bocastephen

We dined at Jiro Roppongi last week, and here is my review of the food and experience. Bottom line, we're very happy we dined at Jiro and would definitely go back again.

The location at Roppongi is not easy to find - basically, Jiro found the most remote restaurant location in the entire complex. Only using someone's kitchen in an apartment upstairs would have been harder to get to. It's in the very back of Apt building B, on the same level as other restaurants, but around 2 corners, so it faces away from everything. If you're going to eat here, leave plenty of time for the trip over and ask your concierge for a map.

We arrived a little early for our seating and were warmly welcomed by the attendent lady who handles payments, clean-up and beverages. Her English is not great, but she called over the senior apprentice who offered us a table to wait, or we could come back. His English is very good and is easy to communicate with.

After returning to the restaurant, we were warmly greeted again (anyone who finds Jiro a cold, uninviting place is going in with the wrong attitude) and seated at the sushi bar. The senior apprentice confirmed we were starting with the sashimi course and asked if we had any allergies, then our service began.

The fish was beyond fresh, tasted absolutely exquisite and was sliced with perfection. During the evening, pieces of fish were sent back to the kitchen by the apprentice or Jiro's son when they noticed something was not perfect - their attention to quality and detail is something we've never experienced at a restaurant before.

We were offered additional sashimi which we tried, then we began the sushi course. The sushi options here are already well published, and they rarely deviate to other types of fish, so we basically knew what was coming our way.

The preparation is a very distinct style - this is Edomae sushi, and as the senior apprentice explained, 70% of the taste is from the very distinct rice preparation and 30% from the fish. People who complain about the rice have not done their homework and should know about the distinct taste and texture of this very special rice. The apprentice explained which sashimi pieces would benefit from extra wasabi (this is not the place to be caught mixing wasabi in your soy), or when a specific dipping sauce was required (which was handed out before the fish). Sushi pieces were always pre-seasoned with just the right amount of freshly grated wasabi and a brush of sweet soy. No other seasoning was needed and guests were asked not to add any soy.

Besides the two of us, there was a foreigner who spoke some Japanese, one other foreigner couple, one Japanese couple and a Japanese solo diner who appeared to be a regular.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly, although everyone working there was very serious - the preparation of sushi that attempts to reach perfection is a serious business. Jiro's son spoke a little English, and we were able to talk with the senior apprentice throughout the evening. After he found out we were from Seattle, he asked us to try Shiro's as the owner apprenticed with Jiro before moving to the US. They both assisted diners who were attempting to use chopsticks (and failing) to pick up the sushi, teaching that if chopsticks are used, the sushi must be picked up from the bottom. I opted for the fingers-approach, which was much easier.

After dinner, which had stuffed us to the point of virtual sushi-comas, we chatted more with the apprentice and Jiro's son, paid the bill, posed for photos and accepted business cards and a small movie poster (the movie is embraced at this location, vs the Ginza location where I'm sure it's a source of frustration given the endless onslaught of foreign customers who want to "try it out", which is not the right reason to dine there).

All in all, I would say the cost was appropriate, the food was amazing and we had absolutely no problem with the atmosphere or pace. We were seated at 7pm and finished around 845pm - certainly not rushed by any measure.

For those who suggested we try Sushi Zanmai as a comparison, I will have to say the quality of fish and taste were night and day. We dined at Jiro on Friday, then tried Zanmai on Sunday - not only was the experience a total letdown, the fish and rice quality subpar, but we actually ranked Zanmai below our usual Seattle sushi spot, Musashi's (similar per piece pricing).

robyng

Thanks for reporting back. Robyn

Pickles

Wrong Jiro. The one that gets the thumbs down for attitude is the home office in Ginza.

gnaget

Zanmai has very good honmaguro, IMHO. Which Zanmai did you go to (there are 46 or something like that in Tokyo)? I really think that you exaggerate if you say that they serve "low quality" fish. I admit that there is stuff there that is not great, but you have to know what to order based on season and their specialty, which is honmaguro. When you go to a high end place then it's omakase so you won't get anything that's not particularly good.

Did you order from the osusume menu? This is in Japanese only and just a list for the day. I usually order the tuna sets plus whatever I like from the osusume menu.

p.s. If Jiro Roppongi's menu does not deviate according to season then that defeats the whole point of high end sushi, or in my opinion one of the few redeeming qualities.

bocastephen

I read reviews that complained of the same attitude from both locations.

bocastephen

We just ordered a few a la carte pieces to try (we went to the Ginza location under the JR tracks - way too noisy)

I'm not sure they had hon maguro as were just given the regular picture menu.

