Although Justin had been, when I tried in 2017 (http://leadingalifeofcyn.blogspot.com/2017/12/tokyo-drift.html) it was closed due to the end of year holiday. I really wanted to go this time and was disappointed we didn’t get into the 2nd floor viewing gallery by lottery, but by coming early, we still watched from the general admission 3rd floor. We were greeted by this big tuna:
We found the public viewing gallery to be manageable - it’s probably because we arrived around 5 am and the auction starts at 5:30. There were tourists arriving close to the end of the auction at 6:30 am and it did fill up. The floor is green as it makes the red in the tuna stand out better for inspection:
Overhearing those who had hired tour guides, each apparently go for about $10,000 and there’s over $3 million worth of tuna on the floor!
They piped the sound of the auction through the gallery, so we could hear the men bidding and could observe the hand signals:
The observation gallery also connects to the other seafood auction and we could see boxes of uni or sea urchin:
I then asked Justin to rush over to Sushi Dai in the restaurant block to put in our names for a possible seating. Folks typically queue up outside the building at 3 am for the chance to eat early. If you come too late, you risk the restaurant running out of fish which they normally do by 1 pm. We managed to put our name in for 10:10 am and I had really wanted to go here in 2017 as well.
I ended up at their rival Sushi Daiwa in 2017 which was phenomenal and both are debated as the best sushi spot in the market. I told my brother and mom we didn’t have to stay if they were tired or uninterested, but true to family form, they were all in. My mom also said she’d rather wait the few hours while inside rather than outside like the early birds.
We stopped in Senriken where we enjoyed coffee with their homemade cream soup and tonkatsu sandwich and potato salad and ham croquette sandwich. We considered this our breakfast while Sushi Dai would be early lunch:
To kill time, we meandered to the Fish Intermediaries Wholesale Market:
In the same building, we went to the 4th floor for the market goods retail market and my mom was disappointed that there were no canned sea cucumbers. They only sold them on the 1st floor and she would have to buy thousands instead of the couple she wanted.
The Fruit and Vegetables Wholesale Market was well setup with aisles dedicated to different produce and conveniently, they were listed by distinctive color and in English and Korean and as I can read some Chinese characters, very easily understood. Here’s an example for strawberries…
Instead of a sushi boat, they had a veggie boat in the observation room!
As it stopped raining, we took the elevator to the roof garden which was surprisingly warm not being near the refrigeration of produce and fish and due to clearing skies. We enjoyed the Tokyo skyline while killing time by listening to music:
Apparently, the original Sushi Dai and Daiwa are still at Tsukiji, but the setup here are in enclosed buildings and restaurant floors which makes the wait more comfortable. We waited for our time on blue benches in nearby buildings and internet surfed on the free WiFi. The things people do for world class omakase at roughly $36 (cash only)!
Sushi Dai seats about 18 people, and we had to settle on the only table or take a later time slot for counter seating. But we weren’t disappointed as the service was great! Our omakase came with abalone, sea bream, mackerel, and of course tuna to name a few. We added on at their recommendation monkfish liver and oyster with ponzu sauce which were both extraordinary. The oyster was from Mie in the south.
Justin and I clearly act like brother and sister when we engage and he chided me when I dropped one of my maki. I was disappointed - I had been holding the supplement menu and lost my chopstick grip. But the chef saw my embarrassment and sent me a big maki which made me embarrassed again, but it was tasty! Also funny was that “Dai” means big!
Another surprise was that one of the chefs was female! Definitely a first for us and an observation of how great this establishment is. A few photos from the meal:
We then Ubered to Shibuya Sky to make our 12:20 pm reservation which was the only one available this whole weekend when I booked. I really misjudged the importance of timed-entry tickets and the local concern for overcrowding. Nonetheless, it all worked out and we enjoyed the 360° open-air observation deck located on the roof of the Shibuya Scramble Square skyscraper. Some photos of Tokyo and us with the weather all cleared up after the early morning rain:
We descended and meandered to Hachiko Square where the famous statue of the loyal dog who waited for his master to come home even after he passed away…so touching!
We then crossed two times to experience this famous intersection at Shibuya Crossing!
Shibuya is convenient not only for its trains, but its bus station. This was my first time on a bus in Tokyo and we rode for 20 minutes to Roppongi Hills which is a mixed used development. It’s known for its shopping, businesses, and Christmas lights which I enjoyed in 2017. We rested in a café where we drank iced coffees before heading back on the subway to Ginza.
At our hotel, we did some light laundry and napped before walking over to Sushi Ginza Onodera. There are so many fancy sushi places to choose from, but I reserved here due to its more reasonable pricing and global reputation. They even had a outpost in Bryant Park, New York which has since closed but had served omakase dinners for over $400 a person!
We were seated next to a young Japanese couple and the chef and others were impressed with Justin’s self-taught Japanese. Our taisho or sushi chef was Kobayashi and originally from Hokkaido. He had trained for more than 10 years and was charming and engaging as we observed from our counter seating.
We ordered a delicious sake and we were able to choose our own glass. I selected one with Mt. Fuji which was appropriate as we are heading there tomorrow:
A collage of some warm dishes such as mini hotpot or nabe, spring vegetables, silver ribbon fish, squid-flounder-conch trio, and miso soup:
I had mostly tried the famous Hokkaido uni, but we were offered a choice between the right brighter Hokkaido uni or the left which is Aomori uni from a northern prefecture. Justin explained “Ao” means blue and “mori” means forest. The three of us decided to try the Aomori and it was out of this world!
I learned how to say delicious in Japanese two ways - oishii or umai. The nigiri and extra maki was “very oishii” as described by our Japanglish-speaking waitress!
We walked off dinner back to the hotel and did some light packing as we depart Tokyo tomorrow. What a Tokyo daze as we tried to show our mom the highlights and overcome our jet lag. We’ve also seen a few Instagram posts (the algorithms are clearly working) about the recent cold snap delaying the full bloom of cherry blossoms which has frustrated some. But we have not been disappointed by our culinary and sensory overload of this incredibly unique metropolis!
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