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Sushi Sho (in Hawaii)

Sushi Sho (in Yotsuya) is a restaurant where you cannot make a reservation easily. Its founder, Keiji Nakazawa, can be described with a keyword of having raised so many disciples. And the point, they run sushi restaurants that are also hard to make reservations, leads to how Nakazawa’s ideal sushi master should be. Having such a great intriguing personality, Nakazawa left his safe haven “Sushi Sho” in the hands of disciples. September 2016, he opened up Sushi Sho (in Hawaii) in The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach on Oahu. We can’t take my eyes off that now.

Address：383 Kalaimoku St, Honolulu, HI 96815

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/hawaii/waikiki/dining/sushi-sho

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Revision date: October 9, 2017

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Kozasazushi (in Shimokitazawa)

Kozasazushi (in Shimokitazawa) was opened by the legendary sushi chef, Shuzo Okada (passed away in May 2004). His successor, Tsutomu Nishikawa was, of course, his apprentice. The Omakase course is not an option at this restaurant. The only way to order is to look at the topping board and choose for yourself. This is a shop for experts and may be difficult for guests who can’t read or speak Japanese.

Address：3-7-10 Daizawa Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (10 minutes walk from Shimokitazawa Station)

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Revision date: September 29, 2017

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A Guide to Avoiding Food Fraud!

It is true that in an age when aquatic resources are being depleted, there is a worldwide demand for a substitute for luxurious fish. However, although it’s not easy to tell fish apart once it’s sliced, that doesn’t mean that restaurants should not be held to certain standards. Here we present a number of severe cases.

First of all, Opah belly meat with some fat is used for the tuna in Negi-toro (tuna minced with Welsh onion leaves). Opah is widely distributed in warm seas and it’s known to be inexpensive with a smooth taste. The price is less than 1/100 of the Pacific bluefin tuna and if possible Negi-toro made from Opah should be avoided.

Next let’s discuss Japanese conger, an essential Edo-style sushi topping. A substitute for Japanese conger is the Common snake eel, which is a type of sea snake from Peru. The taste is pretty good, but the skin is rubbery and it doesn’t stick to the Shari (vinegar rice) so it’s instantly apparent that it’s a substitute fish. If you find Japanese conger at kaiten-zushi for JPY 100 per plate, you might want to question the source.

A premium sushi topping is the Mirugai clam (also called Hon-miru). This shellfish is characterized by its unique texture and taste. Instead the Japanese geoduck (Shiro-miru) is used, which sells for half the market price. However, the taste of the two is so similar that even Sushi Tsu has mistaken them, which is great news for dishonest dealers.

In April 2015 the Food Labeling Act was revised, leading to progressive reduction of fraudulent labels, but it is not a solution that eradicates dishonest dealers so consumers need to be educated and aware.

So verhalten Sie sich in einem Sushi-Lokal richtig

Hier lernen Sie alle Benimmregeln, die nicht nur in Sushi-Lokalen, sondern in allen Gaststätten Japans gelten. Das Wichtigste ist wohl, auf andere Rücksicht zu nehmen sodass sich andere Gäste im Lokal nicht gestört fühlen. Rücksichtnahme – das ist wohl das Wesentliche im japanischen Leben. Bitte merken Sie sich die hier aufgeführten Punkte.

・Bitte kommen Sie nicht zu spät, halten Sie die Reservierungszeit ein.

・Bitte nehmen Sie den Ihnen zugewiesenen Platz

・Selbstverständlich ist es absolut unerwünscht, im betrunkenen Zustand laut zu reden oder andere Gäste anzupöbeln

・Aufdringliche Gerüche wie zu starke Parfüms sind nicht erwünscht

・Rauchen ist natürlich nicht erlaubt

・Wenn Sie Fotos machen wollen, fragen Sie bitte vorher den Geschäftsinhaber und die anderen Besucher um Erlaubnis

・Es gibt zwar keine bestimmte Kleiderordnung, doch es ist ratsam, sauber und dem Anlass entsprechend gekleidet zu sein.

