Be prepared to wait for Sushi Dai, one of the two acclaimed sushi restaurants at the Tsukiji fish market. By wait, I don’t mean 1-2 hours. I mean over FOUR hours. You have to be committed, or just wake up super early to be first in line. I got to Sushi Dai around 5 am and was immediately told it will be a four hour wait. So I waited….and waited….and waited 4.5 hours for:
Fresh and smooth toro
Chewy flounder
Spicy red snapper
Creamy uni
Delicious aji (horse mackerel)
Smooth and crunchy hokkigai clam. Remind of me of jellyfish.
Fresh and smooth marinated tuna
Sweet isaki (grunt)
Tuna rolls
Fresh cutlass fish
Amazingly sweet squid stuffed with rice. The tail was the best part.
Sweet scallop, my personal choice.
Sushi Dai offers two omakase choices:
- 7 pieces of nigiri, a roll, tamago, and miso soup for 3600 yen
- 11 pieces of nigiri, a roll, tamago, and miso soup for 4000 yen
You also get the option to choose the fish for your last piece of nigiri. I got the 11 piece omakase, and I was stuffed!
Next time, I will try its competitor two doors down, Daiwa Sushi. It had about an hour of wait time.
Tip: Take a taxi or walk to get the fish market. The metro doesn’t run during the early morning hours.
YUMTRAVELS 