Sushi for Breakfast
In Tsukiji Fish Market, there is one sushi restaurant that you hear the most: Sushi Dai. Some regard Sushi Dai as the best sushi restaurant in Tsukiji; however, there is usually a long snaking line out the door and around the building full of people waiting to have their dank sushi breakfast. People wait up to 3 hours to take a seat at the sushi bar. With this being our first trip to Japan, we couldn’t really afford to be waiting in line for a few hours, so we took the advice of several bloggers and individuals online, and went to the sushi restaurant right next door -- Daiwa Sushi. According to the reviews, Daiwa is just as amazing as the more popular Sushi Dai, with much less of a wait which was absolutely true.
Daiwa Sushi is a very intimate sushi restaurant with only 12 seats inside with three chefs quietly working away. The sushi chef on our side of the restaurant spoke a bit of english and advised us to do the omakase, which we gladly agreed to. What we experienced sitting at the sushi bar can only be described as divine. The fish was incredibly fresh, which was obviously to be expected, and was served to us a couple pieces at a time since we ordered omakase. The highlights of the morning were the uni which was SO freakin creamy, melt-in-your-mouth silky, buttery and sweet, the snapper and surprisingly, the miso soup. The miso soup had pieces of boiled fish inside and was fishier and saltier than your average miso soup.
We feel like Daiwa Sushi should be remembered as an experience as a whole. The quality of the fish and sushi lived up to every expectation: fresh, delicate, flavorful, high-quality, etc. - all of the things everyone says about it online are completely true. What truly shines at Daiwa, though, is the experience itself. The line and the cramped seating are all part of that experience. It’s tiny and quiet inside; there is no music playing and all you can hear is the quiet chatter among the patrons and hustle and bustle of Tsukiji outside the walls. You are given the utmost attention and respect by the sushi chefs. As you watch them prepare every piece of sushi, you can see the tender love, care and respect that is given to the fish. It is truly a spectacular experience and words nor pictures can do it justice; it’s something you have to go and see for yourself to truly experience the magic of Daiwa Sushi.
With all this being said, we couldn’t help but compare our experience at Daiwa Sushi to the sushi we had in California. We decided that it was the overall experience at Daiwa that made it stand apart from anything we had ever had before. However, in terms of the quality and preparation of the fish and sushi, it’s hard to argue that Daiwa Sushi was leaps and bounds better than what we’ve had back home. It was excellent in its own right, but we’ve had some pretty great sushi in the states that definitely holds a candle to Daiwa. Sakae Sushi Bar & Grill was the most obvious choice to compare Daiwa to, and it’s hard to say that one was better than the other. The atmosphere, size and vibe of each place are two different worlds; however, we walked out of Daiwa Sushi just as content, satisfied and fulfilled as we did when we left Sakae. However, actually being in Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan, the mecca of fresh high-quality fish, undeniably does something to the taste buds and makes everything taste better.
Daiwa Sushi
5-chōme-5 Tsukiji
Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0045