・Telefonieren im Lokal ist nicht erlaubt

・Legen Sie bitte keine kantigen Gegenstände wie Ihr smartphone oder Ihre Uhr auf die Sushi-Theke, da diese aus empfindlichem Holz gemacht ist

・Sich all zulange mit dem Sushi-Meister zu unterhalten ist kein wirklich cooles Benehmen

・Bestellen Sie bitte nicht immer nur Sushi mit dem gleichen Belag

・Ein Ihnen vorgesetztes Sushi sollte sofort verzehrt werden. Optimal ist: Innerhalb von 10 Sekunden.

・Mit der Hand oder Stäbchen – Sie können Sushi essen, wie Sie wollen

・Um das delikate Gleichgewicht von Reis und Sushi-Belag optimal zu geniessen, sollte man am besten das ganze Sushi-Stück in den Mund stecken. In diesem Sinne ist davon abzuraten, den Belag vom Reisklumpen zu trennen.

・Fische und Meeresfrüchte aus natürlichem Fang schmecken in der jeweiligen Saison am besten. Wir empfehlen, saisongerechte Beläge zu wählen.

・Dippen mit zu viel Sojasauce ist nicht ratsam. Der Sushireis saugt die Sojasauce schnell ein und dann zerfällt der Reis in Klumpen. Zu viel Sojasauce stört auch den feinen Geschmack des weissen Fischfleischs.

・Eine geregelte Reihenfolge gibt es beim Sushi-Essen nicht. Sie können völlig frei wählen, mit welchem Sushi Sie starten und welchen Sie als nächsten essen.

・Ein echter Sushi-Kenner bleibt nicht noch lange sitzen, wenn er fertig gegessen hat. Sich nach dem Essen zu lange in einem Sushi-Lokal aufzuhalten, gilt in Japan als uncool.

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Revision date: September 5, 2017

Is Nigiri sushi made by a Master Really Transparent?!

Some of the shari drops off of the sushi placed in front of you by the chef saying, “Sorry to keep you waiting.” You may be served this kind of nigiri sushi at restaurants that have lines out the door. Of course sushi that falls apart before it even touches your lips is a failure.

Good nigiri sushi looks solid, but once you put it in your mouth the shari naturally loosens. Next the loosened rice absorbs the taste of the topping and it doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth. On the other hand, with shari of sushi that has been pressed too strongly, the taste of the topping is left in your mouth, getting in the way of new flavors.

In other words, the sushi looks hard on the outside, but it soft on the inside. This is the perfect recipe for sushi.

When first learning, chefs are only concerned with shape and press the pieces too firmly. Next they let up on the force a bit and once they find the perfect amount of pressure, they become a real sushi chef. A master sushi chef is one rank above that and makes sushi that light can pass through. The sushi must be pressed gently enough for light to pass through, but firmly enough so that the sushi holds its shape.

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Revision date: August 28, 2017

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Is there a certain order for eating sushi?

How to eat sushi properly

During the Edo period when Nigiri sushi originated, it was sold in food stalls. People chose the sushi topping they wanted and satisfied their hunger. There is no such thing as the order of eating. In the first place, there are no rules about how to eat food.

The order in which the food is eaten is at the discretion of the eater.

You can eat Nigiri sushi in any order you like. We dare say that the order of eating dessert first, then the main meat or fish dish, and finally the appetizers is not a good one. Something similar to this even exists in Nigiri sushi.

Recently, Nigiri sushi has become a mainstream dish served in the Omakase course, in which the sushi chef has thought of the best order to eat the sushi. In this case, the sushi chef has thought of the best order in which to eat the sushi. The eater is left to his/her own choice.

Since when do we care about the order of eating?

This is due to the internationalization of Nigiri sushi. Everyone is taught how to eat a dish for the first time. And if you don’t know much about sushi topping, it is only natural that you would want to know more about it.

Generally, start by eating fish with a lighter flavor like white fish and move onto fish with a heavier flavor such as Toro, Uni, Japanese conger (Anago), and then Egg (Tamagoyaki). Finishing with Seaweed rolls at the end is a typical way.

