. He suddenly yells at us, “I LOVE YOU!” It was so unexpected and hilarious. The wait was not long, and it helped to be able to watch the chefs prepare the sushi right in front of us. They used a blow torch on the unagi pieces. Sushi heaven were mere minutes away. They finally started placing some pieces on our wooden plate thing, and I began to salivate.

Yup. It was pretty damn good. The fish roe were bigger than I had ever eaten. Everything was great. Nothing was over salted with soy sauce. The fish was damn fresh. I didn’t recognize some sushi pieces. I guess there isn’t much variety in Calgary. That probably puts the sushi snob status thing in jeopardy. Oh well.

So on the return leg of the trip, I made the second trip to Tsukiji and this time successfully found Dai Wa. It was easily spotted this time as I had arrived a bit late, and saw the massive lineup. I was fortunate to be on my own this time, as when a single seat freed up, I got to jump ahead of a lot of people. It was packed inside, unlike Bentumo. I ordered the set meal again, as I believed it would be a fair basis to compare the two, an see if Dai Wa was really what people say it is. The set meal was slightly cheaper at Y3000, but with less pieces.

The chefs were just as cheerful, but a little less in character. Probably because they were too busy trying to get things done, and keep the lineup moving. But the service was excellent. It was just as exciting to anticipate the meal. I mean after all, this is the place to eat sushi, right? Well, I was disappointed. For everything that I had read about, and eating at Bentumo a few days ago, it was just a bit underwhelming. This is something that often comes along with hype. Anyway, the sushi pieces seemed to have a lot of soy sauce added to make them more flavorful but at the expense of over salting them. The ingredients and everything were super fresh. But that was the only annoyance. It was still better than a lot of sushi I’ve had. I even got an extra piece of unagi. I had to, it’s my favorite. For the hype it was given, I thought it wasn’t as good as Bentumo. Bentumo, the place with barely anyone inside, and no lineup, and the lady trying eagerly to get us to eat there.

With that said, Tsukiji itself was a crazy and cool experience. The motor trolleys that are constantly zipping around, make for a Frogger like experience everywhere you walk. I love the atmosphere of the place, and it was cool to see all the seafood. Take the Tokyo Metro to Ginza, Higahiginza, or Tsukiji station, it is not far from either of these stations. Tsukiji fish market is totally worth checking out if you are a sushi lover like me!