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Sushi Yoshitake (Tokyo, Michelin 3 Stars) – best dish I’ve ever had

July 18, 2014 by Jennifer Che 20 Comments

Sushi Yoshitake

Sushi Yoshitake

This the second addendum post to the Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka series. Other posts in this series include the intro post: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, Matsugen (soba), Sushi Iwa, Ramen Honda (Tokyo Ramen Street), Ryugin, Omen (udon), Shouraian (tofu), Dotonbori in Osaka (street food), Taian (3-star Michelin), and Sushi Sho/Shou (Chef Keiji Nakazawa), Nakamura (3 star Michelin kaiseki), and Sushi Taku (2 star Michelin)

Bring bring . .  .

It was close to noon and I was in my office typing furiously away at the computer. The caller ID said it was Bryan.

It’s not unusual for us to chat during this odd time when he’s away on a business trip in Asia. Tokyo is exactly 12 hours apart from Boston, which means he was probably about to go to bed. It’s lunchtime here, so the timing actually works out pretty well.
Sushi Yoshitake
Bryan had just gotten back from his dinner at Sushi Yoshitake, a newly-ish minted (as of 2012) three Michelin starred sushi restaurant in Tokyo. He couldn’t stop raving about it.

“I just got back from dinner. It was really good. I think you’d like it. It wasn’t just sushi. They had creative preparations – like what you’d see in a high-end French restaurant – for several of the dishes. They had this abalone liver dish that was amazing. It’s the best dish I’ve ever had in my life.”
Sushi Yoshitake
Let’s pause a moment here.

Did he just say the best dish in his life?!

This is the same person who’s dined at some of the finest restaurants in the world, like Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo, The French Laundry in Napa Valley, and Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas, not to mention countless other award-winning restaurants through his business trips and travels.

He couldn’t stop talking about this abalone dish (and trust me, he usually doesn’t talk a lot). It was like other-worldly, or what my friend Peter would call “transcendent.” Perfection in so many different ways.

best dish ever . . .

“We really have to go back to Japan so I can take you there.”

awwwww . . .

Anyway, enough about my conversation with Bryan. Let’s learn more about this incredible meal of a lifetime.
Sushi Yoshitake
Thankfully, Bryan brought his trusty little Sony point and shoot camera to this meal, so we will all be able to enjoy (at least with our eyes) this life-changing meal. To Bryan’s surprise, two other diners had the exact same camera. Keep in mind this sushi restaurant only has seven seats total. I guess high end sushi eaters really like this camera for food photos?!
Sushi Yoshitake
As he sat down he noticed that one of the couples sitting at the sushi bar was speaking English.

“Where are you guys from?” he asked.

“We are from Singapore.”

“Cool. I’m from Boston.”

“We know.”

“You do?!”

“We recognize you from your wife’s blog.”

Bryan was floored and couldn’t wait to share that on the phone with me. I still can’t believe that – halfway around the world – somebody actually recognized Bryan from this little blog (hello kpbaby!). How crazy is that??! It was totally mind-blowing to me.
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Sushi chef Masahiro Yoshitake is really friendly with foreigners, which is definitely not something you can say about everyone. He has a reasonable command of English and introduced every course in English. He made all sorts of conversation with the guests. For example, he told Bryan that the chef from Nahm in Thailand was coming to eat here the following week.

Let’s start the meal! Please note that since I did not dine there, the descriptions for the dishes will be a bit sparser than general. Enjoy Bryan’s photos!
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The meal began with a braised turnip appetizer.
Yoshitake1.jpg
Next was tender octopus (left) and red snapper (right).
Yoshitake2.jpg
The “best dish”, Steamed abalone with abalone liver sauce, came early in the tasting. It looks simple from the outside, but it’s the beautiful flavors of the abalone liver sauce that elevate this dish beyond . . . well, any other dish in the entire world.

You start with a few pieces of steamed abalone and this verdant, creamy liver sauce. After you’ve enjoyed those two together, you are given some rice, which you use to sop up every last golden drop of this phenomenal, deeply flavorful, sauce.

