Tokyo Eats: Sushi Dai

When in Japan, one must eat sushi.  MUST.  And if you want real good sushi, then Tsukiji Fish Market is the way to go.  This is the place where the freshest sushi is available, coming from seafood that were caught just a few hours ago.  But fresh sushi comes with a price.  The night before, I made sure to do all my research regarding Tsukiji and discovered three things:  First, visitors are welcome to watch the auction happening daily, but you must be there before 3AM.  Second, the two best sushi places in Tsukiji Fish Market is Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi.  Rumor is that Sushi Dai is owned by the father and Daiwa Sushi is owned by the son, with them competing among themselves as to who can produce the best sushi from the freshest catch of the day.  And third, if you want to try either of the famed sushi places, then you must be there and in line before 5AM.  Come any later than that, and you'd risk falling in line for 3 hours.  WHAAAAATTT...??  So yes, we woke up at 4AM for this.  And since our hotel is quite near to Tsukiji, we decided to walk the 2kms towards the fish market.  

According to different sites, there is not much difference between Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi.  Both are equally superb.  But some claim Sushi Dai is better.  And since we only had one chance to try one sushi restaurant for this trip, we decided to go for Sushi Dai. 

The line outside Sushi Dai

We arrived at a little past 5AM (blame it on getting lost again) and was relieved to see that there were only about 15 people in front of us, not a hundred!  At 5:30AM, we were ushered in.  We were then asked if we wanted the day's special set.  We didn't know anything about their sets, so we just said yes!

Oh hello there, sushi master!

Ok confession:  I don't eat sushi.  Well, not the raw ones at least.  I do love my unagi (eel) and tamago (egg) though.  But that's about it.  So this Sushi Dai experience is really for Hubby, who is a sushi monster and will eat anything and everything sushi. 

And since I don't eat sushi, please forgive me if I was not able to take down what was served.  Seriously, the number of sushi that were plopped down in front of me was overwhelming!  I did, however, take photos of each and every piece served.  Hope that makes up for forgetting their names and what they are.  LOL.  Enjoy the food porn!

After every piece from our special set was served, the sushi chef asked us if we wanted anything else and handed us the menu.  Of course!  There was only one thing Hubby needed to complete his sushi experience, and that is the toro.  For those who are not familiar, toro is also known as the fatty tuna, or as Hubby describes it, "the wagyu of sushi". 

Toro (very fatty tuna)

So how was the experience?  Hubby loved it!  This is probably the best sushi place in the whole world (his words, not mine).  And judging from the long lines snaking towards the back when we got out, I'd have to say everyone agrees with him.  5 out of 5 stars!

Sushi Dai is at 5-2-1, Tsukiji Fish Market, Chuo-ku, Tokyo