More sushi reviews - hope people find this interesting once again!

Note(1): I know everyone is trying to get into Namba, Sugita, Arai etc. but how about trying one of these sushiya instead? Most are very easy to book and you will likely have a good time :) One thing I noted was that many of them had unfilled seats, and almost all of them had foreigners (besides myself) dining at the counter. Just to give a flavor, I've indicated the number of occupied seats and foreign visitors at each place.

Note(2): Disclaimer as always that reviews are personal/subjective, in case the food police or cult worshippers of a certain sushiya want to come after me.

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1. Sushidokoro Yamada (2nd visit)
Nigiri: 7/10, CP: 5/10
Seats Occupied: 2/11 (me and my sister)

Sushidokoro Yamada has moved to a new building in Ginza and now has an upgraded, refined interior. Unfortunately, that was probably the only improvement. Compared to my first visit just a few months ago, I thought the sushi here devolved despite the 30-40% price increase. I’m not sure whether it was because my sister and I were the only 2 guests, or whether Yamada-san was trying new things, or whether the taste profile has now become more “Ginza-esque”, but there was not much of the umami/interesting flavor notes that I got on my first visit. The fish looked way too clean and not aged (lol) while the shari had almost no flavor. Pieces like hirame, sumi ika, and kuruma ebi which I thought were incredible on my first visit now tasted like run-of-the-mill Kanesaka-style stuff. It’s a huge shame because Yamada-san’s sushi has a lot of personality (his signature items like shiitake mushroom, “dehydrated kinmedai”, and mashed ebi still tasted very solid and clearly stood out as truly original items), but overall I left disappointed this time around. I much prefer the old Yamada, where the decor was akin to a craftsman’s workshop and the chef was more like a mad scientist than a Ginza chef. I can only pray that he reverts to his old style in the future because this is one of those restaurants that has no skill ceiling - or so I thought!

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2. Ishiyama (2nd visit)
Nigiri: 8.2/10, CP: 8.5/10
Seats Occupied: 9/11 (5 foreigners)

This was my first return visit after 5 years and I don’t remember Ishiyama-san’s sushi being this solid! While it is true that the shari is on the lighter side and the pieces are on the smaller side, I think that Ishiyama-san makes sushi that’s very well-balanced both in terms of proportioning as well as flavoring. I opted for the ~20-sushi course and thought that at least 70% of the pieces were high-impact, oozing with strong and vivid flavors. Ishiyama-san is especially well-rounded too, preparing pretty much all categories of neta pretty well; kohada, chutoro, hamaguri, and the famous tamago were the standouts on my visit. Importantly, the flow of his course was very good and never left me nauseous/overwhelmed (this was an issue I had with some of the other places I visited; read on to find out).

While perhaps Sushi Ishiyama has a reputation for being a “foreigner counter” or “not trending” or whatever, I think it’s really good and my #1 safest recommendation to anyone looking for excellent, reasonably-priced sushi. I haven’t heard of a single person who has straight up disliked this place, and anyone from sushi beginners to hardcore diners would be able to enjoy it. (In fact, my sister thought it was a level above Saito, lol.) A huge plus point is that it’s easy to book, although you may wish to request sitting with Ishiyama-san as there is now a second chef who makes nigiri as well. Most importantly, I thought the sushi here has improved over time, which can’t be said for some places that I made return visits to.

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3. Sushi Akira (1st visit)
Nigiri: 6.25/10, CP: 3/10
Seats Occupied: 8/8 (8 foreigners)

Ever since Sushi Akira moved towards two seatings for dinner, it has been much easier to reserve, so I decided to try it out. As most people already know, Maeiwa-san worked at Sazenka and Sushi Sho Masa before striking out on his own. For starters, the tsumami was pretty decent / acceptable, although nothing really stood out. Notably, I didn’t understand why he grilled the luscious-looking botan ebi, and the only thing I remember about it was that the room became shrouded in smoke after the prep - poor ventilation! The sushi course wasn’t much to write home about, either. The lineup of ingredients was fish-heavy and many of the items served were very fatty/buttery, to the point that many successive items had the same textural consistency, and left me craving for sweetness/acidity/refreshing items which were basically absent from the meal. (In fact, the course started with chutoro, ootoro, and akami, which knocked me out from the get-go, lol)

