Sushi Mizutani, Ginza, Tokyo

Note: No photos were taken during my meal at Sushi Mizutani, as they were prohibited at the time. In late-2016, Mizutani-san closed his shop. He was truly one of the most legendary sushi chefs in Japan, and his departure leaves a distinct void in this universe.

• Cost: JPY 31,000, before drinks
• Size: 10 seats
• Reserved: About 5 weeks in advance

Hachiro Mizutani, along with Jiro Ono, was the first sushi chef to ever receive 3 stars from Michelin.  This fact made Sushi Mizutani, for a number of years, the rumored "most difficult reservation in the world" - a mythical place where god-like sushi could be purchased at the bargain price of JPY 30,000.  Not coincidentally, Mizutani-san is also probably the most famous of Jiro's itamae - he ran an offshoot of Jiro in Yokohama in the early-2000s, and he features a few times in that movie about sushi.

In the past few years, Mizutani has moved out of a basement building (which now houses Sushi Tokami) and to a larger, more open space a few blocks away.  From what I understand, Mizutani-san's formative years as a chef were at Yoshino, one of Tokyo's most historic sushiya.  Accordingly, and like Jiro, the style of sushi at Mizutani is very simple and traditional - just sashimi, and sushi.

The nigiri themselves are a cross between the larger "traditional" style and more dainty "Ginza" style that are most often seen at high-end sushiya.  They are simply seasoned (either shoyu, salt, or yuzu), and are distinctively "long" in shape - likely due to the shape of Mizutani-san's hands.  I found them overall to be very good in terms of balance, though the shari was not very firm and in some cases almost gummy.  Some neta, such as the shiromi and sumi-ika, were excellent.

However, I did notice that several items you would typically see prepared freshly - particularly kuruma ebi and anago - appeared to be pre-cooked and sliced for diners.  At a sushiya in this price range (and with this reputation), I find it hard to believe that such an oversight wasn't an intentional part of the style, but these items in taste paled in comparison to other versions I've had, both in Japan and America.  A sushi chef I know mentioned that on his last visit to Mizutani the craftsmanship there seemed "less serious" than it had in the past.  I wonder if this fact is the reason that, during my visit, the counter at Mizutani appeared to be comprised of tourists from Hong Kong and Singapore, and was only half-full.

Don't get me wrong - Sushi Mizutani offers an experience that certainly ranks in the "very good" or even "excellent" categories, but there are other sushiya in Tokyo (and even America, for that matter) with more precise technique, and certainly more of a "wow" factor.  When the price for admission is JPY 30,000 and up, those are pretty important considerations.

---

Sushi Mizutani  鮨 水谷（すしみずたに）

Chuo, Ginza 8-7-7 Juno Bldg. 9F

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130103/13016524/

Sushi Tokami, Ginza, Tokyo

• Cost: JPY 25,000, before drinks
• Size: <10 seats
• Reserved: About 5 weeks in advance

Tokami is probably most notable for three things:

(1)      Sato-san exclusively uses red akazu in seasoning his rice.  This is primarily to pair with the shop's calling card, which are its maguro selections (see #2 below).  There are a variety of sushiya in Tokyo that exclusively use akazu but none in my experience where the flavor is as strong as at Tokami.

(2)      One of the partners is a tuna broker, and the shop’s maguro offerings (including the introductory otsumami, which is a hand roll with a mousse-like texture of neck-otoro) are considered to be excellent.  Some of the most famous sushiya in Tokyo, including king-of-the-heap Sushi Saito, are rumored to use the same tuna supplier.

(3)      The restaurant sits in the original space that housed Sushi Mizutani – the basement of the Seiwa Building in Ginza.  While this isn’t terribly important in and of itself, I have heard from some people in the sushi business that getting access to a “historic” location like this as a young chef is a big sign that something is going right.

Tokami is overall a unique style and not necessarily comparable to the popular “Jiro”, “Kanesaka” and “Shou” schools of sushiya that seem to dominate the tabelog rankings these days.  My meal there included a well-executed series of otsumami (most notable: the aforementioned hand roll, steamed abalone with liver sauce (a Yoshitake riff), ozaki wagyu, and grilled sanma).

