Sukiyabashi Jiro | Sushiblog

Sushi restaurants are a place for conversation!?

Even Japanese people can be overwhelmed by the somehow special atmosphere when they sit down at the sushi counter. This continues even when starting to eat. Other customers are concentrating on eating, quietly. You kind of get the feeling that if you utter anything, you will be asked to leave. If you don’t end up mustering up the courage, you just end up paying the high price for your meal and going home without much more to say of the evening.

Eating sushi at a counter is not inherently this dull. So why do sushi meals so often end up this way? The problem is knowing so little about the sushi, and feeling like you’re the visiting team on the field.

For example, it is taboo for new customers to take the seat positioned directly in front of the sushi chef. This is a special seat reserved for regulars. Even if the seat is empty, a newcomer will be shown to a seat in the back. This is an unspoken rule.

Contrary to their countenance, most sushi chefs are actually friendly and experts in the art of conversation. They especially value the back and forth with regular customers. For example, they have a keen memory, and can reiterate to the customer that their last visit was on the way home from a baseball game and they ordered a second helping of Chutoro fished in Oma. Of course this pleases many customers. A master sushi chef prepares sushi while standing in front of the customer. If there was to be no conversation with the customer, they can make the sushi back in the kitchen and have it served. Sushi restaurants are a place for conversation.

The customer ends up not remembering which fish they ate. For example there are very few people who can name the order of the 15-piece Omakase course they ate. You may be sure you ate tuna. But where was it caught? Was it the belly side or the back side? How long had the fish been matured? To be a bit more frank, how much did it cost? If you ask the chef these questions, next time you visit, you’ll be able to compare different taste based on the fishing location. Knowing the difference in taste based on the part of the fish, and difference in flavor depending on where it was procured, and different taste depending on the preparations will certainly improve your sushi literacy remarkably. It will also lead to a better awareness of your own taste preferences.

But there are limitations to the time allowed for personal conversation. For example, in a normal 2-hour Omakase course, there may be five minutes or so available for conversation. It might not sound like much, but that is also the amount of time allocated to regular customers. Newcomers often can’t find a time to get a word in and end up with only the initial greeting, which takes about 10 seconds.

Of course that’s for Japanese customers who speak Japanese. What about foreign customers who cannot speak Japanese? First of all, conversation is impossible, so this cuts the enjoyment factor of the sushi restaurant in half. But the sushi is delicious, right? Perhaps, but you’ll end up satisfied with the small-world view cultivated for you by the media, limited to whether or not the fish is fatty, or if the meat is fresh and firm. This is something you can experience anywhere that sushi is served in the world.

What we offer is a totally different experience.

You get a seat in front of the master sushi chef, a knowledgeable interpreter is seated by your side, and the Omakase show is presented right in front of you. The obliging chef explains each piece of sushi as you eat with a gentle demeanor. He will also answer any questions you think of on the spot. You won’t be able to say that you don’t know what you ate. We prepare a translated list of your Omakase menu. You are also welcome to take pictures whenever you’d like to preserve the enjoyable memory. All you need to do is forget time and immerse yourself in the Edo-style sushi, one of the staples of Japanese food culture.

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Revision date: November 27, 2019

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Sushi trends

Foods made to go well with alcohol like ‘shiokara’ salted fish parts or dried mullet roe, don’t go well with shari (vinegar rice). Also, restaurants mainly serving alcohol and foods to pair with it are either bars or Japanese cuisine restaurants that may also serve sushi, but not Edo-style sushi. Many years ago sushi chefs would even get angry saying things like, “Sushi restaurants are not bars. If you want to drink, go next door!” Even Rosanjin wrote, “Sushi restaurants that served alcohol first appeared after WWII. Before the war sushi was served with tea.” In other words, Edo-style sushi restaurants originally didn’t serve alcohol. Perhaps it is true that the increase in sushi restaurants that feel like bars is a natural progression with time.

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Revision date: July 9, 2018

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What is “Suteshari”?

A photo of rice tab — The sushi chef is trying to take the vinegared rice from the rice tab.

Shari — vinegared rice used for making sushi — is typically kept in a wooden rice tub (known as a hangiri) and placed within easy reach of the sushi chef’s dominant hand. With a swift and practiced motion, a skilled sushi chef scoops out just the right amount of rice — often several hundred grains — to shape a uniform shari dama (vinegared rice ball) for a single piece of sushi.

