Perhaps the most famous restaurant in Tsukiji Market of Tokyo is Sushi Dai. Its lines are legendary- if you come past 7am in the morning, you will have to wait over 3 hours… if you are lucky.
I visited Sushi Dai back in 2014, on my very first time visit to Tokyo. My wife and I went to the Tuna Auction in the morning and afterwards lined up at Sushi Dai. We arrived at about 6:30 am and waited about two and a half hours. Being used to the sushi from the US (with limited options at the time in 2014) it was the one of best sushi I had at the time.
However, flash forward to today, and after numerous trips to Japan and an elevated presence of options in the SF Bay area, I cannot see myself lining up again for Sushi Dai. In fact, at the end of this post, I have several recommendations for higher end places that have lunch options for a 10 piece Nigiri set for under $50, some of which have execution and techniques better than Sushi Dai.
The front of the restaurant is deceiving, as the line actually wraps round the outer market. If you are brave enough to visit on the weekends, prepare yourself for an even longer wait of 6 hours or more if you arrive by 8am.
Admittedly, the quality of what you get at Sushi Dai is a bargain. The menu compromises of an omakase (9 + 1 nigiri of your choice), miso soup, and tamago for 4000￥(cash only), which is about $35. That said, if you venture out of Tsukiji, you can find comparable sushi at places like Sushi Sei Honten right outside the market without the line or read at the end of the post for higher end places with sushi options at $50 or less.
The source of the fish at Sushi Dai is no different from what’s offered at the other places, so you will have to ask yourself if the reputation of Sushi Dai is worth getting up extremely early to arrive by 4am to beat the crowd or wait over 3 hours for the sushi. Another thing to consider is sushi for breakfast can be quite filling.
Here is what we had for our omakase.
We started out with toro, which is the fatty cut of the Tuna.
Kin-Media was next which is Alfonsino, aka Golden Eye Snapper.
Uni was next, which is sea urchin.
Saba, which is mackerel was next.
Akagai is ark shell clam. Not the best molding of the shell-fish to the rice, but the clam was very fresh and sweet.
Akamai is the lean meat of the tuna and they marinated this briefly in soy.
Sumi-ika was next, which is cuttlefish.
A beautifully cut and prepared Aji, spanish mackerel.
Tuna and cucumber hand roll was next.
A boiled anago which is sea conger eel.
Tamago signals close the end of the set menu. For last piece, you are allowed to select any piece currently being offered as well as additional pieces for 400 yen a piece.
I chose kohada (gizzard shad) which they braided.
After waiting so long, I could not help but to order two other dishes.
The sardines in Japan, called iwashi, are so fatty and clean of a taste. It and kohada are items I always try to order and two of my favorite.
And we noticed that they carried taiga, Pen Shell Clam, called tairagi was offered. I couldn’t resist and also ordered this, which looks like scallop, but with a firmer texture.
Overall, as you can see, the meal is excellent. The shari is perhaps is softer and not as strongly vinegared as I would like, but none the less, it was still much better than 90% of what we get in the states.
If the lines were not such an absolutely ridiculously long, I would highly recommend Sushi Dai as a place to visit. However, I already mentioned that places like Sushisei Honten is right outside Tsujiki offering much less of a wait. Also, if you are visiting on a weekday, may places that offer $200+ dinner menu options actually have $50 or less for a 10 piece lunch options. Some of these places include Kyubei in the Ginza, Seamon, Sushi Iwa, and even Michelin starred Sushi Tokami to name a few. They are all within 10 to 15 minutes of Tsukiji, but the only draw back to these places is that you may need a reservation. However, if you do your homework, you will find that these places offer for lunch higher quality and experience than even Sushi Dai.
Sushi Dai / 寿司大
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Tsukiji 5-2-1, Tsukiji Ichiba Building 6
東京都中央区築地5-2-1 築地市場 6号館
Hours: 5 a.m.-2 p.m
Closed Sundays and holidays