Sushi Iwao

Sushi Iwao (すし いわお)

⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Akasaka

📓 Visits: 4 (2024, 2023 x3)

What's the best sushi you can get for 10K, or 6K or even 3K?  There are plenty of places offering low-price sushi but how do you find the quality among the mediocre and poor?  One way is to look at the difference in price between the lunch course and the dinner course.  Those restaurants with the biggest difference are very likely offering fantastic sushi at lunch at cut price.  And that brings us to Sushi Iwao.  The restaurant opened in April 2022 with omakase at dinner priced at 22K and at lunch only chirashi zushi offered at JPY 6,000.  Apparently that was failing to bring in the punters so from November the same year the chirashi was reduced in price to JPY 4,800 and two nigiri-only lunches priced at JPY 3,300 for 10 and JPY 5,500 for 12 were introduced.  The 3k lunch stopped in March 2023 and it's now JPY 6,600 for 12 pieces or JPY 8,800 for 15.  All of my visits have been for the cheapest lunch.

The first thing to say is this is proper omakase sushi: there's no menu and your nigiri are delivered one-by-one by the chef in front of you at the counter.  Chef Takashi Okabe (the "Iwao" is the usual reading of the kanji for his first name) uses two kinds of rice, both seasoned with red vinegar: strongly for tuna and fatty fish and less strongly for other fish.  Rice is very firm.

It's not without fault. The preparation of the ika is not the best - a bit hard on visit #1 and not properly skinned on visit #2 and visit #4.   Okabe-san ages much of his fish and seasonings are quite strong.  Previously I said the hamaguri ichi-ban dashi served at the start of the course was too salty, as was the kanpyo at the end.  The ikura was salty and strongly seasoned and I felt the amai ebi kobujime was over-cured.  After an 18 month gap I felt like Okabe-san had mellowed all that salinity out.  There was also no problem with the rice being a touch warm like it was on visits #2 and #3 a couple of times.  The ikura lacked generosity on visit #4 and the saba was fishy, though I've experienced that at some of the most highly-rated places.  No complaints about anything else.  The anago was particularly good on my most recent visit.

Okabe-san is quite friendly and upbeat.  He worked for seven years at Inagiku, previously associated with the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, but since 2018 is now Shikigiku, coinciding with the same year Sushi Saito opened.  Before going independent he spent three years working at the Hilton Tokyo and Sushi Iwa.  He's forgotten his conversational English but is able to name all the fish.

The neta are fairly large and the nigiri medium sized.  The 15 piece course added kuruma ebi, chutoro and uni (Ogawa) on my most recent visit.  The extra pieces will be served alongside the cheaper course and Okabe-san works quickly so whichever course you order you should finish in an hour.  You can request extra pieces but they start from JPY 1,100 which is not a lot at dinner but clearly not the best value at lunch.  If you ask for water you'll be given a small bottle of Fuji water and charged 690 yen for it, which isn't much in the grand scheme of things at dinner but again expensive at lunch, so stick to tea.

Despite the faults I plan to return to Iwao more regularly again.  The 3k lunch was never going to last forever but only Tomidokoro beats Iwao for quality at lunch but Iwao beats Tomidokoro for service and ease of booking hands down.  I've slightly raised my score on account of the improvement I've observed but kept it below 4.0 for now.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1308/A130801/13269557/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.95 (value: 5.0)

📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy.  For lunch via TableCheck at least one working day in advance (credit card required).  Via Tabelog a day in advance.  Same day bookings by phone may be possible.

📍 Location: 

Jodo-ji, 4-3-5 Akasaka.  From Hitosugi Dori enter Jodo-ji (temple) opposite 7-Eleven.  Restaurant is 50m on the right.  3 mins from nearby stations.
Map data ©2023 Google

📅 Visit October 2024

🕛 Lunch Okimari 12 kan + makimono

🍲 Shijimi ichiban dashi
🍣 Kohada
🍣 Amadai kobujime
🍣 Hotate
🍣 Shima aji
🍣 Shiro ika
🍣 Akami zuke
🍙 1/2 torutaku 
🍣 Shime saba
🍣 Kodai (kasugo)
🍣 Amai ebi
🍙 Ikura gunkanmaki
🍲 Owan
🍣 Anago 
🍙 1/2 kanpyo maki
🥚 Tamago

💴 Damage: 6,600 incl. tea
⏱️ Time taken: 1h

📅 Visit March 2023

Lunch 10 nigiri + makimono:
Hamaguri dashi
Amadai kobujime
Yari ika
Sawara
Kasugo
Tairagai
Akami zuke
Toru taku?
Amai ebi
Ikura
Anago
Owan
Kanpyo
(No tamago)

💴 Damage: 3,300 incl. tea
⏱️ Time taken: 30m

📅 Visit February 2023

Lunch 10 nigiri + makimono:
Hamaguri ichiban dashi
Kohada
Hirame kobujime
Yari ika
Tairagai
Akami
Toru taku
Shime saba
Amai ebi kobujime
Ikura
Anago
Owan
Kanpyo
Tamago pudding

💴 Damage: 3,960 (3300 + water @ 660)
⏱️ Time taken: 50m

📅 Visit January 2023

Lunch 10 nigiri + makimono:
Hamaguri ichiban dashi
Kohada
Suzuki
Sumi ika
Kasugo
Taigarai
Akami zuke
Torutaku
Shime saba
Amai ebi kobujime
Anago
Miso soup
Kanpyo
+Buri 1,100
Tamago pudding

💴 Damage: 4,400
⏱️ Time taken: 35m