Tsukijitama Sushi Honten @ Tokyo

Cheap and good Tsukiji grade sushi was what this shop that was established in 1800s promises. Wasn’t expecting much, and it still turned out to be quite disappointing.

Sashimi

Seriously, there were better sashimi quality in other chain establishments in Japan. The sweet ebb was pathetically small and dry. The ika (squid) was slightly slimy. Hopefully, the rest of the courses were better.

Starters

The grilled scallops with nori was really good, but you have to eat them while they are hot. The salads were a letdown, so were the aburi aka.

Cooked Courses

My favourite for the evening was the Chawanmushi with Uni. The seafood cheese gratin would be my next favourite, luckily we had many people to share, else it would be too “jelat”. The grilled clams in sake was nice, but again you need to watch and eat quickly, the clam will become too chewy.

Sushi

The assorted sushi came with chutoro and otoro, scallop, mantis shrimp, uni, inure, akagai, hamachi, aji, tamago. I guess that this is the Honten – the HQ – the quality would be better than your conveyor type sushi and most smaller chains. How does it compare to most sushi places in Singapore – much better than Ichiban, Sakae, etc, around the standard of Sakura Fish Market.

Cucumber rolls are called kappamaki かっぱまき in Japan. It is one of the most popular sushi rolls and is easy to make, with just three ingredients – nori (dried seaweed), sushi rice, and cucumber. As there is no fish included this roll is also perfect for vegetarians.

The word kappa doesn’t actually mean cucumber in Japanese (that is kyuuri); it refers to a demon or imp figure from Japanese traditional folklore. The word kappa is a combination of words meaning “river” and “child” and is related to water. Somehow, a kappa is associated with cucumbers, hence the name of this sushi roll. Interestingly, no other Japanese cucumber dishes are called kappa.

They run a all-you-can-eat buffet at their Ginza shop. Supposedly the same sushi is served there and made a la minute. I am no longer a big eater, so going to there has no appeal anymore.

There are better choice, like Sushi Zanmai @ Asakusa, which incidentally has  a shop just diagonally across at the outer ring of the Tsukiji market. So being an old brandname does not guarantee it is good.

築地玉寿司 築地本店
東京都 中央区 築地 1-9-4
Tel : 050-5869-1638

http://www.tamasushi.co.jp/index.html

Date Visited : Jul 2018