This Is Where You’ll Find the Freshest Sushi in Tokyo
Brought to you by Woolworths
When it comes to great sushi, it’s not enough for the fish to be fresh – it has to be the freshest. Just add masterful knife skills, lightly vinegared rice and a dab of wasabi.
Daiwa Sushi
Sushi for breakfast? Yes, it’s possible at Daiwa Sushi in the frenetic Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo’s seafood heart. The bad news is that even an early alarm is unlikely to spare you an hour-long queue. But the incredibly fresh omakase (chef’s selection), including meltingly fatty tuna belly, makes this visit worth the bleary eyes.
Tsukiji Market, Building No. 6, 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku
Sushi Ginza Onodera
This upper-end sushi restaurant has gone global, with outlets in London, Paris, Shanghai and the United States, but the Tokyo original is where you want to be.
Sunlit Ginza Building II 1F, 5-14-14 Ginza, Chuo-ku
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Tsukiji Itadori Uogashi Senryo
Tsukiji Itadori Uogashi Senryo is the place to get your fix of the sushi-with-a-twist known as hitsumabushi, a bowl of mixed raw seafood with rice, eaten in three stages. First, push the uni (sea urchin) to the side and tackle the other raw seafood. Then mix the rice with the briny richness of uni, wasabi and soy. Finally, add dashi (bonito-and-seaweed broth) to turn it into ochazuke, a traditional rice soup.
Hiizumi Building 1F, 4-10-14 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku
Sukiyabashi Jiro
Star of the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, nonagenarian sushi master Jiro Ono continues to serve three-Michelin-starred sushi at his tiny 10-seat restaurant in Ginza. Expect an exquisite 20-course tasting menu that takes only about half an hour.
Tsukamoto Sogyo Building B1F, 4-2-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Nemuro Hanamaru
A restaurant chain with a great reputation as an affordable option for families, Nemuro Hanamaru [sushi-hanamaru.com] combines the entertaining qualities of the sushi train with a colourful parade of topnotch produce from Nemuro on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Kitte Marunouchi, JP Tower 5F, 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
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