Sushi Sawada**, Tokyo
2 michelin star sushi
One of the most highly-rated sushi in Tokyo. Masterchef KOJI SAWADA runs this tiny sushi place single-handedly with his wife as the sole waitress.
An immensely intimidating atmosphere where we were told repeatedly not to take photographs. The chef later did however apologize and explained that Japanese his regular customers find photography ‘annoying’ , presumably, due to the claustrophobic nature of the place!
Food-wise, we found ourselves in the unusual position of finding the the whole experience more memorable that the taste of the food itself ! (usually the opposite!) That’s not taking away anything from the food though. This is top-notch sushi with flawless execution. At Sawada, ABURI OTORO isn’t grilled using the usual gas container but over red-hot charcoal. In addition, we were instructed to eat the sizzling Aburi Otoro with the largest serving of (fresh) wasabi we have eaten in our lives. It’s a pity we did not have a photo to show for, but picture the size of wasabi serving 4 times that of the fish – yes, a MOUNTAIN of wasabi on a small piece of Otoro! To our surprise, there was no spiciness at all in spite of the wasabi as it was neutralized by the bursting oil from the sizzling Otoro. Amazing .. and yes, much more delicious! Other small surprises were Uni which was served as pure sashimi in brine and the mackerel SABA was served 2 ways – marinated and grilled. A simple but rare Gooseberry was served for dessert.
Do checkout Chuckeat’s website for a pictorial recap of the meal at Sawada. We were served quite similar courses.
http://www.chuckeats.com/2009/12/20/sawada-tokyo-there-are-only-two-stars-in-heaven/
One quip we had with the sushi was the overly salty rice. We felt this overpowered the raw fish and thus we couldn’t detect the ‘sweetness’ of live seafood as well as we should. This is in contrast with the extremely Sour rice of Sukiyabashi Jiro which although was too sour by most palate standards, complements the fish beautifully.
their wasabi root looks really chubby, usually see more like kate moss, this one is beyonce!!
i play around with a butane gas gun in the kitchen, i find it create some artificial smokeyness, i guess sometimes is nice, especially if the piece of meat is more of cheaper kind,
Thanks Streetlife for the review. A local foodie has also raved a lot about Sawada and he will book it for me. So I’ll get to try it soon, hopefully. Of all those top sushiyas (Mizutani, Sawada, Saitou, etc), which are your top 3 in Tokyo. I am trying to visit at least 2 other of the upscale ones while there.