The following menu is an Omakase style at the Former 3 Michelin star restaurant in Ginza. Since Sayori is offered, one can imagine that the season is early spring. This menu is composed of sushi topping that changes as the seasons change.

Begin with white fish?

Marbled flounder (Makogarei)

Striped jack (Shima aji)

Golden cuttlefish (Sumi ika)

Akami

Chutoro

Otoro

Gizzard shad (Kohada)

Common orient clam (Nihamaguri)

Horse mackerel (Aji)

Kuruma prawn (Kuruma ebi)

Japanese halfbeak (Sayori)

Common octopus (Madako)

Mackerel (Saba)

Ark shell (Akagai)

Uni

Salmon roe (Ikura)

Japanese conger (Anago)

And Omelette (Tamagoyaki) comes last, just along the general order. Perhaps the way this owner serves might have become common.

To maximize each flavor of toppings, have some pickled ginger or hot tea between different types of sushi to cleanse your palate. You don’t have to stick to the specific order, though. It seems like having customers eat freely is the idea held in common by most sushi chefs. However, indeed, you won’t be able to taste the next flavor after eating something rather sweet. Japanese conger (Anago), Egg (Tamagoyaki), and Kanpyoumaki should be eaten at the end.

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Revision date: January 29, 2024

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Tsujiki wholesale fish market

We went to Tsujiki wholesale fish market today also, and actually got to enter at the time all food professionals are buying and selling.

The tuna auction begins at 5:00 am. Then about 6:30 am, intermediate wholesalers start lining up their winning bid tuna. Therefore, it is around the time when people like masters from sushi restaurants come to buy fish. Once professional deals settle down at 10:00 am, all the other visitors and foreign tourists are allowed to get in the market.

What exactly is the difference between on what is going on before and after 10:00 am? That is how determined sellers and buyers are. It is entirely full of sprit because it is a place for exchanging valuable information.

This is one situation I saw how they interact. As they talk about how Tuna, air transported from Boston, is fatty but doesn’t have any flavor of Tuna compared to the inshore ones, they let me try a piece. The one from inshore definitely tastes more as Tuna for sure.

“I’ll take about a 20cm width of the belly, around this part of the inshore one.”

“That will be around 4.3kg?”

Pro talk, isn’t it?

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Revision date: August 15, 2017

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寿司店的礼仪

这里提到的各项事宜不仅仅是寿司店特有的礼仪，也适用于日本的所有饮食店。简单概括为一点，就是不影响到其他客人就可以了。请参考下列各项。

预约好的时间不能迟到。

坐在指定的座位上。

禁止饮酒后大声喧哗，干扰其他客人。

不可过度使用香水。

禁烟。

不可随意摄影。

不需要穿礼服，但是务必服装得体。

不可打电话。

木制的餐台很容易划伤，所以不要将手机或手表等放置于上。

不可沉迷于交谈，独自占用店主时间。

不可只点同一品种的寿司

目标10秒内将捏好的寿司吃掉。

用手或者筷子吃都可以。

寿司米饭和海鲜食材有着绝妙的平衡搭配，尽量请一口吃掉。正因如此，将寿司米饭和食材分开的行为是不可取的。

应季的鱼肉中富含饱满的脂肪，是最美味的。所以如有机会请务必品尝应季的食材。

寿司米饭不可直接蘸酱油。寿司米饭有着吸收酱油的性质，寿司不仅会松散开，过多的酱油也会盖过白身鱼肉等细腻的味道。

品尝顺序没有限定，可以自由决定。

品尝结束后马上站起来才是成年人的行为。不要久坐。

寿司图鉴

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Revision date: August 10, 2017

Once you try Kuruma ebi sushi, you’ll never want any other shrimp.

Cultured shrimp like Black tiger is imported to Japan from India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other places and it used in a lot of nigiri sushi. The shrimp used in sushi rolls is generally the giant tiger prawn. It is used because the price is cheap and it becomes a beautiful vermilion color when boiled. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the sweet taste normally associated with shrimp.

