Life Without Boundaries 逍遥自在: Eat Pray Love - Tokyo Trip Day 7

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Eat Pray Love - Tokyo Trip Day 7 - Tsukiji Fish Market

Tokyo Trip - Eat Pray Love - Day 7 - Tsukiji Fish Market

Plan for the day : Tsukiji - Ginza - Ciba - Asakusa

Early morning visit Tsukiji Fish Market and try the sushi meal.
Afternoon visit Ginza area.
Evening go to Ciba to find the house that Shirakawa Riko stay before in drama Buzzer Beat
Night visit Asakusa to take photo of Sky Tree and Sensoji Temple.

Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest wholesale seafood in the world. The location of the fish market is highly debated in recent years as the location of the market is situated close to the center of Tokyo. And with the rising property asset price in Tokyo, the Governor of Tokyo, has called for relocation of Tsukiji Fish Market. For foreigner and traveler, Tsukiji Fish Market is famous for tuna fish auction.

In tradition, the best tuna catch in the begin of the year is highly sought by bidder. A 222kg bluefin tuna sells for 155.4m yen – a new record for a single fish – at the first auction of 2013 at Tsukiji fish market, in Tokyo, Japan.

However, it is not easy to participate the auction. You need to reach the place before 5am. And at that hour, the only public transport available would be taxi. If you really interested, to view the auction, then you need to find a hotel to stay for the night near Tsukiji and reach there before 5am. The earlier the better as the market only accept a limited number of participant everyday. Some blogger suggest to reach there at 4am.

I give up after finding out all the info and only went to Tsukiji to try the sushi.

The queue when I reach there around 7.30am. And I queue up for almost 4 hours here. So my breakfast has become lunch.

The cute car that is used to carry the seafood around from the wholesale market to nearby sushi shop or truck.

Fresh wasabi. Before it is grind. Most people ate wasabi and never know how the plant look like.
Well this is how wasabi look like. Outside of Japan it is not common to find wasabi plant.

Daiwa Sushi is another famous shop here. This shop has 2 lot. Thus it serve the customer faster. An average queue time is 2 hours. If you have shorter time than can consider this shop. However, blogger comment that sushi price is higher in Daiwa Sushi and the chef has less patient with the customer. They will request you to have the sushi faster instead of letting you to take your time to take photo of the food.

Sushi Dai is the more famous sushi shop in Tsukiji Fish Market. I queue up for 4 hours here. Worth the time? I feel worth it given the taste of the sushi. Certainly one of the best sushi shop in the world.

What I like about the shop is considerate of the customer that is queuing outside the shop for hours.
The shop owner sent staff to provide hot green tea to the crowd that queue up. The tea warmth my hand and my heart.

But that is just cheap green tea. Not my cup of tea. This girl on the left is my cup of tea. (^___^)

The recommended menu here is Omakase. It consist of 10 piece of sushi chosen by the chef and 1 piece of sushi that you can choose from the menu. Price is 3900 yen(About RM 160). Ouch! You can also choose the sushi you like from the menu and have beer too :P

The handsome chef. But he told us he is in this business for more than 30 years. Wow!!!

Free miso soup. Taste good as it is boil with part of fish that is not used in sushi such as the fish head and tail.

Free tamago. Tamago in Japan taste better compare to Malaysia. And normally some extra ingredient is mixed with the egg. Won't only had the chicken egg as ingredient.

Photo below is the sushi that I had for Omakase course. Beware, don't look if you are hungry.

First serve is the fatty tuna belly, Chutoro. The chef generously serve me with a big thick piece of tuna that almost cover up the sushi rice. Also teach me to eat right away without need to dip into soya sauce or wasabi anymore.

I forget what is this 2 sushi. Just remember it is good taste.

Definitely one of the most fresh sea urchin that I ever had. The color, texture and aroma is perfect.

Ikura, or salmon roe. Another one of my favourite.

This is the real sea eel sushi. The meat is so soft that I feel as though it melt in my mouth.

The chef show me the menu and ask me to choose the last piece that I wish to had. I have no idea what to choose and try to get advise from the Japanese that is seated next to me.

And this is the sushi they suggest. It is a seasonal sushi. Meaning it is only available during certain time of the year. And this is called, Sperm Sac of Cod Fish (鱈魚白子)