To this day, Bryan still thinks about (and talks about!) this unforgettable dish.
Yoshitake3.jpg
Seared bonito came topped with freshly grated wasabi root in a scallion ginger soy sauce (left). Slow cooked oyster came topped with a flavorful gel.PicMonkey Collage.jpg
Yoshitake uses two kinds of red vinegar in his sushi rice, which gives it a brown color. On the left is squid (ika) and on the right is golden eye snapper (kinmedai) nigiri.
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Soy marinated bonito (skipjack tuna) sushi
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Yoshitake5.jpg
Different levels of fatty tuna: Chutoro sushi at left (medium fatty tuna) and Otoro sushi at right (fatty tuna).
Yoshitake6.jpg
Four types of sushi – from left to right, top to bottom: sardine nigiri, barracuda maki, mackerel nigiri, and giant clam nigiri.
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Uni from Hokkaido
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Isn’t that gorgeous?
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Uni from Hokkaido, cooked shrimp nigiri, Sea eel (anago) nigiri, and finally for dessert, tamago (sweet egg omelet), which Bryan said had a very creamy texture, almost like a cake.
DSC00458.jpgSushi Yoshitake
The meal ended with a simple, clean miso soup.

There’s not too much else to say about this restaurant except that it’s excellent and you should go if you have a chance. One thing Bryan really enjoyed about Yoshitake was how he doesn’t just serve straight up plain sushi. For a few of the dishes, he incorporated interesting gels and phenomenal sauces (ahem, abalone liver anyone?).

Typically it’s pretty hard to get a reservation here, but since Bryan was a solo diner, he was able to nab the seventh seat without much advance notice (maybe a week?).  He made the reservation through the hotel concierge. Similar to many restaurants of this caliber, he had to fax to them a credit card number to guarantee his reservation.

Yoshitake is really friendly and can speak quite a bit of English. As I’ve said before, so much of the omakase experience is your interactions with the sushi chef. Many sushi chefs in Japan hardly speak a word of English, and will only take reservations in Japanese. Even if the food is amazing, you miss out on half the value of an omakase if you can’t talk to the chef at all about the food you are eating.

At Yoshitake, you don’t sacrifice the food or the experience.

I do hope to be able to visit some day. [update! I was able to go! Here’s the post about my meal!]

If you can’t make it to Japan, there’s a second location in Hong Kong, renamed Sushi Shikon, which just recently got three Michelin stars.

Sushi Yoshitake (link to Japanese language site)

Related Posts
Sukiyabashi Jiro
Kyubey
Sushi Mizutani
Best steak Bryan’s ever had in his life
Japan Eating Guide

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©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Japan, Michelin, Michelin3, Restaurant, Review, Tokyo, World Travel Tagged With: Japanese, Michelin, Sushi

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Comments

  1. laoh says

    July 18, 2014 at 9:17 am

    Looks great!
    Do you know the price of the meal?

    Reply
  2. Christina Chiu says

    July 22, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    i remember going there for a group gathering not expecting much and came out impressed that even the simple spaghetti dish i had gotten to share with N was delicious.

    Reply
  3. Bridget (kpbaby) says

    July 28, 2014 at 7:09 am

    Hello Jen! Thanks for the mention! Can hardly forget this meal as well. The liver sauce was simply exceptional. My boyfriend and I will be going to Osaka in November again! Will you be going to Japan anytime soon?

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Che says

    July 28, 2014 at 10:31 pm

    Hi Bridget! Thanks for the comment. We *may* be going to Japan again, but it all depends on whether Bryan is invited to speak out there again. If so, then I’ll try my best to arrange to be there as well!

    Reply
  5. Bridget says

    July 30, 2014 at 6:30 am

    Ok! Hopefully our paths can cross again soon.. By the way, if you happen to come to Singapore you can contact me (bridget.tyr@gmail.com) anytime. Would love to recommend places or show you around!! 😀 Cheers!