On the other hand, the Kuruma prawn (kuruma ebi) that is offered at Edo-style sushi restaurants has a rich aroma and sweetness than spreads over your tongue. It is also becoming more popular to boil it just before serving it to the customers. By doing this, the warmth enhances the sweetness of the shrimp.

The old Edo-style sushi restaurants will also ferment the shrimp in eggs scrambled with sweet vinegar (yolk soaked in vinegar) for several days. When the Kuruma prawn is soaked in the egg, its umami is enhanced and its pleasant acidity is delicious.

By the way, when you boil the shrimp, it normally bends towards the belly. Crooked shrimp cannot be used for sushi, so a few cuts are made in the ventral to stop it from bending and it is cut along the muscles or from head to tail and skewered before boiling. You still have to be careful it doesn’t bend when you peel off the shell. Therefore, even just the way a Kuruma prawn is boiled demonstrates the skill of a sushi chef.

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Revision date: August 7, 2017

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Why is Zuke used for lean meat?

Zuke is one of the traditional Edo-style sushi methods. It is said that it was started in the Edo period to stop tuna from rotting when there were large amounts of the fish in the market. Now that there has been advances in refrigeration technology, it’s no longer necessary, but maturing the fish gives it a completely different taste and brings out its umami. Zuke is divided into two broad methods. Here we describe the characteristics of each.

Recently, most sushi restaurants incorporate the “Single Zuke”.

Each slice of tuna is soaked separately, so it can mature quickly. The immersion time is only a few minutes. The idea is to marinate just enough so that the tuna’s aroma remains and the soy sauce doesn’t overtake it.

On the other hand, the old Edo-style method is to perform Zuke after parboiling.

Parboiling means to wrap the fish in a wet cloth, and poor boiling water on the wrapping until the color of the tuna changes color, then turn the fish over and repeat the process. The fish is then put in ice water so the heat doesn’t go too deep in the meat. It is immediately removed once it cools so that it doesn’t get too watery. The tuna is then put in Zuke soy sauce and left to marinate for about half a day. In this method, the soy sauce only soaks into the surface part where the color changed from the parboiling, so the flavor of the tuna remains.

Both methods keep the maximum tuna flavor possible. Tuna is an essential part of Edo-style sushi. There is great diversity between sushi restaurants in the parts, marinating time and flavor of Zuke, which creates a new, original flavor when the lean meat of the tuna soaks up the soy sauce. The fattiest cuts of tuna are most popular. The lean meat has only become more popular due to a rekindled interest in zuke, but in fact during the peak of the bubble economy, there was a time when high-end restaurants in Ginza didn’t know what to do with all their leftover lean tuna meat. It’s almost unbelievable to think of it now.

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Revision date: August 1, 2017

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Is it polite to use Gari as a brush to apply soy sauce?

Using too much soy sauce spoils delicious sushi so make sure to only put a bit of soy sauce in the special dish. Make sure to tilt the sushi to the side and put just a dab on the end of the topping. Gari can be used as a brush to apply soy sauce to sushi rolls since they cannot be tilted. However, there are differing opinions as to whether this is a refined way to eat or not. Many people say it was basically made up by a publishing company. You just need a few drops in the soy sauce cruet. Actually at very fancy establishments the sushi is served with Nikiri so normal soy sauce is never used for dipping.

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Revision date: July 26, 2017

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Isn’t it true that fish is all about the freshness??

It’s a well-known fact among professional chefs that some fish don’t rely solely on freshness. Of course there is importance in freshness, but that’s just one element. It’s generally understood that flavor and taste improve with time (maturity).

The umami* found in the meat of the fish is essentially inosinic acid and glutamic acid. After a certain amount of time has passed after a fish has died, the body stiffens and not long after that the rigor lets up. The inosinic acid, which the umami is composed of, comes after the fish has stiffened. It then accumulates in the process of the body relaxing. This is the same in beef and pork in which there is no umami in the meat unless it is hung and matured for a time.

