Tokyo's Best Sushi Spots

Tokyo is without a shadow of a doubt the best place in the World to have sushi. The mix of respect for traditions, an insane focus on perfecting skills and naturally also the best seafood in the World has led to this. Because of this, the style of sushi is simple and uncomplicated but impossible to copy unless you have been raised in the World. Hakkoku is among the temples for sushi not only in Tokyo but the entire World. As a sushi novice, I don’t have other high-end sushi places to compare to. They did however impress me. The purity of flavor is amazing and as did the simplicity of the presentation. An end to end impressive feast from the very first otoro hand roll to the last piece of incredible egg “omelette”.

The Hotspot for Edomae style sushi.The hotspot for Edomae style sushi. Very militaristic approach to cutting + creating forms. Great with (a lot of) sake.

Masamichi amamoto san masters the art of sushi. In his 8 seat counter restaurant. Service, friendly chef, perfect techniques and the best ingredients from all over Japan. The food is so elegant, especially his otsumami courses, even Tho his nigiris are immaculate.

Sushi omakase served by chef Kimura, known as the “father of aged sushi”.This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip and truly eye opening for us. At this small counter you get served around 10 otsumamis, 12 nigiris, tamago and one dessert. The chef, Koji Kimura, is lovely and fun, offering a more relaxed vibe than perhaps other sushiyas where it’s a bit more serious. Koji Kimura, as mentioned, is known as the “father of aged sushi”, aging some fish up to 50 days, like his famous swordfish nigiri, and this is probably the main characteristic that makes this sushiya different from the others.Now, let’s show you some of the dishes we had:* Nigiri of Aori Ika from Mie aged 1 week.* Ankimo, peanuts & chili.* Smoked Hokkigai and a pinch of salt.* Shirako risotto & pepper.* Watarigani marinated in brandy and its inners for 6 weeks, sishito and sancho pepper.* Nigiri of Shima ebi from Hokkaido aged 3 days.* Nigiri of Needle fish (sayori) aged 1 week.* Nigiri of Sujiko aged in soy sauce 10 days.* Nigiri of Iwashi aged 1 week.* Nigiri of Swordfish (makajiki) aged 55 days.This was our first sushiya of the trip and it really left an impression on us, we can still remember pretty much every bite, the more intense shari, the perfect temperatures, just a once in a lifetime experience for us.

One of the two legendary sushi Jiro’s in Tokyo, this one is headed by the son. Probably world’s best nigiri with simply incredible ingredients from the sea. Dinner is 20 nigiris in about an hour. No alternatives. Worth a detour.

It’s one of those sushiyas where you can eat every day. If your budget allows of course. Proper edomae-style omakase courses (just nigiris or an option with starters and sashimi) carved by disciples of chef Shinji Kanesaka.

Nakano isn't necessarily regarded as a neighbourhood that you travel to for food - most restaurants here are filled with locals, or those stopping off on their eay to destinations further west. The exception is Maguro Mart, a veritable bonanza of everything tuna. What people come here for is nakaochi, or raw tuna served on the bone. You're given a spoon, and then simply scrape the meat off the bone until it's clean enough to be turned over, after which the fun starts again. With a decent-sized tuna serving six or more, it's a very popular option for groups of friends. Other menu items include a stunning set of sashimi, with rare cuts of tuna, and the maguro yukhoe, or tuna tartare. Consider ordering the course, which gets you six dishes including the sashimi set and the nakaochi, if in a larger group. The mindboggling thing is that all of this will probably set you back less than ￥5000.Note that getting a reservation takes quite a bit of perseverance (a fancy hotel concierge isn't of much help per se), as it's exceptionally popular. Reservations open a month in advance, with weekends/regular dining times often snapped up within minutes of the phone lines opening. There is also only a Japanese menu, and staff don't speak English - take a Japanese friend if you can.

Hashimoto is one of Sugita disciples, you can definitely appreciate his style along the menu, having recently relocated with upgraded equipment, is definitely on the way to becoming one of Tokyo top sushi places.

I was taken here as a surprise by a good chef friend in Tokyo - I immediately fell in love. One of my favourite sushi restaurants in Tokyo: Takumi Shingo (進吾)!

If you sre shopping in Shibuya, the top area of the new Scramble Square building has a lot of offer - including great sushi. The scene is authenticly sushi counter but the view is incredible. The small dishes (tsukiru) at the start were as well prepared and the nigiri themselves.

Seven-seater sushiya in Nishiazabu, a favorite of many, with extensive seasonal omakase course which includes not only nigiri but a lot of grilled dishes (even for some of the sushi chef uses grilled ingredients like anago, ebi, etc.). There are some foreign apprentices (for instance from Sweden) so any dish might be explained.