    Reply
  6. Jennifer Che says

    August 13, 2014 at 1:31 am

    Aww thanks so much! I would LOVE to visit Singapore sometime. I went once in high school but it was so long ago I really need to go back!
    Thanks!!!
    Jen

    Reply
  7. Michael says

    November 6, 2014 at 11:28 pm

    Hey Jen! I’m heading to Tokyo again in December. Sawada is booked (my 2nd time), couldn’t get reservations at Jiro, but am looking 2 or 3 more great sushi meals. I was wondering how Bryan would compare the nigiri at Yoshitake to, say, Sawada or Jiro? Also, would you have any recommendations for outstanding sushi that I have a good chance of getting reservations for? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      November 7, 2014 at 1:10 am

      Hi Michael,
      Have fun in Tokyo! That’s so exciting. Bryan says he still thinks Jiro has the best nigiri, but he might like Yoshitake better than Sawada, though both are excellent. Have you considered Mizutani? It’s probably my favorite, and I might even like it better than Jiro. Reservations at Kyubey are pretty easy to get, and it’s still a pretty good sushi restaurant (and friendly for English-speaking foreigners).
      Jen

      Reply
      • Michael says

        November 7, 2014 at 7:25 am

        Thanks for the reply! I’ve enjoyed Kyubey before, but after trying Sawada… well, you know. =P

        I’ve been hesitant about Mizutani b/c of the mixed reviews (and his practice of slicing the fish before service… is that true?), but… I trust you! So I’ve just emailed my hotel to try to book Mizutani, and failing that, Yoshitake.

        Gah, so excited. Thanks and I’ll let you know how it goes!

        Reply
        • Jennifer Che says

          November 7, 2014 at 8:18 am

          Enjoy! I don’t know if Mizutani slices his fish beforehand. I wish I could remember. Bryan loved Yoshitake and I wonder if he would tell you to choose Yoshitake over Mizutani. In any event, I think you can’t go wrong. Have fun!! I didn’t get to go this year and I am missing it already!

          Reply
  8. Michael says

    November 7, 2014 at 7:29 am

    One more question, sorry! How would you compare Kyubey to, say, Iwa or Aoki for a slightly cheaper, more accessible sushi meal?

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      November 7, 2014 at 8:30 am

      Tough to say because I ate at Kyubey when I was a relative newbie at high end sushi, so I loved it. I enjoyed Iwa more than Aoki, but I only ordered a la carte at Aoki. I remembered thinking Aoki sushi had less finesse, and if you compare the photos you can kind of tell.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Olo Helsinki - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 11, 2015 at 9:34 am

    […] he has visited. Other posts I’ve written for places he has visited (but I have not!) are Sushi Yoshitake (3-Michelin stars) in Tokyo and Luce in San […]

    Reply
  2. Sushi Kanesaka Palace Hotel - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 20, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    […] he has visited. Other posts I’ve written for places he has visited (but I have not!) are Sushi Yoshitake (3-Michelin stars) in Tokyo, Luce in San Francisco, and Olo in Helsinki.  This is also the 14th […]

    Reply
  3. Frankfurt, Germany - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    August 17, 2015 at 9:42 am

    […] he has visited. Other posts I’ve written for places he has visited (but I have not!) are Sushi Yoshitake (3-Michelin stars) and Sushi Kanesaka in Tokyo, Luce in San Francisco, Olo in Helsinki, and The […]

    Reply
  4. Greetings from Europe and Asia - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    November 30, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    […] had insisted on taking me to Sushi Yoshitake, the restaurant that makes his favorite dish in the world. I must say, Sushi Yoshitake was […]

    Reply
  5. Around the World Birthday Trip Extravaganza says:
    January 6, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    […] course, we had phenomenal food. Bryan finally was able to take me to Sushi Yoshitake, the restaurant where Bryan ate the best dish he’d ever eaten. The omakase at Yoshitake was […]

    Reply
  6. Sketch London says:
    May 11, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    […] he has visited. Other posts I’ve written for places he has visited (but I have not!) are Sushi Yoshitake (3-Michelin stars) and Sushi Kanesaka in Tokyo, Luce in San Francisco, Olo in Helsinki, and The […]

    Reply
  7. Sushi Shikon Hong Kong - 3 Michelin Stars - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    March 15, 2018 at 10:34 am

    […] and showing up at another (oops!). I first heard of Sushi Yoshitake from Bryan, actually. After eating there solo a couple years ago, he couldn’t stop telling me about what he declared to be “the best dish I’ve […]

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  8. Sushi Masataka Hong Kong - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 5, 2019 at 12:50 pm

    […] rules that typically define a truly traditional edomae sushi experience (trust us, we have eaten at more than our fair share of that type in both Tokyo and Hong […]

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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