Hatsunezushi

Hatsunezushi (初音鮨)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍣  Sushi / 📍 Kamata

📓 Visits: 8 (2016-2022)

Where is the love for Hatsunezushi?  In 2016 Hatsunezushi (or Hatsune Sushi, if you prefer) was the second-most highly ranked sushi restaurant in Japan, behind Sushi Saito (review here), held two Michelin Stars since 2009 and was booked months in advance.  Michelin inexplicably dropped it in the 2021 Tokyo Guide, it just about manages to get into the top 20 in Japan now and you've been able to get bookings the same week for a few years.  Has the sushi got worse?  No.  Has there been an increase in price?  Yes, a big one.  Has there been a drop in value?  Objectively, yes.  Is master Katsu Nakaji back?  He is now.

There are quite a few reasons why you might be put off or dislike Hatsunezushi:

• Much of the sushi is jukusei, or aged.  This makes the neta very strongly-flavoured, perhaps too strongly for some.
• The rice is very strongly-flavoured with red vinegar only, which might be too strong for some.
• It's a very big meal.  If you don't eat a lot you might have to leave sushi or feel uncomfortably full afterwards.
• You don't get the usual sequence of hirame, maguro, hikari-mono, uni, anago, etc. you might expect at a sushi restaurant.  If you're looking for orthodox sushi, this isn't the restaurant for you.
• Nakaji-san is a bit of a showman.  I get some people might not like this but in fairness he's toned it down quite a bit in recent years and I'd rather go to a sushi restaurant with some atmosphere than none at all.
• It's very expensive.  Back in 2015 the course was around JPY 20,000.  Just prior to the closure for refurbishment in 2018 it was about JPY 41,000 and at the re-open JPY 48,600.  In 2021 it went up to JPY 55,000 and since November 2022 it's increased to JPY 60,000.
• There's a dessert part of the course consisting of home-made ice-cream, kuzukiri and pour-over coffee.  Some will like it but if you're hardcore you probably won't appreciate the prospect.  There's no doubt there's some skill on show here and it's all high quality but I could do without it too.
• You have to pay in full in advance with no refunds accepted.  This is not uncommon at the some of the top restaurants in the US and the UK but is very unusual (unique?) for Tokyo.
•  There have been two drops in value in the last few years, which I'll come back to.

Still here?  Here comes the good stuff.

Nakaji-san only uses the most expensive ingredients it's possible to buy and the largest specimens he can find.  When in season, tuna is from Oma and can weigh over 200kg.  Black abalone is from Chiba and can weigh in excess of 1kg.  Oysters are from Sanriku.  Natural eels are used instead of anago.  Shirako is from Rausu.  Wasabi is from Gotemba and costs the same per kilo as the tuna.  What also separates Hatsunezushi from other sushi restaurants are the unique signature items.  In the past, these have included ika with two types of home-made karasumi, shirako with white Alba truffle, hamo with matustake (including hayamatsu), aburi zuke otoro and maguro temaki.  Every piece of sushi that is served is huge.

None of this would matter if the sushi didn't taste special.  But it really does.  Have you ever eaten something so good that it makes you want to groan with pleasure?  Hatsunezushi does this to me every time.  On my first visit Nakaji-san instructed me to turn the sushi over as I put it in my mouth and leave it on my tongue for 5 seconds before starting to chew.  I still do this today.  That 5 seconds can almost be unbearable at times - you can really feel the flavours building on your tongue.  It's difficult to say any more about how spectacular the sushi is without without sounding over the top.  Every guest will have their personal favourite pieces at Hatsunezushi.  I would choose the ika karasumi, kohada and kani risotto.  The maguro is, of course, incredible and Nakaji-san seasons his tuna with salt rather than shoyu.

I've visited Hatsunezushi 8 times now.  Three of those visits were in 2021 during coronavirus restrictions.  During that time Nakaji-san ran a special one-hour short course at half the price of the regular course.  This was incredible value, so good I went twice in the space of 30 days.  Less good was a lunch course run by an apprentice, which I reviewed separately.  It would be over a year before I returned to Hatsunezushi, a few months after Nakaji-san returned after an aborted attempt to open a sushi restaurant in Milan.  I'll caveat this now by saying there was another drop in value but the quality was just as good as all my other meals with Nakaji-san at the helm.  There were more tsumami than nigiri this time.  The best item in the course was the unagi which was basically 50% fat and the best unagi I've ever eaten.  Nakaji-san said that single eel cost him JPY 35,000 that day.

There was a definite drop in value when the restaurant re-opened in 2019.  The composition of the course varies from time to time but back then it was 12 nigiri and 2 tsumami instead of the 20 nigiri in 2018.  If you were reading carefully you'll have noticed I used the past tense when referring to the signature items.  Since Nakaji-san's return it seems like there's been another drop in value.  There was more tuna in the past.  While the aburi zuke toro nigiri was included the signature maguro temaki was not, replaced with a simple akami temaki.  That's a bigger difference than replacing a piece of otoro with a piece of akami, to put that in perspective.  The November-January course was an extra 5K ostensibly due to the cost of white truffles which were very expensive in Japan in 2022 due to the weak yen.  Instead this has been a permanent price rise and (though I did not visit during this period) no white truffle was served.

