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Old May 29, 2013, 10:38 pm
  #52  
gnaget
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SUV
Programs: UA *G MM
Posts: 7,018
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.
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