Today I was invited by a friend who adores his fish, and his Japanese food in general. He has taken me for numerous experiences in Japan, and each is unique and unto itself. The cutting today was a sushi, nigiri-fish delight. Something many foreigners dream of, fresh fish perfectly cooked rice and a chef with very skilful technique.

The chef was gentle, he smiles and is respectful permitting me to take photos, but wants to make sure the camera sound doesn’t disturb other clients. One of my friends calls it food fucking, I am not sure why, but it’s not important. I eat with the camera for mesubim readers and try to show what I see to convey a message.

Luckily Japan was one of the first countries to sell mobile phones equipped with a camera back in 2000. Unfortunately in the last year, all phones in Japan make a clicking sound /every photo/ due to a Japanese pervert on the train who was shooting up ladies skirts during prime time on the subway. So I was careful not to disturb the clients and managed to take a set of photos as best I could.

So walking down to the basement I was warned to watch my head for the low stairs. It is a shabby old building located in Ginza, one of many that will eventually be re-built. But it doesn’t really matter, the element of surprise is important to the approach of any small establishment.

Building up new clients as a young chef is a challenge and takes time. But when it comes to sushi it’s a matter of style, and the style begins with the establishment, the chef and his rhythm. The fish must be right, fresh and domestic and the knife razor-sharp to slice the fish according to the chef’s wishes.

It is customary to begin with a “nama”, a beer from the tap and so it all begins there. The first bite begins with an ice cold beer and next follows the gari, pickled ginger, and in this case a specific style. The chef has it all worked out and his ginger is excellent, still “kaitai” which means hard, and the taste is spring time.

The fish starts to come and the chef has his fish already cut, not all fish but some as he begins to work. Today the sushi was more contemporary, very good-by anyone’s standards however, I am not used to rice that is sweet, or too hard.

The chef is skillful, he has quick hands and knows what he likes with a well-defined style. I question him about some sushi benchmark basics and his answers are all correct. One of my questions is about aorika, a squid type that is large in size. I am used to the smaller type “sumi” which I absolutely prefer. That provokes in my mind a conversation I had with a fugu chef. Some clients prefer a thin cut while others prefer a thick cut and its a matter of personal preference.

There is no doubt that todays ika was slightly dry but its a large-sized squid and it has a tendency to dry out very quickly. Even when chef’s add some citrus it doesn’t really help, or in many cases they score the surface to give more traction and ease in chewing.

The next set of fish I am not familiar with and  this one below in particular. I’ve never seen a fish named akamitsu /sp/.

Then some other white fish followed from the tai family, some I hadn’t tried, or at least aren’t in my usual repertoire.

I see this fish kohada /below/ often yet these were much larger and more meaty than the usual kohada I eat, and they seemed sweeter than I am used to but maybe my taste was off today.

A trio of tuna; maguro, chutoro and toro these are always the signature of any sushi chef, his pride and joy. Each chef talks about his tuna, and how great it is. I guess the fish mongers always have some supporting story to tell their clients. It all gets passed on.

The kobashira follows, uni and then a freshly cooked shrimp, cooked to perfection and the final nigiri, the end to any sushi meal, anago two ways salty and sweet, and finally tamago.

The end result is I was full, much more than I can eat yet it was a nice afternoon intermezzo to try a new sushi counter, it was small, no tables and exclusively 7 seats.