Apart from Kiyoto Hanare, and Sukiyabashi Jiro, Hatsunezushi has been the most expensive omakase in Tokyo for some years now.  Prices have gone up everywhere but I can't think of any other sushi restaurant that has compromised on expensive items in its course at the same time.

If you're interested in trying jukusei sushi but hesitant about dropping 60K on a meal I would also recommend Sushi Inomata in Saitama.  You won't find all the highly expensive seasonal ingredients and signature Hatsune items but Inomata-san sources top-quality tuna and uses some of Nakaji-san's techniques, which he learned when he assisted Nakaji-san with Hatusne's re-opening.  It's not cheap either at 40K for around 16 nigiri but if you're looking at value alone I'd say it's better value than Hatsunezushi.

Hatsunezushi is definitely not the same value as it was many years ago but then nowhere is.  One of my biggest food regrets is not eating here more often in the past.  Despite the drop in value there has been no drop in quality at Hatsunezushi.  Back in 2021 I asked Nakaji-san why he was no longer in the Michelin Guide.  He said 'wakanai' (I don't know) and was clearly downcast so the removal wasn't at his request.  The Michelin Guide is not particularly useful for finding the 'best' sushi restaurants in Tokyo and Hatsunezushi's removal underscores this.  Hatsunezushi is a unique restaurant.  In my opinion the sushi at Hatsunezushi is off the chart and despite the negatives, for me, it's not only the best sushi restaurant in Tokyo but my favourite restaurant in Japan.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1315/A131503/13017742/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0

📱 Booking: 🟩 Not too difficult now: you should be able to get a reservation the same month or even same week.  Non-refundable 100% pre-payment via TableCheck.  Nakaji-san can speak some English.

📍 Location: 

5-20-2 Kamata.  5 minutes walk from Kamata station West Exit.  Dedicated street-facing entrance.
Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit October 2022

Imo, ginnan (sakizuke)
Hokkigai sumiyaki
Hamo, matsutake owan
Sawara shiojime
Mushi awabi, kimo sauce
Torafugu uni
Hamo shioyaki, matsutake
Buri zuke
Torafugu chawanmushi
Maguro sukimi temaki
Akami shio nigiri
Chutoro shoyu nigiri
Unagi tennen
Kohada nigiri
Kawahagi, kimo nigiri
Ikura nigiri
Aori ika, karasumi nigiri
Kani risotto
Aburi zuke toro nigiri
Owan
Kanpyo
Tamago
Kudzukuri
Ice-cream
Matcha

💴 Damage: 56,100 (55k + mineral water @ 1100)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h55m (one rotation that day)

📅 Visit March 2021

Kohada; Akami (Chiba, 125kg); Chutoro; Otoro; Sumi ika karasumi; Unagi tennen (Awaji, 2kg); Ankimo; Sawara; Kaki (Iwate) fukinoto miso; Tara shirako; Otoro aburi; Maguro temaki; Fugu chawanmushi; Owan; Vanilla ice cream, kuromitsu; Futomaki (take-away)

💴 Damage: 27,830 (27,500 plus one drink at 330)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h

📅 Visit February 2021

Fugu shirako, simmered turnip and kwai; Kohada (nigiri); Akami; Chutoro; Sumi ika, 2 types of Karasumi (wet from 2020, dry from 2019); Tennen unagi; Ankimo; Kue (26kg, aged 1 month); Kaki, fukinoto miso; Tara shirako; Otoro zuke aburi; Maguro temaki; Owan; Vanilla ice cream, kuromitsu; Futomaki (take-away)

💴 Damage: 27,830 (27,500 plus one drink at 330)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h

📅 Visit June 2020 (notes incomplete)

Taco (otsumami), Owan, Torigai (otsumami), Akami (nigiri), Chutoro, Otoro, Unagi, Kohada, Kinmedai, Aori ika karasumi, Uni, Makajiki, Kani risotto, Maguro temaki, Kanpyo, Tamago 

💴 Damage: 52,800 
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit September 2019 (notes incomplete)

Tako (otsumami), Maguro x3, Awabi, Unagi, Hamo owan, Ika (nigiri), Kohada, Uni, Unagi, Ise ebi, Aji, Hamo matsutake, Ikura, Tai, Maguro x4 

💴 Damage: 49,240 
⏱️ Time taken: 2h15m

📅 Visit March 2019 (notes incomplete)

Taco (otsumami); Hamaguri, Shirasu, Ankimo (otsumami); maguro (sashimi); Ika, karasumi (nigiri); Kohada; Kue; Makajiki; Sawara; Shirako; Uni; Kani; Toro, Kani, Maguro 

💴 Damage: 48,600 
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit April 2016

💴 Damage: 28,944

📅 Visit March 2016

💴 Damage: 21,600