After driving around Tokyo for a few hours yesterday looking at apartments, my wife and I were starving. We were in Hiroo and on the advice of the real estate agent we were with, we went to Sushi Misakimaru (すし三崎丸).
We walked in and sat at the busy counter. Three sushi chefs were preparing sushi, although most of the fish was already precut. Signs reading １００円 (100 Yen) covered the walls. We’d walked into the sushi-equivalent of a dollar store.
I’ll interject here that the concept of discount sushi terrifies me. Eating raw food safely requires starting with quality product, then taking good care of it while it is transported, stored and served. All of this costs money, which means that if your discount sushi shop decides to start cutting costs, it may have a direct impact on your health (or at least your appetite!).
We started ordering, despite my misgivings, and I was amazed. While the sushi was roughly prepared, the quality of the fish was very good. Ordering hirame and uni was pretty funny, though. While cuts of cheaper fish, such as aji, were quite generous, my hirame barely covered the bed of rice it sat on. The uni was bolstered by an extra helping of cucumber to help mask the fact that there just wasn’t much sea urchin there.
Anyway, Kyubei it wasn’t, but the quality of the product was easily better than any sushi I’ve ever had in the US, regardless of price point.
The store is part of a chain that includes a store in Shinjuku, so if you are ever surfing for cheap, good sushi, Misakimaru is an easy option.
Posted by pmk at November 29, 2003 6:30 PM | TrackBack