Japan Trip: Sushi Dai, Tokyo

The third city that I visited during my trip in Japan was Tokyo. When it comes to find out which sushi is the best in Tokyo, well, there are plenty of it, and most of them are expensive and need to reserve long time prior coming to the sushi store. After doing some googling, I found a famous sushi place that still affordable for me and my travel partner. The name is Sushi Dai and it is located in the famous Tsukiji Fish Market.

When reading the review of Sushi Dai, many people said that the come very early in the morning, at 5 a.m. and some peoples have already queued to get into Sushi Dai. Because I was too lazy to wake up at 4 a.m, so I woke at 5 a.m. and arrived at Tsukiji Fish Market at 6 a.m. Even at 6 a.m. the queuing line already long. Actually the cause of the queue is because the seats only available for about 13 or 14 peoples, and each chef only dedicated to serve certain amount of people (3 to 4 people), then they prepared each of the sushi carefully and serve it one at a time.

The queue has already this long when I came at 6 a.m.

We waited about 2 and half hours. Maybe because it was still in the morning, so the temperature was about 11-12 degree celcius. Waiting with that cold tem perature was really frustrating. I had to cover my head since the cold air and the do-nothing queue made my brain freezing. Luckily the waitress from Sushi Dai felt came out and bring us hot ocha to warm up our body. I was really appreciated it.

he felt so bored waiting with slow progress

morning view of Tsukiji Fish Market. I don't know what kind of car these fish sellers are using, but it was everywhere in Tsukiji

the free hot ocha, the cure for my brain freeze

in front of Sushi Dai

Actually at first I only wanted to buy the Jyou (standard) set, with 7 different nigiri sushi, because it was cheaper compared to Omakase course ("trust the chef course") with 10 different nigiri sushi. Jyou was 2,500 yen and Omakase was 3,900 yen. But after waited 2.5 hours, my patient already gone and I wanted to get reward for my long waiting by having the best choice Sushi Dai can offer, so I change to Omasake Course. Omasake Course turned out to be the best choice, because I had a chance to taste the best sushi set I have ever eaten. The Omasake course includes 10 different nigiri sushi + 1"whatever you want" nigiri sushi, hot ocha, miso soup, sushi rolls, and rolled egg (tamago).

inside Sushi Dai

10 nigiri sushi, 1 rolled egg, and sushi rolls

this miso soup contains many kinds of fish

the hot ocha

the options for "whatever you want" nigiri sushi. don't worry, this extra sushi is free. 

my choice for "whatever you want" nigiri sushi. I choose Red Clam Nigiri Sushi.

The chef who served me and my travelling partner is the son of the Sushi Dai owner, I did not remember whether he is the 2nd or 3rd generation. Before he served us, he asked how many wasabi for our sushi. My travelling partner said he didn't want any wasabi. Hearing this statement, he looked amazed and he told to other chefs that someone didn't want to use wasabi. The other chefs were amazed too. Then he asked where we came from because he wondered why there's somebody who did not want wasabi to be included in his sushi.

the chef is preparing our sushi

my best sushi experience :')

When you eat in here, you don't need to worry about how much soy sauce should be put into the sushi because the chef already put the right amount of soy sauce into the sushi. And if you add more soy sauce, you'll lose the best taste of the sushi.

Overall, even though the wait was painful, but the taste of the course was worth all the wait. I can say it was the best sushi experience that I have ever had. :D


XOXO,
The Tourist