Sushi Fujinaga

Sushi Fujinaga (鮓 ふじなが)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Azabu-Juban

📓 Visits: 1

Limited to 8,000 members, with all memberships issued, Sushi Fujinaga might be the most exclusive sushi restaurant in Japan and there's no other sushi restaurant like it.  The room seats 12 with diners equally spaced around a large, U-shaped counter.  A wall of Baccarat crystal figures (apparently gifts from customers) decorates the space, which must be worth a small fortune.

The food is virtually faultless.  The shari was outstanding: chewy, well-balanced and never boring.  All the neta is the best quality.  It's not just sushi that's served here: Parma ham, yakisoba, unadon and dandan noodles were all on the menu on my visit.  A different type of rice was served with the unadon, again outstanding.  The signature items include the otoro nigri, scored 50 times with all the sinew removed with tweezers, the nodoguro nigiri and the torutaku gunkanmaki with caviar but the bottan ebi nigiri was probably the most memorable item for me: butterfly cut and beating even the bottan ebi at Sushi Namba, epic doesn't do it justice.  I rated most items 10/10 and nothing lower than 9.

Unless you're sat directly opposite Fujinaga-san there's not much opportunity for conversation.  "Tsumami" are made in an open kitchen and served to all diners at the same time.  Fujinaga-san speaks into a PA system to introduce these dishes, another feature unique to this restaurant.  Fujinaga-san forms all the nigiri and serves in batches of four, but all the neta is cut by kitchen staff.  Service is tight with at least three dedicated wait staff and a small army of sous chefs.  Despite the luxury there's no pressure to spend money on expensive drinks: one of my neighbours was just drinking tea.  I didn't take any good pictures but you can see some good ones of the food and restaurant here.

My only complaint would be that I felt the yakisoba was a bit salty and that the course ended a bit quick.  It's such a fantastic experience you want it to last that bit longer.  And it would have been nice if a dessert could have been included.

If you can't get into Sushi Fujinaga the closest comparison would be Sushi Kousuke in Shinjuku (review here).  Fujinaga-san consulted in the production of this restaurant and while the quality of food and experience is not at the same level the innovate approach is similar with several of Fujinaga-san's signature dishes featuring, albeit reduced in opulence.

It's not cheap but when you consider the quality and quantity of expensive ingredients I think it's reasonable value.  This was almost perfect.  This might be the best sushi restaurant in Tokyo.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130702/13265370/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.99

📱 Booking: ⬛ Members and their guests only.

📍 Location: 

4F Carte Blanc Azabu-Juban, 1-5-18 Azabu-Juban.  2 mins from South Exit 2 of Azabu-Juban station, Oedo Line - head for Exit 7 then bear left and go through the car park building; or 5 mins from Azabu-Juban station Exit 4, Namboku line.  4F multi-tenant building.
Map data ©2023 Google

📅 Visit August 2023

Karasumi; nore sore sunomono; matsumaetsuke; shirataki, mozuku
Maguro nigiri
Nodoguro nigiri
Nodoguro chawanmushi
Kohada nigiri
Kaki sautee
Fuka hire, kegani, hamaguri dashi
Akami zuke x2 nigiri
Parma ham, managatsuo frit
Shiro ika nigiri
Kinki yakimono, hamaguri dashi
Katsuo nigiri
Hotate, kuruma ebi yakiaoba
Bottan ebi nigiri
Torutaku, caviar gunkanmaki
Unadon, caviar
Yoichi ensui uni donburi
Dandan noodles

💴 Damage: 56,100 (45,000 + 2 drinks @6000 + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h40m