I'm a Japanese living in Italy so when I go back to Japan one of the first things I want to do is to eat sushi. Being in front of Jiro-san's counter is one of the moments that excites me the most. His daily life, his obsession, professionalism and humility. Every bite there makes me feel more than a thousand years of history and evolution in my mouth. So every time I come back that is one of my must go places.

Don’t go to a three star or tabelog top 10 - all you need is Sushi Yuu in Roppongi. Mindblowing experience over three hours of sake, sashimi, crab and uni rolls, fried ayu fish, ankimo, grilled tako or octopus. Amazing experience from start to finish.

Incredible sushi in a very unique blend of edomae and modern. Becoming one of the hardest to book sushi-ya in Japan. The sushi master blends the teachings of his masters in a very unique blend of edomae and modern.

High level sushi in a business district of TokyoOpened during the pandemic, Sushi Mizukami is from Chef Michinobu Mizukami who worked for 15 years at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi and 1 year at the original Ginza location. The beautiful 8 seat Hinoki counter was designed by Keiji Ashikawa who has also designed a number of Blue Bottle branches in Tokyo. Open for lunch and dinner, there are a couple menu course options but get the dinner course if you want to go all out (even for lunch). 6 otsumami, 16 pieces of nigiri and seasonal fruit rounded out one of my new favorite Omakase experiences in Tokyo. Watch for Mizukami-san to gain more attention and accolades as the restaurant hits their stride post-COViD.

Exquisite sushi by talented Chef Daichi Kumakiri Chef Daichi Kumakiri was born and raised in Shizuoka prefecture, without any factory-made snacks. His parents gave him freshly caught and grilled ayu-fish or house-made dried sweet potatoes; his precise palate was shaped during his childhood. Trained under the three Michelin starred Ishikawa group, his style is to bring out the flavors of fresh fish. Every piece of sushi has the direction he'd like to present. For a sustainable sea environment, he only serves Irish wild-caught bluefin tuna.

Marvelously precise 3-starred cooking by chef Hiroyuki Kanda served in a serene space designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto.Any day that I get to eat at 3-starred Kanda is a lucky day indeed. Hiroyuki Kanda's cuisine is marvelously precise. Bursts of acidity offer a high-toned counterpoint to the umami depth of abalone and fugu, as well as the supple texture of octopus, slathered with ume and vibrant myoga. I’d happily have his pressed sushi with aji or rice, served with the most perfect bite of unagi along with miso soup and pickles, every day. All this served on gorgeous lacquerware from the Edo era, in a serene space designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto.

A sushi institution run by of the great masters Kanesaka-san is one the great masters of Edomae style sushi.Everything is perfect: the flavor and texture of the rice, the fresness of the seafood, the delicate balance of the seasonings… and even fhe freshly gratef wasabi.All what you can expect from a top Tokyo Sushi Restaurant.Nb: no photos allowed in the restaurant

Edomae sushi counter awarded with the gold award from Tabelog since 2017.This was probably the absolute best meal in our entire life. Right away when you enter this place, it already feels so special, as if you already know something amazing is about to happen. Then, the counter is beautiful, a 9-seat counter made of Hinoki, perfectly clean, and behind the kitchen you can see chef Takaaki Sugita starting to prepare everything for what we consider the most perfect meal we’ve had, with so much precision, purity, and so calm. Now, focusing on the menu, we had about 8 otsumamis, 11 nigiris, a clam soup, tamago and 3 extra pieces we ordered, and some of those dishes were the following:* Chawanmushi with anago.* Ankimo in sugar, shoyu, sake and mirin.* Kohada nigiri.* Tako.* Chu toro nigiri.* Kuruma ebi.* Bafun uni hokkaido.* Anago.* Tamago.This doesn’t even include some of our favorites, mainly given the poor photo quality (because we are bad photographers and we tried to max take 5 seconds taking the pic of each nigiri), but honestly each and every time we put a nigiri in our mouth it was like touching heaven, we can’t really put it into words.

Sushiya run by the talented chef Takao Ishiyama, who learned with chefs like Shinji Kanesaka and Takashi Saito.Don’t be fooled by the young age of Takao (39 years), he had already worked for 15 years at Kanesaka and another 5 years managing Sushi Ya, a sister restaurant of Kanesaka, before opening this place in Ginza. The atmosphere of this place is very special, and it’s hypnotizing to watch how laser focused the chef is while preparing every nigiri.Some of the dishes we had during the omakase that was 25 courses long, were:* O Toro.* Shirauo (Ice Fish).* Shirako.* Hirame.* Kohada.* Chu Toro.* Kuruma ebi.* Kawahagi and its liver.* Bafun uni from Hokkaido.* Hamaguri.