Jessicarrots: TRIP GUIDE - SUSHI DAI - TSUKIJI FISH MARKET TOKYO JAPAN

Sunday, June 3, 2012

TRIP GUIDE - SUSHI DAI - TSUKIJI FISH MARKET TOKYO JAPAN

I have never in my life, waited in line, standing on my feet for FOUR HOURS.

But for the legendary Sushi Dai, I woke up at 2:30AM, and had the meal of a lifetime.

TRIP GUIDE SUSHI DAI |We finished our Tuna action around 5:50AM and sprinted to Sushi Dai. I saw a line of people (say around 40-50) and thought people were waiting for the bus. When we got to Sushi Dai we saw approximately 20 people in front of it, then obaasan scolded us to another line - what I thought was the bus line. Obaasan kindly informed us that the current wait time (at 6:00AM) is 4 HOURS. We really waited for 4 hours and ate around 9:45. Sushi Dai closes at 2pm sharp, So if you plan on arriving anytime after 8:30AM, I say you'd probably will not get in. You need to expect at least a 3-4 hour wait time. The line only gets longer and longer, and there are only 13 seats in the restaurant, people after us were waiting anywhere close to 4.5 - 5 hours.

SUSHI DAI | I have heard puns everywhere that Sushi Dai is "Sushi to Die for". I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I honestly believe Sushi Dai is as close to the word "fresh" as anyone can ever eat. The fish are perfectly translucent and my clam was still moving when served. The moment we entered the restaurant we were greeted with multiple "thank you for waiting! arigatougozaimasu!". Because there were only 13 people in the restaurant, the chefs were able to connect and interact with everyone - such as asking "where you from!" or "how do you enjoy your stay in Japan!". The chefs are so cheerful and I suddenly forgot I just stood on the street for 4 hours.

Sushi Dai is expensive, but the entire journey here in the Tsukiji Fish Market (see previous blog post) has been unforgettable. The adventure beginning at 2:30AM until waiting in line for 4 hours, with nothing to do we were literally playing rock paper scissors for an hour, we could only wait for time to pass slowly. But the anticipation only made Sushi Dai more delicious. The desire for the hyped sushi and the feeling of seeing the sushi only to still be counting the hours until it is finally in my mouth. But Sushi isn't only famed for its line and extravagance, its quality lives up to its name and reason why it IS famed and extravagant. Four hours is alot of time, but by the time we left Tsukiji it was only 11:00AM, for some tourists, its only the beginning of their day.

There are two course choices of "trust the chef" (3900 yen/ $51 CAD) or "standard" (2500 yen/ $33 CAD). We just waited 4 hours, its a no brainer for us to pig out on the deluxe menu. The Chef menu or "Omakase" consisted of 10 nigiri sushi, 4 sushi rolls, tamago (sweet egg) and one extra item of your hearts pleasure. We even added on 2-3 more sushi each on top of the regular menu.