The nigiri are slightly larger and the shari has a slightly "rounder" shape than what many might consider to be "standard" in Ginza, but I found the sushi to be very well-balanced.  Several pieces (particularly the tuna, sanma, and aburi kamasu konbujime) reached best-ever status in my book.  While the preference for akazu was a bit too strong in some pieces (though not nearly as sharp as, say, the gomezu-seasoned rice at Sawada), the quality of shari was generally very good, if not excellent.  The one lackluster item was the tamago - it wasn't close to the level you'd expect from a top-tier sushiya, and I would have preferred a store-bought version to what I was served.*

My experience with Tokyo sushiya is quite limited, but in my book Tokami was a better experience than other more expensive shops with more Michelin stars.

Sato-san is extremely friendly, open, and earnest, and also speaks decent English.  With only one itamae and a single server, the experience felt very friendly and intimate and is one which I would highly recommend.  My hunch is that getting a reservation here will become more difficult as word spreads.

*Since my visit, I understand that Sato-san now serves a unique "brulee-style" tamago, which has been much better received by diners.

---

Sushi Tokami 鮨とかみ

Chuo, Ginza, 8-2-10 Seiwa Bldg. B1F

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130103/13155234/

Umi, Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo

Note: Nagano-san passed away in September 2015, a huge loss to the culinary world as his approach to sushi (especially as a Hokkaido native) was truly unique. In mid-2016, Amamoto-san opened his own sushiya to immediate critical acclaim, similar to the style of Umi. One of the apprentices from my visits is now the head chef, and the shop has retained its two-star Michelin status, but I have not returned since these changes.

• Cost: JPY 21,000, before drinks
• Size: 10 seats
• Reserved: About 6 weeks in advance

If the stereotypical Tokyo sushi chef is most like a zen monk, then Nagano-san and Amamoto-san at Umi are probably best likened to a tag team of luchadores, shouting commands and exclamations at each other, their itamae, and anybody else within earshot.  Their enthusiasm is infectious.

Typically, a sushi omakase starts with lighter, cleaner flavors and slowly progresses into richer and heavier bites.  The progression is analogous in some ways to the zen-like arrangement of kaiseki meals, which themselves are modeled around Buddhist principles of harmony and balance.  Omakase at Umi, on the other hand, is a bit more like a well-designed amusement park ride with surprise bursts of flavor and color around every turn.  My meal, for example, started with uncured cod roe (tarako) and a rich chutoro nigiri - an excellent one-two punch to awaken the palate to the flavors to come.

Umi is known for serving a dizzying variety of 30-40 tastes that sometimes alternate otsumami with nigiri, which is also likely the reason why some incorrectly describe Umi as being in the Shou school of sushiya when in fact it is very different.  It might be for this less-traditional approach that Umi's tabelog ranking is not in the "top" sushiya in Tokyo, but in my opinion the quality of ingredients and precision of technique is certainly on par with shops that are consistently ranked in the "top 10" on that site. 

It's difficult for me to describe my meal at Umi particularly because it was laden with familiar and traditional flavors, while at the same time it included so many new types of tastes; for example: the cubed young gari served as an accompaniment to the nigiri, or a sweet/salty onion sauce used for dipping with the smoked katsuo.  A piece of omelette-style (dashimaki) tamago thatmamoto-san cooked while we waited and arrived steaming hot was the best I have ever had.

If anything, Umi highlights the fact that at the highest level of sushiya, technique and ingredients are all excellent, and people will choose their favorites based on how much they enjoy the shop's idiosyncratic style and approach to omakase.  For me, Umi was certainly one of the best sushi meals I have ever had, and that is enough for me to recommend it.   

---

Umi 海味（うみ）

Minato, Minami-Aoyama, 3-2-8 1F

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130603/13001179/

Sawada, Ginza, Tokyo

• Cost: JPY 35,000, before drinks
• Size: 6 seats
• Reserved: About 6 weeks in advance

In lieu of photos (which Sawada does not allow), I’m positing the progression of my meal below.

Sashimi:

• Wasabi, shio, shoyu, sudachi
• Hirame
• Hirame engawa
• Charcoal aburi shimesaba
• Cold smoked buri otoro
• Charcoal grilled kamatoro
• Hokkaido uni
• Maki - myoga, goma
• Maki - saba, shiso, menegi, ume
• Sumi ika
• Steamed awabi

Sushi:

• Sayori
• Akagai
• Akami
• Chutoro
• Chu-otoro
• Otoro
• Aburi otoro
• Katsuo
• Kohada
• Daikon oshinko w/yuzu
• Kuruma ebi
• Uni
• Anago (wasabi, shio)
• Anago (tsume)
• Tamago
• Saba
• Engawa
• Hamaguri

Is Sawada the best sushiya in the world?  I cannot make such a judgment, as my experience in Tokyo is very limited.  I can with certainty say that, for me, it was definitely the most serious sushi experience that I have ever had.  Other sushi-yasan that I know have affectionately referred to Sawada-san as a “sushi nazi” due to his seriousness with the craft.  As a case in point, Sawada's shop supposedly uses no electricity in food preparation; fish is stored in a traditional icebox, while cooked items are prepared over a bincho-tan grill.

