Sushi Nishizaki

Sushi Nishizaki (鮨 西崎)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Kitazawa

📓 Visits: 6 (2022-2024)

Sushi Nishizaki was 'full' until October before it even opened in April 2022.  But once you see Ryohei Nishizaki in action you'd probably understand why.  He has the knife skills of a 10-year veteran.  That experience comes from his previous jobs at Sushi Namba Hibiya (review here) and Sushi Shunsuke Asayaga, which was the original Sushi Namba.  Dinner comprises 8 tsumami, 11-12 nigiri and tamago and is now priced at JPY 21,000 inclusive.  Lunch comprises 4 tsumami, 12 nigiri and tamago and is now priced at JPY 13,000 inclusive.

You can definitely see the Namba lineage: the obsessive attention to temperature control, the almost perfect ankimo, the ribbon ika, the small nigiri, rarely served owan, the erudition in sushi.  But Nishizaki-san has put his own stamp on his sushi and hasn't just copied his senpai.  Most sushi restaurants (including Namba) only use a single type of rice and seasoning.  Nishizaki-san uses one type of rice seasoned with red vinegar and one seasoned with rice vinegar depending on the neta.  (Spotting when he's using which type adds to the fun.)  Every sushi chef has to decide how they'd like to prepare their gari (if they really can't, they might serve 3 kinds).  As well as gari, Nishizaki-san serves pickled celery as a palate cleanser.

Other than the shari being too small (more on that in a bit), for me the nigiri are pretty much perfect.  Rice is very loosely packed and the neta 'sinks' when the nigiri is placed down.  Tuna had some sinew on my first two visits but it mostly melted away.  In September this was from Oma, sliced thickly and had incredible flavour. Alum-free uni has been excellent on all visits.  Sushi Masuda will charge you twice as much as you'd pay here but still couldn't find a way to include a quality uni in the course on my visit.  Nigiri highlights include the shiro ika, kinmedai zuke with oba, shime saba and 3-week aged 19kg kanpachi, which I rated all 10/10.  On my most recent visit the highlights were the iwashi, mekajiji and hotate.  I'm not a big fan of hotate isobeyaki nor hotate-ni served with nitsume.  Here the hotate was served warayaki with no nitsume.  You got the sweetness of the scallop, the smokiness of the straw and the sour from the rice.  This was the single malt of hotate nigiri.  By the way, I said 8 for dinner tsumami but a couple of those plates might include 2-3 different fish so it's fairer to count these as 10-11.

There's always room for improvement.  The tsumami are less impressive than the nigiri.  On my most recent dinner visit some of the tsumami were very ordinary (the katsuo, suzuki and iwashi sunomono)  Taco is just good, perhaps very good but not incredible.  Anago is very fishy, which might not be to everyone's taste.  It needs the liberal coating of nitsume but I'd prefer a milder anago served with salt.  Nishizaki-san doesn't season his hamaguri with nitsume.  I've enjoyed this in the past here but last time it was just queer.  Kuromutsu aburi has been too salty but was perfect more recently.  As I mentioned, the size of the shari in the nigiri is tiny.  On my first visit, I ordered one extra nigiri and a makimono and it still wasn't enough.  So on subsequent visits I've asked for larger rice with all my nigiri.  (It's ever-so slightly larger.)  I never order kanpyo in a sushi restaurant (waste of calories for me) but I did on my second visit here so I wouldn't be hungry.  On my third and fourth visits I thought I'd 'splurge' on torotaku.  Back-calculating it appears it was a relative bargain first time at JPY 2,300 but I think I was charged JPY 3,300 a few months later.

If it's not clear already Nishizaki-san is serious about sushi.  Each item of sushi is accompanied by an extended explanation of its provenance.  Nishizaki-san limits actual conversation to regulars but listen in and he has a wicked sense of humour.  Although it's a simultaneous start Nishizaki-san hasn't cut corners on staffing so with three assistants, if you don't order extras and as all billing is done online dinner will finish within two hours and lunch in under an hour and a half.  A word of warning: Nishizaki-san doesn't like noise.  On two visits he asked an animated (but not noisy) group to dial it down.  That's likely to put off less serious sushi lovers from returning.

At 21k for dinner you're not going to get large portions of the most expensive neta but eating something you won't get in a top sushi restaurant but it still being the peak of quality is part of what adds to the experience.  In my January visit the kanpachi that was being served was from the same fish being served at Sushi Namba Hibiya and Sushi Shunsuke Asayaga that night.  The 13k lunch is extraordinary value.  The nigiri are the same as the dinner course and you get a selection of tsumami from the evening course too.

