Sushi Namba Yotsuya

Sushi Namba Yotsuya (鮨なんば 四谷)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Arakicho

📓 Visits: 2 (2023-2024)

The short answer to your question (how does it compare to Hibiya restaurant?) is 'very close'.  Read on for the longer answer.

Hide Namba has been wanting to open a second restaurant for some time but one of the difficulties the sushi boom has created is a lack of skilled chefs: everyone wants to strike out on their own.  So with no-one to replace right-hand man Yuma Takanashi, Sushi Namba Yotsuya had been operating on an invitation-only basis since 2022.  In July 2023 they opened up for reservations via Omakase on an irregular basis and that's how it's going to remain until (shock!) the restaurant most likely closes indefinitely later this year.  So what's going on?  The reason for this is that Namba-san still hasn't found anyone to replace Takanashi-san, and more than that, Takanashi-san is moving to the US later this year to open Sushi Namba in Miami (members-only, $10,000 buy-in).  So if you want to visit Sushi Namba Yotsuya (scroll to the end for why) don't miss out on a chance.

Sushi Namba Yotsuya is only open at night and only a few nights a month.  Takanashi-san assists Namba-san for two rounds at lunch, one round at dinner and then after a quick sprint across town, opens for one round here.  There's surely no harder-working number two chef at a top sushi restaurant in Tokyo.

My first experience at Sushi Namba Yotsuya was poor.  Not because of the sushi but because of the service and that was mainly (if not completely) due to the fact this was a private reservation.  I'll spare you 150 words on my history with Takanashi-san because it won't factor into your experience and because my second experience was much, much better.  Second time here was not a private reservation so much less risk of unfair treatment.  Takanashi-san engaged and saw me off, even though I was first to leave, with all the other guests waiting for extras.  Takanashi-san is pretty quiet by nature but all the sushi was properly introduced to all guests, Takanashi-san even smiled and drinks service from him and his two assistants was exemplary.  So with that out the way, let's get to the sushi.

The same attention to temperate control is there.  The rice is the same.  You even get the menu of the nigiri served that day.  There were 6 tsumami and 14 nigiri on visit #2.  All but one (or maybe two, see later) of the tsumami were as good as you'd get at the Hibiya location.  Indeed, the course is supposed to be the same as what was served at the Hibiya restaurant on the same day.  The way the Hibiya restaurant works is that Namba-san prepares the tsumami while Takanashi-san prepares the neta for the nigiri.  Here, there's no Namba-san and the course (on visit #2 anyway) completes in around the same time.  So most of the tsumami are prepared in the back kitchen.  That works fine for cooked dishes, it's essentially the same way they're prepared at the main restaurant and the signature kinki-ni, the anago shirayaki and the mushi awabi were as good.  But the murasaki uni / aori ika combo (also prepared in the back kitchen) felt like a filler and not something you'd get (though I'd be happy to be corrected) in the main restaurant: two kinds of expensive neta slapped together on a dish, and, even more so since the same murasaki uni was served as a gunkamaki later in the course.

As for the nigiri, there were some sensational pieces on visit #2:

• the best torigai I've ever had.  I don't really like kai but Namba's and Sawada's are the best kai I've had in Tokyo;
• a mindblowing katsuo: no blood, a trace of fat, a trace of smoke, super smooth texture, acidity from the chopped onion;
• the kinmedai with salty, crispy skin on top to season the fish.

On visit #2, while the toro had great flavour, it also had a load of sinew, which I haven't noticed at the main restaurant before (and in fairness, didn't note on visit #1 here either).  It's quite possible, in fact most likely, that the best cut of the day is saved for the Hibiya restaurant.

On both visits Namba-san's signature ankimo was not served.  Now it wasn't served on one of my visits to the main restaurant, and looking at Tabelog reviews of the main restaurant around the time of my visits to the Yotsuya restaurant it's not consistently featured.  A friend has assured me he's eaten it at the Yotsuya restaurant and even though SNS posting about Yotsuya Namba is 'banned' but (as with all unenforceable bans) people have posted and the posts show the ankimo.  So it just seems like my bad luck on both visits.  Whatever, Namba-san's ankimo is always the first thing I look forward to when I visit and if it's not there, the meal just feels incomplete.

Notes from visit #1 are a bit sketchier but the shiba ebi and kohada I rated 10/10.

On visit #1 I was charged 32k.  Everyone took the tekka and no price was advertised back then but it debuted on Omakase in July 2023 at JPY 28,000.  On visit #2 only torutaku was available to add (which I skipped) and with just tea and water I was charged 34k.  At this time the course was advertised as "30,000~" on Omakase.  The "~" is doing a lot of the work here and I never expected to get out for exactly 30k so I was happy with 34k.

Overall, a fair number of criticisms here but the meal would stand up well to any of the top sushi resturants in Tokyo where omakase will now cost you 44k+++ (Sugita), 49k (Saito), 49k (Amamoto), 50k (Sawada), 55k (Arai) or 49.5k (Namba Hibiya).  In summary, I would strongly recommend a visit here.  It's easily the best value omakase dinner at this level in Tokyo.  The answer to your other question (why should I visit here rather than the Hibiya restaurant?) is because it's cheaper.

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.9 (higher with the ankimo) 

📱 Booking: Difficult.  Bookings are taken irregularly via Omakase.

📍 Location: Private.  Arakicho.

📅 Visit June 2024

🐟 Ni taco
🐟 Kinki ni
🐟 Bottan ebi
🐟 Aori ika, Murasaki uni
🐟 Mushi awabi
🐟 Anago shirayaki
🐟 =6
🥢 Junsai, mozoku
🍣 Shiro ika
🍣 Kochi
🍣 Kasugodai
🍣 Aji
🍣 Shako
🍣 Iwashi
🍣 Torigai
🍣 Katsuo, tamanegi
🍣 Kinmedai
🍣 Akami zuke
🍣 Toro
🍣 Kohada, ebi oboro
🍙 Murasaki uni gunkanmaki
🍣 Hamaguri
🍣 =14
🥚 Tamago

💴 Damage: 34,000 inc. tea and water
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit June 2023

🐟 Mozoku, shinko
🐟 Taco
🐟 Kinki-ni
🐟 Kamasu kobujime
🐟 Nasu puree, bafun uni
🐟 Katsuo
🐟 Kegani to shari
🐟 Yaki anago
🐟 =8
🍣 Shiro ika
🍣 Makogarei
🍣 Kasugo
🍣 Aji
🍣 Hokkigai
🍣 Goma saba
🍣 Shima ebi
🍣 Akami
🍣 Toro
🍣 Kohada
🍣 Hamaguri
🍣 Tachiuo
🍣 =12
🥚 Tamago

💴 Damage: 32,000
⏱️ Time taken: 2h40m