My meal at Sawada contained very few surprises flavor-profile or fish-selection wise, as it was obvious the focus of the shop is on superlative technique.  This shone through the superb otsumami, such as the bincho-tan grilled kamatoro, cold-smoked buri, and saba-menegi-myoga-shiso maki.

The shari is warm and strongly seasoned with gomezu, which is a conscious “traditional” flavor choice.  As the meal progressed, the sharpness of this seasoning began to get a bit tiresome, but this was really a very minor gripe.  The nigiri themselves were excellently balanced and beautifully presented, with several (particularly the kohada and akagai) being the most beautiful examples I have ever encountered.  Also notable was a progression of 5 excellent tuna nigiri that climbed the fattiness scale from akami through kamatoro and were so rich they tasted almost like high-quality aged beef.

Despite the quiet nature of the shop, Sawada-san is quite friendly, and a reservation was relatively easy through a high-end hotel concierge (perhaps this says more about Tokyo natives’ impulse to pay the shop’s prices).  The cost is a step above even other very-high-end Tokyo sushiya but is a worthy price for the experience. 

---

Sawada さわ田

Chuo, Ginza 5-9-19, MC Bldg. 3F

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13001043/

Miyaha, Hamamatsucho, Tokyo

• Cost: JPY 25,000, before drinks
• Size: <12 seats
• Reserved: About 5 weeks in advance

Miyaha came recommended by a sushi chef whom I hold in high regard.  The sushi-yasan there is 9th generation at his craft and rumored to be hanging up his knives in the near future.  You can imagine my surprise, then, when I arrived for a reservation and a half-full sushi counter to be served not by the master (as all the other guests were), but one of his three itamae.  This may have been due to the fact that we were the only gaijin in the shop, or that our reservation time (7:30pm) was on the later side of the shop hours. 

I think in general it is a bit unfair to outright discount a sushi meal for not being served by the head chef – indeed, at some famous Tokyo sushiya (notably Sukiyabashi Jiro, Shou, and Kanesaka) customers are more likely to be served by the itamae than the master, which doesn’t seem to impact the rave reviews these shops continue to pull in.  That being said, I have to admit that this was a disappointment for me, and may have colored the rest of my experience at Miyaha.

The style of Miyaha is more along the lines of a “traditional” edomae sushi shop where the otsumami are relatively simple, “typical” flavor profiles are maintained, and the nigiri are on the larger side.  In the case of some pieces, like the kuruma ebi, they were comically, unmanageably large.  I honestly couldn’t tell if this was due to the fact that the itamae assumed we Amerikaijin were most accustomed to behemoth nigiri pieces, or if it was just a hallmark of the style (I tend to think it is the latter, since I’ve seen a similar style in other sushiya outside of ginza). 

Regardless, the balance of neta and shari on some pieces was better than others, with standouts being the tuna, hamaguri (served in its own dashi), and katsuo, alongside some notable duds, like the kasugo.  Again, it may just be the style, but some flavor choices, like the super-strong vinegar marinade on the shinko, were overwhelming for me.  The shari itself (despite being plentiful) wasn’t terribly notable, with a medium-strength flavor and with some texture to the rice (though in some instances the grains were less distinctive and more gluey).

The otsumami were good but brief, and contained few surprises outside of aburi torigai, which was new for me and an excellent mix of textures and flavors.  I did notice that we did not receive some otsumami that other diners did, such as some small fried fish, and what looked like a small anago donburi.  Again, this may have been due to the “late” hour of our reservation, but did not add to our enjoyment.

In all, Miyaha serves good sushi in a style that is a real contrast to the ginza-centric sushiya that seem to get all the press, but it is not a place I would recommended to first-timers or gaijin (even those who can speak decent-enough Japanese for a sushi counter, like myself).  The cost of the meal for the quantity (which was honestly, mostly rice), variety and care was just not on par with other similar shops I’ve been to in this price range, and there are other more reasonably-priced options (see here) if you’re seeking out this style.

---

Miyaha 宮葉 (みやは)

Minato, Hamamatsucho, 2-11-8

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1314/A131401/13019499/