To be fair, most of the fish was high quality, but good fish alone does not make good sushi. The shari was forgettable (it had some kind of akazu flavor that wasn’t too strong and very quickly degraded to room temperature), the nigiri molding was not the best (the shari often disappeared way too quickly and sometimes didn’t stick well to the neta), and the heat lamps felt like a gimmick (why bother when you can't even control the temperature of shari properly?). Original items like a rice ball wrapped in steamed nodoguro and zuwaigani served atop hot shari were interesting but not too impactful. The ending was very weak: bafun uni was served with soggy seaweed that got stuck in my mouth, anago was among the most mediocre variant I’ve ever had, and tamago was almost a waste of calories. I also didn’t feel good at the end due to all the fatty stuff accumulating on my tongue and in my stomach (lol). On the one hand, Maeiwa-san was very friendly and spoke pretty good English to everyone, but on the other hand, he and his staff looked tired; plus his team was all coughing throughout the night. He is still young, to be sure, but given my experience and the very poor CP, I can't recommend this place to any serious sushi foodie right now.

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4. Shimazu (1st visit)
Nigiri: 7.8/10, CP: 6.5/10
Seats Occupied: 8/8 (4 foreigners)

Shimazu is difficult to reserve; seats are pretty much gone within a few seconds of being released on Omakase. If you manage to grab some, though, you’ll be treated to a good meal spearheaded by boisterous young talent. The thing that stood out to me the most was the upbeat ambiance; the staff and diners were all joking around and having a good time. Shimazu-san speaks decent basic English and will entertain you throughout the night, so service is A+ here. To start off, the ~6 or so tsumami were extremely solid. Kue and botan ebi sashimi were generously sliced and fatty; katsuo in ginger soy sauce was amazing; ankimo narazuke is no longer an original thing but it was nonetheless well done. Deep fried shishamo was paired with rice and rolled into temaki; not bad! The sequence ended with a heartwarming chawanmushi with hamaguri dashi and plenty of kegani inside it. Overall, very good execution of quality ingredients.

Now the sushi: I can definitely see the appeal in the style. The pieces are large and chonky; they break apart beautifully in the mouth so you are eating “wholesome” pieces of nigiri here. The aka-shari was more strongly-vinegared than at many other places although still short of the most aggressive preps. The neta was, for the most part, high-quality and generously sliced, with a good range of textures and flavor dimensions (his nama sanma and kawahagi were particularly amazing). And despite his young age, I believe that Shimazu-san’s nigiri molding skill is as good as, or better than, many veterans’. It was all quite exciting, but why did I feel it was also a bit lacking?

Well, it might be a personal opinion but I am getting a little bored of “textbook” aka-shari places these days; they’re all starting to feel like more of the same. Yes, aka shari pairs very well with a range of ingredients, especially tuna. But then what? These days, I am craving something more; something distinctive; or perhaps just something that’s less mainstream. Here were the nitpicks I had with this meal: 1) The aka-shari didn’t taste particularly unique; 2) the tuna was WAY too oily and buttery; 3) as at Sushi Akira, the non-fish items were forgettable, and the nigiri course really went downhill after the tuna sequence; 4) the meal was very heavy and lacking in balance (although some people surely enjoy the generous portions served), 5) I get the sense that the diners who come here are of a certain “type” and may be more interested in taking pictures / having a good time with the taisho than concentrating on the sushi itself. Objectively the meal was very good, but if I may, I believe it is a bit overrated and also a bit unimaginative. It is undoubtedly easy for anyone to enjoy, but also lacking in the complexity and personality that characterize some of my favorite places. Shimazu-san is still 30 years old, though, and I really hope that he’ll tinker around with some unusual preparations / come up with a few signature items, not just slap a bunch of high-quality fish onto aka-shari. I hope his restaurant doesn’t turn into just another trendy place that’s hard to book.

