Sushi Yuu

Sushi Yuu (鮨 由う)

⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Ginza

📓 Visits: 1

Sushi Yuu (not to be confused with Ginza Sushi Yu) debuted with one Michelin Star in the 2018 Tokyo Guide but was removed in the 2022 Guide.  The restaurant relocated from Roppongi to Ginza in December 2023.  Omakase is JPY 27,500 but on Friday lunch only a shorter omakase course (served by the taisho) is priced at JPY 15,400.  Prices are inclusive though water is charged.

I think your enjoyment here is going to depend on where else you've eaten.  If your only experience of sushi is cold fish on cold rice then you'll probably love it.  If you regularly eat at the best sushi restaurants in Japan I think you're going to find it lacking, especially when it comes to the 'signature' items like the ankimo temaki and crab and caviar temaki.  You might say that comparison is unfair since you're paying a third of what you'd pay at one of the top 5 or 10.  But there are good deals to be found and I regularly enjoy meals at cheaper sushi restaurants.

A mix of appetizers, temaki, nigiri, cooked and raw items are included in the course.  But there were only seven actual nigiri.  To be clear, I'm not saying you get short-changed here: the course includes four appetizers, four temaki, one yakimono, one futomaki and tamago-yaki.  But most sushi lovers look forward to the nigiri part of the course.  As for that, tuna was from a 145kg fish from Sado but was very strongly seasoned and disintegrated.  No hikarimono were included.

Around half way through the course you're asked if you would like to add some extras.  On my visit karasumi, uni, fugu shirako and kuruma ebi were available.  I chose not to add anything.

The chef is upbeat but it felt a bit scripted.  If you want to order extra sushi at the end of the course you can't (not in the script).  You need to guess how much you want to eat when they took those additional orders earlier on.

The TableCheck page warns you that "The menu and service are available only in Japanese. We strongly recommend to be accompanied by someone who understand Japanese.".  The taisho doesn't doesn't speak much (if any?) English but his assistant can speak good English and there's really no problem if you can't.

They've held pricing since the move but how it actually compares to when they were in Roppongi I can't tell you as I'd never been.  If you're looking for affordable sushi in an informal environment where the chef mixes it up a bit you might like it.  But I prefer somewhere more committed to the basics.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13291436/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.7

📱 Booking: 🟩 Book via Tabelog or TableCheck (credit card required).  100% penalty if cancelled within 72 hours.

📍 Location: 

8F Ginza Louis Bldg, 1-14-6 Ginza.  2 mins from Ginza-itchome Station Exit 10.  8F multi-tenant building.
Map data ©2024 Google

📅 Visit March 2024

🕛 Lunch 15,400

Wakame
Tomokoroshi, cream tofu
Fruit tomato, urui, vinegar jelly
Takenoko chawanmushi
Soft shell shrimp tempura temaki
Kasugodai
Ni hotate
Ankimo temaki
Hirame
Kobako, uni, caviar temaki
Menuke yaki
Akami zuke
Chutoro x2
Shima aji
Anago fry temaki
Futomaki: hirame, kasugo, shima aji, maguro
Shiba ebi castella

💴 Damage: 16,200 (15400 + a large bottle of Fuji)

⏱️ Time taken: 1h55m