On Tuesday the 9th of October during my trip to Japan last year, I had lunch at Sukiyabashi Jiro, supposedly
the best sushi restaurant in the world with a 3 michelin star rating. I
had EXTREMELY high expectations for a couple of reasons.
-It has 3 michelin stars
-It's my favorite type of food
-It's supposed to be the best sushi in the world.
-It
is purely focussed on the food. No atmosphere, no fine dining. You get
served 20 pieces of sushi in 20 minutes and that's it.
My
father was telling me I was expecting too much and that it'd probably
be disappointed. But I can't change expectations... they are what they are.
We
went there with plenty of time to spare, which ended up being a good call.
It was extremely hard to find and we had to ask 3 times, before being
shown the entrance by a friendly man. We were ~10 minutes too early, but
that was no problem.
I
had expected beforehand that the atmosphere would likely be very tense
and uncomfortable. In general people are expected to be grateful to have
a chance to eat at Jiro, rather than Jiro being grateful that you come
eat at his restaurant. He doesn't care whether you eat there or not.
Furthermore, foreigners in particular are not very welcome from what
I have heard.
Just
as expected, the entree was a little awkward. We were the first to
arrive and were straight away seated at the bar, asked if the menu
looked okay, given a useless bowl of soy sauce, which presumably is only
given to foreigners who don't understand that the best chefs already
put the perfect amount of soy sauce on the sushi themselves and then they got to work.
Within 2 minutes after entering the restaurant
we were eating our first piece of sushi. Around 15 minutes later we had
eaten 20 pieces of sushi and we were seated at a table in a corner to have a
dessert of melon and green tea. The pace was EXTREMELY quick. At 1-2
moments during the meal I had about a 15 second break between pieces,
butmostly the next piece landed on my plate less than 5 seconds
after I had finished the last. At the time I was okay with it, not in
love with it, but now having eaten at another high end sushi restaurant(Sushi Kanesaka),
I have to say I actually LOVE how the sushi came in such quick
succession and I think it is THE best way to enjoy sushi. It was like 1
long trip/dream of continuous sushi.
At
the start of the meal when it was still very awkward, my dad foolishly
tried to talk to Jiro. First of all Jiro doesn't speak english, second
of all he doesn't speak to anyone, not even in Japanese. I guess the
nerves got to him a bit. Jiro's son did talk a bit of English to us and
he was very friendly. I talked back to him and the waiters in Japanese.
After a few minutes I think that due to me talking Japanese and we just
calmly eating our sushi and not doing anything crazy like using the
extra soy sauce, the atmosphere became more relaxed and I started
focussing on the important stuff. The sushi itself.
The menu consisted of the following 20 pieces:
-かれい, Karei, Righteye Flounder
-すみいか, Sumi-Ika, Golden Cuttlefish
-いなだ, Inada, Young Japanese Amberjack
-あかみ, Akami, Tuna
-ちゅうとろ, Chu-Toro, Middle Fatty Tuna #1
-ちゅうとろ, Chu-Toro, Middle Fatty Tuna #2
-こはだ, Kohada, Konoshiro Gizzard Shad
-むしあわび, Mushi-awabi, Abalone Ear Shell
-あじ, Aji, Horse Mackerel
-はまぐり, Hamaguri, Orient Clam
-さより, Sayori, Japanese Halfbeak
-くるまえび, Kuruma-Ebi, Kuruma Prawn
-あかがい, Akagai, Blood Clam
-かつお, Katsuo, Skipjack Tuna/Bonito
-しゃこ, Syako, Giant Clam Shell
-うに, Uni, Sea Urchin
-こばしら, Kobashira, Scallops
-いくら, Ikura, Salmon Roe
-あなご, Anago, Conger Eel
-たまご, Tamago, Omelette
The
first 5 pieces were actually quite disappointing. I thought they were
good, but not the best I've had. I had better Akami at Tsukiji for example. From the 2nd Chu-Toro and onwards though,
things started to be pretty epic. There was a lot of fish on the menu
that I had never had before. I had to look most of them up in the
dictionairy to be able to translate them to english.
The
Kohada was the first piece that REALLY blew my mind. The taste of the
fish was very special. And I think it's probably a VERY hard fish to
serve perfectly, but Jiro certainly knows how to. It was mind-boggling
good.
The Aji was also
fantastic. The Hamaguri I had never had before and was served with the
same type of sauce as Unagi and Anago are usually served. I'm an instant
fan of Hamaguri and from now on I will always order it if I see it on
the menu.
One might argue
Jiro made a mistake on the Sayori, putting too much wasabi on there, but
it suited the fish perfectly! Simply amazing! The ebi was easily the
best I ever had, the Akagai was DELICIOUS, the Katsuo was very special,
the Syako like the Hamaguri I planned to always order from that point onwards, but I've never actually enjoyed it anywhere else than at Jiro.
Then came the Uni,
Sea Urchin. I've had Sea Urchin before at Joel Robuchon's 3 Michelin
Star restaurant in Vegas and did not like it. I didn't even finish
eating it. Obviously I'm not gonna say no to a piece of sushi from Jiro and surprisingly enough it was good. By no means the best piece,
but it was good. I told Jiro's son in Japanese that I disliked
Joel Robuchon's Sea Urchin, but liked Jiro's Sea Urchin. Joel Robuchon
is the one person Jiro looks up to, so when Jiro's son told his dad, you
saw he cranked up and smiled. Which I don't think happens very often!
The
last piece that I absolutely HAVE to mention is the Ikura. Looking back
on the meal, I think the Ikura was my favorite piece of them
all. The temperature of all the ingredients was just EPIC. The warm
rice, the even warmer, roasted nori, the cold Ikura. The perfect amount of Ikura... it
was a piece of heaven!
The
anago was the smoothest, softest I've ever had. Served very warm. So far
I had not liked Japan's eel and thought London's eel was better, but
Jiro changed that big time.
The
last piece the Tamago, was by far the best Tamago I've ever had, but
compared to a lot of the other pieces a little underwhelming.
Overall
EASILY FAR AND AWAY the best meal of my life aswell as possibly the
most special restaurant experience of my life, considering eating took
<15 minutes and we were out the door in under 40 minutes. I also
think there's a very high chance this'll remain the best meal I'll ever
have in my entire lifetime. Until I go back to Jiro or maybe have a
chance to check out Mizutani next time I go to Japan.
MUST-VISIT for sushi fans! Even worth a trip to the other end of the planet!
Rating: 5+++/5
Best Piece: The first 5
Better Piece: The rest
Best Piece: Kohada, Hamaguri, Sayori, Syako
Ultimate piece: Ikura
http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13002260/
