[Tokyo] Sugita 日本橋蛎殻町すぎた

Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤ (5/5)

I recently had the pleasure of eating at 1* Sugita - known as one of the most difficult sushi restaurant to reserve in Tokyo (allegedly even harder than Sushi Saito)! The chef Takaagi Sugita started his training Miyakozushi where he trained for 12 years before opening his own restaurant. Unfortunately he's booked out for the rest of the year already and is not taking any new reservations at the moment. I was lucky enough to be invited by someone who already had an existing reservation (and happened to have an extra seat) and so I found myself eating at one of the most difficult sushi restaurant to reserve on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. Sunday is the only day of the week that Sugita-san does lunch and the menu is the same as dinner where you get 7 tsumami and 11 nigiri in the omakase for around ¥25,000. Apparently a lot of chefs like to eat here as well (Shingo-san from Takumi Shingo told us it's his favorite) and the chefs from Amamoto and Shinohara were actually eating at the counter with us on that day!

We started off with tsumami (appetizers) first where the aori-ika, tako, shirako and ankimo were some of the best that I've ever had.

Urui - young leafs of Oobagibooshi 

Aori-Ika / Hirame - I've had better hirame elsewhere but the texture of the aori-ika was superbly soft and creamy. 

The Tako was super tender and deliciously sweet especially when paired perfectly with a dab of spicy Japanese mustard. 

The Chawanmushi looked plain at first and as I dug deeper, I found layers of uni and even ume (plum sauce) at the bottom which provided a nice contrast of flavors. 

The Tai no Shirako was another impressive dish which was very creamy and full of flavors.

The Ankimo (monkfish liver) served here was one of the best I've ever had!

Tachiuo

As we prepared to move onto the nigiri portion of the meal, we were then given a plate of Gari (pickled ginger) to cleanse the palate. 

The classic Kohada is always served first at Sugita. It's most often used to gauge a sushi chef's ability and I have to say that the flavors here were very well balanced. 

Tai 

The Sawara had been slightly smoked which brought out the flavors of the fish in a delicate way.

Kasugo no Konbujime (young sea bream)

Shima Ebi

I should point out that the nigiri at Sugita is pretty sizable including the neta, and as you can see, the Maguro no Zuke (soy marinated tuna) had to be folded to fit over the shari.

Chutoro

Aji

It was my first time eating Komochi Yari-Ika which is a pregnant spear squid filled with its own eggs, and it was so deliciously sweet and creamy!

Kinmedai

Kuruma Ebi

Murasaki Uni from Aomori

One of the must-try items at Sugita is the Shime Saba and Shiso Nori Roll which we had to request as it was not included in our omakase. I'm so glad that we did as the shiso went perfectly with the flavors of the shime saba!

For Anago, we got to choose between shio or tare (salt or sweet soy sauce) and I chose tare which is what I usually prefer. 

Lastly we were served Clam Soup and Tamago for the end of our meal.

Overall the tsumami and nigiri at Sugita were outstanding - I cannot name a single piece that was just average. The shari (rice) was a bit plain for me though as I usually like mine with a bit of acidity but that is more of a personal preference. It's too bad that reservations have basically become mission impossible at Sugita but then again there are many great sushi restaurants in Tokyo so while I am glad to have eaten here, I won't be too disappointed that it may be a long while before I get to come back again.

Sugita 日本橋蛎殻町 すぎた

3-1-3 Higashinihonbashi Chuo Tokyo 

東京都 中央区 日本橋蛎殻町 1-33-6 ビューハイツ日本橋 B1F

Tel: +81-03-3669-3855

https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1302/A130204/13018162/



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