Therefore, ikizukuri sashimi that is still twitching usually won’t have the taste or depth of umami. However, the firm texture of sashimi is also an undeniable enjoyable aspect. It is not all about the umami.

*Glutamic acid, Inosinic acid and Guanylic acid are representative components of umami. Guanylic acid is found in kelp and vegetables (tomato, Chinese cabbage, green tea, etc.) as well as Parmesan cheese, inosinic acid is found in fish (bonito, macheral, sea bream, etc.) and meat (pork, chicken, etc.) while Guanylic acid is abundant in mushrooms (especially dried shiitake mushrooms).

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Revision date: July 17, 2017

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Which wines pair well with sushi?

Fermented beverages such as sake and wine pair well with sushi. Sake is made from rice. So it only makes sense that this would pair well with sushi – also made with rice. It is also the only alcohol that eliminates the smell of fish and shellfish.

On the other hand, when considering compatibility with wine, toppings that use strong seasonings like Nikiri, including tuna and conger eel with sweet filling, match superbly with matured red wines such as Pinot Noir.

For example, Bourgogne Chambolle Musigny, Cote de Beaune, Morey-Saint-Denis, etc.

White wines such as a lighter Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling go well with white fish flavored with Citrus sudachi and yuzu or squid eaten with salt.

For example, Bourgogne Chablis.

However, neither red nor white wine goes well with herring or salmon roe. The iron specific to wine is said to contribute to the fishy smell of fish roe.

In the research of one wine manufacturer, the factor that generates the smell of fish and shellfish is the iron (ferrous ion) found in wine. Wines with relatively low levels of iron such as Sherry (Spain), Champagne (France) fermented twice in the bottle, Cava (Spain) and Franciacorta (Italy) mature without adding sulfite, which prevents oxidization. This reduces the ferrous ion in the wine and the fishy smell is virtually unnoticeable.

Either way, the research of wine and sushi pairings is still insufficient and there haven’t yet been any reports of unexpected compatibility. If anyone out there has found a wine that does pair well with herring or salmon roe, please be sure to share that information with us.

Related contents: See Best Wine For Sushi?

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Revision date: January 17, 2018

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Why are the prices at fancier sushi restaurants and Conveyor belt sushi so different?

In some cases a two-piece sushi dish you can get for JPY 100 at Kaiten-zushi (Conver belt sushi) can cost up to 2,000 for half the volume at a fancy restaurant. Many Kaiten-zushi establishments are part of large chains so costs are kept low by buying in bulk.

Also, unlike the fancy restaurants, which procure the best seasonal catch from fishing grounds all over the country, Kaiten-zushi uses a combination of frozen and farmed fish as well as substituting some fish for certain toppings.

For example, Engawa is often thought to be from Japanese flounder, but Pacific halibut or Greenland halibut is used instead as a substitute.

While different from fancy sushi restaurants that serve various seasonal fish and edomaeshigoto, Kaiten-zushi has its own merits and offers sushi at a much lower price. It’s really up to the customer what they hope to get from their sushi experience.

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Revision date: July 3, 2017

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Why is sushi served with Gari?

Gari is pickled ginger.

This ginger includes Zingerone, a pungent component, and Gingerol, a spice component that changes to Shogaol when heated. Zingerone and Shogaol combine with the components that cause the fishy smell of fish and can eliminate that smell from its source. It makes sense to use ginger as a condiment for fish known for a stronger smell, like horse mackerel and bonito. The Gari served with sushi utilizes the effects of these components effectively for the enjoyment of the delicious taste of the sushi.

On the other hand, wasabi works by numbing senses of taste and smell with a stimulating spice so that the consumer doesn’t experience the fishy smell.

Furthermore, when you try to eat a light sushi topping after one with a richer flavor, a bit of Gari will cleanse your palette so you can fully enjoy the lighter fish. The pungent component also accelerates saliva production, assists with digestion and enhances absorption.

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Revision date: May 4, 2021

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