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5. Sushi Muto (1st visit)
Nigiri: 8.8/10, CP: 7.5/10
Seats Occupied: 5/8 (3 foreigners)

Sushi Muto is following in the footsteps of Sushi Ao, where I had one of the very best meals of my life earlier this year. It should come as no surprise, then, that Muto-san’s new place is the kind of sushiya I’m excited about nowadays. The focus is on a degustation of precisely-prepared ingredients, shiro-shari with a punchy yet addictive flavor profile, and an almost restrained minimalism that removes all the unessential elements of sushi. It’s just sophisticated sushi calibrated to a tee; sushi where justice is done to each and every ingredient; sushi where nothing is mind-blowingly good but the whole meal is greater than the sum of the parts.

As at Sushi Ao, nothing was remotely close to bad here, and most pieces were good or very good. The ~20-piece nigiri course is not cheap but I feel it is worth the money. To share some highlights: kijihata, sumi ika, shima aji, and hirame kobujime - the starting sequence of stuff - were all excellent. Shime saba was beautiful. Maguro from Fujita is used here, and it was absolutely of the “blood flavor” kind rather than the fatty and oily kind (which I already had enough of at this point). It paired so well with the shari, contributing to my appreciation for Muto-san’s refined sense of taste. Several clams were served (young chefs - take note!!); hokkigai and hamaguri were especially good. Aji, shima ebi, and katsuo were deliberately served on the colder side and tasted so luscious and clean. Where other places serve bland kuruma ebi, Muto-san’s - which were still warm and which he peeled and shaped into nigiri one after another throughout a 15-minute+ sequence - had plenty of lovely, concentrated prawn flavor. Anago was the star of the show, so soft and sweet (yet the anago flavor still shone through!) that I kind of yelped while eating it. His tamago I did not understand - it had a texture similar to frozen cheesecake and was topped with crushed kurumi or something - but my sister loved it and it was nice to see an older chef still trying to experiment with new things. Kanpyo had Sushi Ao vibes (I had the best kanpyo of my life there). The entire meal was bound together by a very beautifully-seasoned shari - not as sour as at other Jiro-style places and slightly less salty than at Sushi Ao - that retained good temperature and a consistent vinegar flavor throughout the whole ~150 minutes, which is an achievement by itself. (Young chefs, take double note??) Truly impressive; the kind of sushi course that makes me jump for joy nowadays. I felt like I could eat 10 more pieces at the end and still not be bored.

In my opinion Sushi Muto is not as good as Sushi Ao and there are obvious things that need improving (e.g. Muto-san did everything by himself and the course dragged on longer than I preferred) but for a place that has opened for only 6 months, I believe the future is bright. Muto-san and okami-san are soft-spoken, warm, and genuine, able to speak basic English and offer all guests a very comfortable time; I am a fan of his personality and his approach to sushi. Where komezu-style restaurants are concerned, I actually enjoyed Sushi Muto even more than Hashiguchi and definitely much more than the Jiro-style places I’ve tried (Honten, Harutaka, Mizukami, Tokiwazushi), except Sushi AO. I will return without hesitation.

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6. Sushi Zai (1st visit)
Nigiri: 7.8/10, CP: 5/10
Seats Occupied: 7/8 (5 foreigners)

This is a sushiya that I certainly underestimated going in. Unable to get a reservation at Sushi Yuu, I diverted to sister shop Sushi Zai, run by the charming Okada-san (who looks like he’s mid-30’s but actually 47??). He and his team are used to dealing with foreign visitors and are quite well-versed at English, offering warm service without being pretentious. The course kicked off with ~7 tsumami, and I have to say that even though I’m not a tsumami person, all the courses were daring and frankly excellent, some of the best I've had at a sushiya. A dish of unagi paired with chestnuts in warm broth was sublime; sawara sashimi paired with edible flowers was very good; ankimo paste served with fried nori and wasabi was simple but really hit the nail on the head; awabi liver and risotto was wonderful and somehow not boring; deep fried amadai and matsutake mushrooms was awesome. The dishes may sound way too modern or heavy but the flavoring was actually very well-balanced and did not overload my palate. Ironically, I thought the weakest thing served in the tsumami course was the Sushiyuu-signature kegani/bafun uni with shari and nori; it was too predictable and nothing special. Everything else, though, was very good indeed!

