Sushidokoro Yamato

Sushidokoro Yamato (鮨処 やまと)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Tsukiji

📓 Visits: 3 (2021-2022)

If Shimazu (review here) was the hottest new sushi reservation of 2020 then for 2021 it's Sushidokoro Yamato.  Yasui Yamato worked for 4 years at kaiseki restaurant Ginza Kojyu.  But the clue to why this restaurant is getting all the attention is written on the noren that hangs above the entrance.  That's a signed gift from Takaaki Sugita under whom Yamato-san worked for 5 years at his restaurant (review here).  Since January 2022 Sushidokoro Yamato has one rotation at lunch and two at dinner.  Lunch is now the same course as dinner, priced at around JPY 19,000 inclusive.

The restaurant has a quiet and relaxed atmosphere.  Yamato-san (in his 30s) is softly-spoken, initiates a little conversation and chats a fair bit when prompted, smiles, isn't shy to humour and engages with all customers.

My first visit, two months after opening, was for what might have been a one-off nigiri-only lunch.  It's probably better to write this one off because there were quite a few problems: a few items were a bit cold, there was a bit too much funk from the otoro, even for me, leading me to think it wasn't in the best condition, ko-iwashi disintegrated slightly and ni-hotate didn't have much flavour but the main problem was that with Yamato-san handling all the food himself and just his wife attending to guests this was an exceptionally slow meal.  Other than that the sushi in the 14+2 piece set was excellent in quality.  The best pieces were the sawara and sanma.  The shako, probably my least favourite neta, was the best I've ever had.

I knew I wasn't getting the full experience at lunch so I went back for dinner 6 weeks later and this was much better.  Chef had just taken on three new assistants to serve customers so drinks were brought out more quickly and one of the assistants helped with the cooked items so these came out without delay.  The only item that was a bit cold this time was the shirako but this was otherwise superb.  Unlike at Sugita the kuruma ebi is served a-la-minute so was moist and warm but could have had more flavour.  Those are my only two, relatively minor, complaints as, otherwise, everything was excellent.  The best items were the kawahagi sashimi; kaki, nori and goma tsumami; himekodai kobujime nigiri and sanma nigiri.  Ankimo was from Yoichi, a decent sized portion and properly prepared, unlike at Shimazu.  Kohada was textbook.

Since January Yamato-san has taken on an assistant behind the counter to help with preparation of some items but all the sushi is still prepared by Yamato-san himself.  My most recent visit included 13 nigiri and 7 tsumami.  One of those tsumami was actually three kinds of kai so it's probably fairer to count this as 10 tsumami.  You'd usually expect around 7 tsumami and 11 nigiri in a full omakase course so this is incredible.  Highlights from this meal were the hokkigai and shime saba nigiri.  Hirame kobujime was a bit salty but had perfect texture.  Tamago was a bit dry.

As with Sugita, there's less concentration on tuna.  Otoro is was not included on my two most recent visits but was available as an extra.  Chutoro was great but the flavour of the akami zuke did not linger.  Rice is relatively soft like at Sugita but is less sour.

Before the anago and tamago Yamato-san asks if you would like any additional items.  At this point there can be quite a lot of waiting to get the final pieces, even if you don't order extras (and most people do.)

Based on my two most recent meals there's little to fault at Sushidokoro Yamato but, perhaps with the exception of some of the hikarimono, nothing quite yet that elevates it into the top few sushi restaurants in Tokyo.  Yamato-san is just about finding his rhythm and I'd expect Sushidokoro Yamato to be in the top 25 sushi restaurants in Tokyo in the future.

Without many exceptions it seems that every new high-quality sushi restaurant charges 25k to 33k for dinner so 19k is incredible.  I would expect prices to go up steadily to 25k in the not-too-distant future and remain there for a while.  That would still be good value and if there's further improvement in the sushi in the years ahead then excellent value.  It made me think about my first meal at Sushi Hashimoto (another Sugita alumnus), which was a disappointment.  I think it all comes down to expectations.  If you have to wait many many months for a seat at Yamato and by then the price goes up so it's the same as the top restaurants (which is what happened with my visit to Hashimoto) you could well wonder what the fuss is about.  But right now this is the best value omakase in Tokyo.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1313/A131301/13262384/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5 (value: 5.0)

📱 Booking: 🟥 Difficult.  Reservations are taken for the following month by phone from 10am on the first of every month (2nd in Jan 2022).  Lines are currently so busy that you might not even get an engaged tone but an automated congestion message from NTT.  If you do manage to get through on the day then booking shouldn't be a problem because Yamato-san doesn't allow customers to book another visit following their meal.  The least time-consuming way to get a reservation is probably to call the next day and the next day and the next day until they actually pick up and ask to go on the wait list: I got my first reservation this way.  One rotation at lunch and two at dinner.  No English spoken.

📍 Location:

1F 5th Ginza West Tsukiji Bldg, 3-7-2 Tsukiji.  Just around the corner from Exit 3b of Tsukiji station.  1F multi-tenant building.  Dedicated entrance set back from the street.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit April 2022

Hirame
Hotate
Tairagai aburi; Aoyagi; Torigai
Katsuo
Hokkigai coral yakimono
Ankimo; wasabi hana
Anago shirayaki
Kohada (nigiri)
Sumi ika
Hirame kobujime
Kasugo
Sayori
Akami zuke
Toro
Hokkigai
Aji
Shime saba
Kuruma ebi
Uni
Miso soup
+Kuromutsu zuke
Anago
Tamago

💴 Damage: 22,500 incl water and tea
⏱️ Time taken: 2h30m

📅 Visit December 2021

Hamaguri jiru
Sawara
Kawahagi
Ginnan (sakizuke)
Taco
Tara shirako
Ankimo
Kaki, nori, goma
Kohada (nigiri)
Amadai
Himekodai kobujime
Ebodai
Akami zuke
Chutoro
Sanma
Sawara
Ni-hotate
Kuruma ebi
+Hamaguri
+Hokkigai
Anago
Tamago

💴 Damage: 22,000 incl one non-alcoholic drink, water and tea
⏱️ Time taken: 3h15m

📅 Visit October 2021

Edamame (sakizuke)
Kohada
Katsuo
Sumi ika
Ebodai
Akami zuke
Otoro
Ko-iwashi
Sawara
Ni-hotate
Kuruma ebi
Kamasu aburi
Sanma
Uni
Shako
Anago
Tamago

💴 Damage: 12,000 incl water and tea
⏱️ Time taken: an astonishing 2h40m