I've slightly lowered my score on account of the tsumami not being at their best in June but if Nishizaki-san follows in the footsteps of his master from a residential area to Ginza in the years to come then you can expect the best neta, and the prices it commands.  Right now, along with Sushidokoro Yamato and Sushi Matsuura this is the best value sushi dinner in Tokyo, the best new sushi opening of 2022 and the sushi restaurant on the steepest trajectory.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1318/A131811/13270984/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.6 (value: 5.0)

📱 Booking: 🟥 In theory two months in advance at 10am on the first of each month via Pocket Concierge but as the restaurant has become ever more popular seats are hardly ever available.  Occasionally (like during restaurant holidays) reservations will open up a little later in the month.  If that happens this will be announced on Instagram.  Cancellations are also announced there but, again, most of these go to regulars.  If you do get a seat you may not be able to make another reservation after your meal.  Dinner first rotation at a shared counter, second rotation at a private counter (3-4 guests required, no children).  Lunch is irregular and one simultaneous start.  You need to use the Japanese page to actually book a seat as these are hidden on the English page.

📍 Location:

B1F, 5-3-12 Kitazawa.  8 mins North from the West Exit of Highashi-Kitazawa station.  B1F multi-tenant building.
Map data ©2022 Google

📶 Free WiFi? ✅ Yes.  Phone reception a bit spotty.

📅 Visit February 2024 (lunch)

Taco, daikon
Namako-su
Chawanmushi
Kasugo (shiro)
Hirasuzuki (shiro)
Aori ika (shiro)
Meiji maguro (aka)
Mekajiki (aka)
Iwashi (shiro)
Maguro noten (shiro)
Kohada (aka)
(shiro) ebi kobujime (shiro)
Hotate warayaki (shiro)
Nemuro bafun uni (shiro)
Anago (aka)
Ankimo maki
Owan
Tamago
+Sawara
+Kawahagi
+Mekajiki

💴 Damage: 17,000 incl. water
⏱️ Time taken:1h50m (1h30m without add-ons)

📅 Visit June 2023 (lunch)

Edamame, uni chawanmushi
Shirobaigai
Mizudako, mozoku
Ankimo, shiso maki

Suzuki (shiro)
Shiro (shiro)
Kisu (shiro)
Katsuo (shiro)
Mekajiki (shiro)
Akami zuke (aka)
Chutoro (shiro)
Kohada (aka)
Shiro ebi (shiro)
Hotate warayaki
Uni (aka)
Futomaki
Anago (aka)
Owan
Tamago

💴 Damage: 12,000 incl. water
⏱️ Time taken:1h20m

📅 Visit June 2023 (dinner)

Taco
Edamame, uni royale
Katsuo; mizudako; suzuki
Shirobaigai
Iwashi sunomono
Chi-ayu; tachiuo
Ankimo
Yaki anago

Shiro ika (shiro)
Kisu (shiro)
Amadai kobujime (shiro)
Hamaguri (shiro)
Kanpachi (shiro)
Akami (aka)
Chutoro (shiro)
Kohada (aka)
Kuruma ebi (shiro)
Kuromutsu (aka)
Hokkaido murasaki uni (aka)
Anago (aka)
Owan
Tamago
+Torotaku 3300

💴 Damage: 23,000 (19k + 1 drink @700 + makimono)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h25m (2h without addons)

📅 Visit January 2023 (dinner)

Taco
Chawanmushi
Mekajiki; Hirame; Mizudako
Kaki
Komochi konbu
Kai
Ankimo
Yaki anago
Shiro ika (nigiri, shiro)
Kohada (aka)
Shiro amadai kobujime (shiro)
Ni-hamaguri (shiro)
Kinmedai zuke oba (aka)
Shime saba (shiro)
Kanpachi (shiro)
Akami (Toi, 140kg, aka)
Chutoro (shiro)
Kuruma ebi (shiro)
Kuromutsu aburi (aka)
Uni (shiro)
Anago (aka)
Owan
+Torotaku
Tamago

💴 Damage: 22,000 (19k + 1 drink + makimono)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h10m

📅 Visit September 2022 (dinner)

Taco
Gingko yoro-mushi
Hirame, Sawara, Mizudako
Mozoku
Tsubugai
Iwashi maki
Mushi awabi, yaki tachiuo
Ankimo
Kohada (nigiri, shiro)
Shiro ika (shiro)
Ishigaki kai (shiro)
Kasugo kobujime (shiro)
Aji (aka)
Katsuo
Akami zuke
Chutoro
Shiro ebi kobujime (shiro)
Kuromutsu aburi (aka)
Bafun uni (aka)
Anago (aka)
Tamago
+Kanpyo

💴 Damage: 19,000 (18k + 1k)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h15m

📅 Visit June 2022 (dinner)

Taco
Edamame, yuba chawanmushi
Mekajiki, Ara, Mizudako
Shiro baigai
Iwashi
Mushi awabi
Hokkigai, wakame
Ankimo
Shiro ika (nigiri, shiro)
Suzuki (shiro)
Shiro ebi kobujime (shiro)
Ni-hamaguri (aka?)
Aji (shiro)
Akami zuke (shiro)
Toro (shiro?)
Kohada (aka)
Kuromutsu warayaki (aka)
Bafun uni (aka)
Anago (aka)
Tamago
+Uni
+Toru taku

💴 Damage: 23,000 (18k + drinks@1k +4k)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h25m