Sushi Yasuda (by G)

On this visit to Japan I wanted to have some good sushi in Tokyo. The internet can be helpful and unhelpful when researching such a thing.  Helpful in that it can provide you with a lot of options, unhelpful in that each article or blog brings a lot of wildly contradictory comments. After watching 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' I was determined to eat there, but it appeared - like a lot of good sushi restaurants - that you had to book by phone and not speaking Japanese could be a barrier (not an insurmountable problem), also it seems they hustle you in and out in less than half an hour. That was my biggest concern because I just wanted to sit and eat and eat until I was done.

I remembered Bourdain had eaten at a sushi restaurant in his Parts Unknown Tokyo episode, so I re-watched it and discovered it was Sushi Yasuda. You can book via e-mail, which was a plus, so I e-mailed them a month in advance and got a very nice reply back to say that they had availability and all I had to do was reply to a confirmation e-mail on the day.

I was surprised to find the restaurant is not in central Tokyo but a few stops from Ginza near Gaienmae station. I was also surprised to find that the surrounding area is packed with very high end fashion stores.

Anyway, I got there about 5 minutes early and was seated at the counter straight away between a Japanese/American business woman who was an old friend of Yasuda's in New York and a young Australian couple who had come after seeing Yasuda's Vice video on how to eat sushi. Later two middle-aged American couples turned up on the recommendation of one of their sons who had attended the wedding of one of Yasuda's relatives. In time more Yasuda regulars and young couples turned up.

The American couples were a bit overbearing, not having used chopsticks or eaten sushi before. Here, I think, Yasuda was in his element - initiating people to the world of sushi. Explaining the importance of the rice, going through the dos and don'ts. I'm not very vocal when there is a crowd of people about so I was happy just to drink my beer and sake and eat what-ever was put in front of me.

A lot of it was excellent - stand outs were the oyster, the otoro and, surprisingly, some really delicate Japanese chives.  At one point the Australian couple asked Yasuda why salmon is an uncommon sushi ingredient in Tokyo. 'Tokyo people are like buffalo', he said, 'following the herd'... then he served us up a lightly smoked salmon, then some of the raw stuff - which makes me happy because Salmon belly is the thing I want to eat last before I die.

In time there were less customers and I got the chance to talk to Yasuda a bit. I was interested to know why the restaurant was located where it was. Apparently the area was, until recently, a rough area and rent was low - so that explains that. I asked what his ambition was with regards to sushi making. He told me he stays in shape and should be able to continue on for another 50 years or so - to be making sushi at 110 years old is his goal.

After an hour and a half, two beers, three flasks of sake and I couldn't begin to guess how many pieces of sushi I begged forgiveness for being annoying but asked that my last piece of sushi be salmon belly. That started a slightly heated discussion - perhaps it was something about salmon belly being mis-named or his assertion that salmon should be snap frozen to kill off parasites then defrosted and how other sushi restaurants were putting you at risk by not doing so.  I don't know why I was arguing given that I didn't know what we were talking about.  Anyway, I got some part of the salmon - snap frozen for my protection and it was awesome.  The reservation e-mail asserted that photography was banned but everyone had been taking photographs of everything up to that point - never-the-less I asked Yasuda's permission to photograph my last bite.

I don't really know what I think about Sushi Yasuda. Yasuda himself is personable and helpful, his staff are excellent, his forming of the rice is a bit erratic (but I don't think that is too important). I've had better rice before and more consistently good sushi but end-to-end but this is certainly the best sushi experience I've had so far.