Toro - not bad, but not great - served at the wrong temperature
Chu Toro - almost flavorless
Sake - funny color, very thin slice, no flavor at all
Ikura - small eggs, not much flavor - lacking in freshness and crispness
Chawanmushi - the best of what we ordered

gnaget

Honmaguro is northern bluefin tuna. That's what you were eating, I hope. They always have a special where you get one each of ootoro, chu-, and akami-. And another one with those three plus seared ootoro and/or negitoro.

If you are in Ginza then you really should have headed over to the nearby Zanmai honten in Tsukiji. I think 4-4-3 or 4-3-3.

The Ootoro was too cold? I have never found that.

Salmon is a junk fish for sushi, IMHO. Zanmai often has king salmon on the osusume menu. Tried it once and it sucked.

You have to realize that wild honmaguro is not in season now. It's in season fall-winter. I am not sure what Zanmai does this time of year but I still find it to be good. It could be farmed from Kyushu. I would imagine that fresh, wild honmaguro would be too expensive, but I might be wrong.

If you go to Zanmai honten in early January then they are serving the $1.5 million (or whatever) honmaguro fished off Aomori-ken, the New Year's auction fish. The lines will be huge. Then there is no question about who is serving the best tuna that time of year!

I prefer to eat in the winter-spring when the maguro is in season but my favorite sushi is the white fish, which is also in season Jan-Apr. A few months I had very good kinmedai and maddai at my local Zanmai. Last year I had a glorious akodai (menuke) at Zanmai honten.

In the summer, the lesser tunas are actually in season. Big eye and albacore. Also farmed southern bluefin that is imported from Australia. They call it minami or indo maguro. That's what the kaiten-type places serve usually from frozen pieces, or it could be frozen honmaguro from somewhere in the northern hemisphere. But in the summer you can buy fresh minamimaguro.

bocastephen

Ah, I won't eat bluefin tuna unless I have proof it was farmed and not wild-caught.

robyng

You seem to know a lot about seasonal fish in Japan (or at least you talk a good game ). We'll be in Tokyo for a week in the middle of September. What do you think is best and in season then (for fish but also other things with seasons as well)? I will trust higher end restaurants to pick the best - but not all of our meals will be at high end restaurants (and we may do take-out from a department store food basement for our hotel room a night or two if we're dead on our feet).

BTW - I don't know where salmon served in Japan comes from. Or whether the names there are the same as those in north America. King salmon is far from my favorite here (like you - I don't like it). OTOH - I love wild sockeye (and it's just the start of the season here now). Robyn

robyng

Did you impose this requirement on Jiro?

FWIW - I don't think anyone is farming blue fin tuna yet. Best I can recall - it's a work in progress:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocen...re&artid=23633

Robyn

robyng

P.S. I get the impression that Japan really isn't big into "sustainable" seafood. Which makes sense - since fish is probably the main animal protein in the Japanese diet. It's just like we in the US don't have "sustainable" beef - or pork - or fowl. And - if we have to give up some fish (which we don't eat a lot of anyway) - to wear some kind of environmental gold star - what do we care?

I think the only stuff from the water that was in season during my visit that I didn't eat was whale (although I could have). Not because of any environmental concerns - but because it holds about as much appeal for me as pork belly (too much fat). At least that's what it looked like in the case (perhaps it would have been changed by cooking techniques - but I wasn't all that anxious to test that possibility).

gnaget

That's in Europe. (Didn't read the article). Trust me. And typical EU wasting money researching stuff that has been accomplished elsewhere.

There is bluefin farming in Kyushu and Australia. As I said, all the indo-maguro (southern bluefin) is farmed in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_bluefin_tuna Number one farmed fish industry segment down there.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_...AJ201302140004
60% of bluefin consumed in Japan is farmed! Note that they don't consider southern bluefin to be honmaguro.

In Japan the lowest quality bluefin is frozen wild caught from places far away like the Mediterranean.

The Japanese have even shown that you can release farmed bluefin eggs into the wild.

gnaget

Sanma is the big seasonal fish in September-October.

Things are labelled with the kanji shun when they are season. 旬
In stores.

Salmon in Japan comes from Chile or Norway typically. The cheapest stuff is from Chile. There is some type of salmon-trout fished off Hokkaido in the winter. There was a big deal at the dept store fishmonger when it was in season.

I am bit confused about what is called salmon here. They generally don't use the "native" word sake, and I am not sure what that word exactly refers to in the salmon family. It's labelled as salmon or salmon trout in katakana.

It's not a sushi fish in my opinion. If any high end place serves it it's a disgrace.

gnaget

What do you think you were eating at Jiro Roppongi??

As I said, it's likely that you are eating farmed honmaguro (from Kyushu) at Zanmai.

bocastephen

We were not served honmaguro that night, although I'm not sure which type of tuna yielded the chu toro or toro that we were served.