Zanmai has one or two kaiten restaurants in Tsukiji outer market. Their honten (HQ) restaurant is there, which is of course not kaiten. I don't recommend kaiten foodwise.
Den is awesome. We started going there before it became famous. I prefer not to say good things because they started to get too popular.
Luckily we get special treatment to some degree when we can get through to them.
You get treated really well in Japan as a repeat customer because I think it is somewhat rare to have regular customers simply because of the number of restaurants. I also got some friction about going back to the same place. At our local French restaurant we were treated like royalty.
http://chambre-avec-vue.jimdo.com/
Originally Posted by
robyng
I've read this thread over the months - but can't remember every message. Sorry
.
I think it's interesting what you say about high end = no sushi. That's pretty much the way I feel. I can't say I enjoyed our sushi meal at Mizutani much more than our first sushi meal at Tsukiji (can't remember which restaurant - it was the one with the shortest line in the general area you mention). Except for the extra "elbow room" and somewhat more pleasant surroundings. I guess I don't know enough about sushi to appreciate the many subtle differences between really good and great.
Sometimes I think it would be fun to have tourists do blind tastings with sushi. Compare their findings with blind tastings from local "experts". See what the results are.
My husband's regret about our last trip is we never wound up having a chance to try "conveyor belt sushi". Which he thought would be a lot of fun (and he's probably right).
We never got to enjoy Den because I guessed our jet lag wouldn't be conducive to a dinner only restaurant - which - IIRC - Den is (I guessed right with regard to the jet lag). My favorite meal last trip (only our second) was at Robuchon - an interesting/delicious combination of French with Japanese influences. And - in terms of lunch - it cost half what we paid at Mizutani (exclusive of liquor - Mizutani doesn't serve champagne
). Robyn