A photo of shari dama — The appearance of shari dama

It is said that experienced chefs can do this with a margin of error of only a few grains, thanks to years of rigorous training and muscle memory.

However, not all chefs have reached this level of precision. Some may inadvertently take too much rice, only to pinch off the excess and return it to the rice tub. This practice is called “suteshari” (捨てシャリ) — literally, “discarded rice.” Despite the name, the rice is often not truly discarded but rather returned to the communal tub, which can be a source of concern both in terms of hygiene and professionalism.

We estimate that more than half of sushi chefs engage in this practice, especially when they find it difficult to judge the proper proportion of shari to complement a topping (neta) before the piece is assembled.

While some may view it as a minor adjustment, seasoned sushi connoisseurs see suteshari as a telltale sign of insufficient training or inattentiveness. Movements behind the counter are closely observed.

From a sanitary standpoint, suteshari presents another issue: when sushi is made in high volume, residual rice that has absorbed moisture or fish juices from discarded portions may accumulate at the bottom of the tub, compromising cleanliness and potentially affecting the flavor of subsequent pieces.

A photo of making nigiri sushi — The sushi chef is shaping the shari dama.

That said, suteshari is not entirely taboo. When sushi is served in a shared presentation on a platter (moriawase), visual uniformity is essential. However, when served omakase-style as individual pieces directly to the guest, uniformity is not required.

Even Jiro Ono, the revered sushi master of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza — once awarded three Michelin stars for 12 consecutive years — has occasionally been seen discarding rice to fine-tune his nigiri. (The restaurant is no longer listed in the Michelin Guide due to its exclusive reservation policy.)

In the end, suteshari is a nuanced gesture — neither wholly negative nor praiseworthy — but rather a window into the discipline, training, and philosophy of the chef behind the counter.

Related contents: WHAT RICE TO USE FOR SUSHI?

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Revision date: June 4, 2025

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Why doesn’t rice stick to the sushi chef’s hands?

A photo of shaping nigiri sushi — Sushi chef is making nigiri sushi.

One of the pleasures of sitting at a sushi counter is watching the sushi master work his craft.

He holds the topping between the index finger and thumb of his left hand while simultaneously grabbing the shari (vinegared rice) with his left hand. He gently squeezes the shari and then moves the topping from his left hand to the top of that shari in a fluid motion. This entire process of shaping the shari to the finished piece of sushi takes less than six seconds. Every movement is precise and purposeful.

However, no matter how many pieces the chef makes one after another, you’ll never see a grain of rice stick to his hands. If you or I were to make even one piece of sushi, our hands would be covered in rice. So why doesn’t it happen to them? Their hands don’t look oiled. Perhaps sushi chefs have especially smooth or slick hands compared to us average Joes?

Of course not. This is actually thanks to the vinegar.

The chefs keep a bowl of vinegar close by, which they constantly use to wet their hands. If the sushi chef’s hands are dry, the rice grains tend to stick to them, so the rice needs to be moistened just enough.

This is called “Tezu” or vinegared water, which both disinfects the hands and cools their palms. When the vinegar evaporates, it takes the heat from the hands with it.

Normally hands reach temperatures of 33-34 degrees Celsius (91-93 degrees Fahrenheit), but sushi chefs cool their hands to approximately 30 degrees Celsius (86 F). This transfers the heat from the hands to the shari, keeping it from getting sticky. In other words, not a single grain of rice sticks to their hands.

Also, the stickiness of rice is mainly caused by starch (especially amylopectin) gelatinizing with water and heat, but vinegar contains acetic acid, which acidifies the pH, so under these conditions, the structure of the starch changes slightly, inhibiting the formation of stickiness (the sticky component).

Additionally, vinegared rice becomes sticky if there is too much moisture, and conversely, if there is too little moisture, it becomes dry and difficult to shape. Therefore, the moisture content and temperature are carefully adjusted to achieve the perfect balance.

In short, it’s not magic or special skin — it’s the calculated use of vinegar, moisture, and temperature control that keeps sushi chefs’ hands rice-free.

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Revision date: June 16, 2025

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