Places that "wow" with the tsumami sometimes regress significantly in terms of nigiri, so I was bracing myself for a subpar sushi course, but it turned out to be well above expectations. The aka-shari was assertive but somehow not tiring to eat, unlike at Shimazu where I was getting bored towards the end. The neta was cut in generous slices, resulting in big and bulky sushi, yet the proportioning was very well-balanced, and there was a clear harmony between neta and shari. In fact, I thought the flavor profile of the sushi here was very beautiful and high-level overall. Although only 8 pieces of nigiri + tamago were served (which I thought was odd, but then again, everyone at the counter received the same course), most of the nigiri was very good, the highlights being kasugo, aji, and chutoro. It’s a shame because I thought the course was therefore overpriced and I thought Okada-san was genuinely skilled - I wanted to eat more of his stuff - but I was sufficiently full at the end and ordered just an extra kanpyo maki, which was very good.

You may call me crazy but I thought the level of sushi here was very similar to that of Shimazu, plus reservations are very easy to get. And despite what you may think of Sushi Yuu-style sushi, I did not find that Sushi Zai reeked of opulence / Instagram fad-chasing nonsense. The modern/original elements in the meal were surprisingly well-calibrated and not obnoxious at all. I think that Sushi Zai’s Tabelog rating of ~3.9 is actually very fair and legitimate, and I would not mind returning at all. (It also made me think that Shimazu should be closer to 4.0 than 4.4 where he currently is)

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7. Sushi Take (3rd visit)
Nigiri: 7.7/10, CP: 8.5/10
Seats Occupied: 1/8 (me although I came early and 1 more guy came when I was leaving)

I think I’ve finally made up my mind about Sushi Take: it is what it is. I feel like Take-san’s sushi has stabilized over time, and has now reached a point where I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing much changes in the years to come. This is NOT a bad thing at all. I feel like the flavor profile of nigiri here has diverged significantly from her training location (Shimizu), with a paradoxically sour-yet-light aka-shari and traditional but clean preparations. I especially like Take-san’s somewhat subdued preparation of hikarimono (the kohada, iwashi, and sanma were all on point during my visit), which does not go heavy on salt and vinegar and instead accentuates the neta’s “pristine fishiness,” if that makes sense. I also like how stuff like awabi and tako are served as nigiri, each coming packed with a strong oceanic aroma. There doesn’t seem to be much innovation going on but the sushi now tastes distinctive and personal, as if Take-san has a very clear idea of the kind of sushi she wants to serve. To me, this is a very successful case of a disciple branching out from their master, infusing their own sensibilities into their own sushi rather than straight up carbon-copying their boss. It is not the "best," whatever the heck that means, but I really enjoy Sushi Take.

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8. Shimizu (4th visit)
Nigiri: 9.25/10, CP: 8/10
Seats Occupied: 7/7 (one or two more foreigners besides our group?)

Return visit after ~4 years and I was stunned at how much has changed. For starters, there are new youngsters helping out (one of them looks like he’s in high school). Next, Shimizu-san’s personality seems to have taken a 180-degree turn as he is now smiling to everyone and speaking in gentle, tranquil tones - he is nowhere as intimidating as he was before, and maybe even speaking 3 words of English?? Finally, and most importantly, the shari is nowhere as strong/sour as it was before, so the most noteworthy element of his sushi is no longer there. Nevertheless, the shari is still on the relatively sour and savory side and paired wonderfully with all his neta. There were less mind-blowing pieces on this visit (hamaguri and kohada, which I used to think were among the best in the entire world, have mellowed out) although still plenty of standouts (sanma, his clams, and his classic anago were amazing). The size of Shimizu-san’s sushi, the marvelous way in which it is packed and breaks apart in your mouth, and the old-school flavor profiles have thankfully still been retained. The same cannot be said about the C/P of the meal: the price, while reasonable, has gone up quite a notch. The entire meal felt much more balanced than before, which is strange to say about a place like this. Yet after some reflection, I think Shimizu is still one of my top picks in Tokyo.