Sushi is the national food of Japan. At the largest fish market (Tsukiji Fish Market) in the world, I strongly believe I could get the freshest and tastiest sushi here. Some claimed Sushi Dai to be the top sushi restaurant among the tourists. Besides that, Sushi Dai was also famous for their long waiting time as you may probably need to queue for up to 3 - 4 hours at times. For those who couldn’t wait for such a long time, there are other sushi restaurants around the market such as Daiwa Sushi and others. Oh ya, the owner of Daiwa Sushi is actually the son of Sushi Dai’s owner.
I arrived at Sushi Dai at about 6.30am and there was already a very long queue. As the restaurant was quite small, they could only serve the customers by batches. From what I can see, one batch is only about 12 persons. And since the space in front of the restaurant is also quite small, only one batch is allowed to queue there. The rest of the customers will queue in a U-turn line beside the building which is just one shop away.
The restaurant staff will come out and check on the queuing customers from time to time. While doing so, they will also distribute the menu and let you know the expected queuing time based on your queue position. I was a little shocked when the staff told me that I might need to wait for 4 hours. This will be the longest time that I have ever waited for food. After distributing all the menus, the staff will get back to the first customer to take the order.
Not long after I start queuing, the restaurant staff placed this sign at the end of the queue. Arriving at 6.30am, I was the second or third last batch of the day.
I noticed some customers try to slip into the queue after the restaurant staff place the “No more customers for today” sign. But, the restaurant staffs knew who the last person is when they place the sign. They politely informed the new customers that they are unable to accommodate any more customers for the day.
However, it is not impossible to still get into the queue even after they close it. Due to the long queuing time, some customers might give up after some time and leave the queue. After all, there are other sushi restaurants in Tsukiji Fish Market that does not require such a long queuing time. Once someone left the queue, a new customer can come in.
After 3 hours, I was finally in front of the shop. Each batch will take about 1 hour in the restaurant. So, you will only move once an hour. When I started queuing, Sushi Dai was the only restaurant with a long queue. After 3 hours, most of the restaurants have crazily long queues but I still doubt any of them can compete with Sushi Dai’s queuing time.
After standing in front of the restaurant for one hour, I can finally go in. The inside of the restaurant is really small and it could only fit 14 customers at most at one time. Once seated, the waitress served everyone with green tea and miso soup. The sushi chef then served tamago and put some ginger in front of everyone.
There were two sushi chefs and both of them were very friendly. They asked every single customer where they are from. And they could even speak the basic words of most of the countries.
After confirming everyone’s order, the sushi chefs will start to prepare the sushi. They will place the sushi in front of you and tell you what it is. The chef will also let you know whether there is any wasabi in eat and how to eat it, with or without shoyu (soy sauce). I ordered the Omakase Set (“trust the chef” Course) for JPY4,000. For this set, I only get to choose one piece of sushi while the chef will decide my other 9 pieces based on the best choices of the day.
Fatty Tuna
It melts in the mouth and the sensation is really good. Too bad the tuna is a little small. Would certainly be great if the size is slightly bigger.
Sea Bass
Red snapper
Sea Urchin
Horse Mackerel
Lean Tuna
Clam
Baby Squid
Sea Eel
Tuna and Cod Rolls
I asked the chef for their freshest fish of the day and he recommended bonito to me.
Basically, the only word to describe the sushi is fresh. You can actually taste the sweetness of every piece of raw fish. Even though they are all raw, none of it actually tasted/smelled fishy.
The entire process was quite long since the chefs actually made every piece of sushi individually for each customer. It was a new sushi eating experience for me as the chef will serve you one piece at a time to ensure the freshness and quality of the sushi. As the chefs will also tell you what they are serving and how to eat them, it definitely seemed like a fine dining sushi experience for me.
This was by far the freshest sushi that I have ever eaten and the queuing time was also the longest that I have ever queued. I actually spent about 45 minutes in the restaurant for 10 pieces of sushi. Some customers stayed longer for more sushi after completing their Omakase Set. This was why each batch of customer was about 1 hour. Perhaps, in future, I will be trying out the son’s shop (Sushi Daiwa) to blog about their difference. Haha.
Sushi Dai (寿司大) @ Tsukiji Fish Market
Address: 5 Chome-2-1 Tsukiji, 中央区 Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Operating Hours: Opens at 5.00am (Daily)
Contact No.: +81 3 3547 6797
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