Nishiazabu Sushi Shin

Nishiazabu Sushi Shin (鮨 真)

⭐⭐⭐

🍣 Sushi / 📍 Hiroo

📓 Visits: 1 (2025)

Sushi Shin has been open for over 22 years and has a Tabelog rating of just 3.70.  It would have never caught my attention had it not been for the award of a second Michelin Star in the 2026 Tokyo Guide.  Now Michelin is manifestly useless for sushi in Japan but I couldn't not be intrigued as to what a 2-Star sushi restaurant is supposed to look like, and nigiri-only lunch was reasonably priced at JPY 16,500 (18,150 as of December 2025).

The best piece in the set was the ikura.  It looks like an ordinary gunkanmaki but the chef had seasoned the yielding fish roe beautifully.  Second best was a decent and alum-free uni.  Less good was the amai ebi which had been over-kobujime'd and over-wasabi'd, and the chutoro which had a load of sinew and was lacking in fat, too close to the flavour of the zuke, which had preceded it.  Rice is mildly sour. The nigiri are medium in size.

The chef doesn't speak English but opens up to conversation in Japanese and works with a polite authority.  Service from his assistants was outstanding.  All the sushi is introduced in perfect English and the assistant, who wouldn't be out of place in a Starred restaurant in NYC, is even able to explain the subtleties of sake.  Tea and gari were topped up without request.

The restaurant seats 14, 8 at the counter, 2 at a side table and 4 in a shoes-off private room.  Wherever you sit the sushi will come out piece by piece rather than as a selection.  With only one person making the nigiri and plating most of the tsumami this is very time-consuming and I felt like the pacing was too slow for people having the full course.  As I ordered nigiri-only and told the chef I had limited time I was out in exactly an hour.

Of all the 1-Star sushi restaurants I've been to I didn't think the food at Sushi Shin was any better.  But the service was.  So congratulations to the chef on earning the first star and congratulations to the assistant on earning the restaurant the second.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130701/13004789/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.7

📱 Booking: 🟩 An easy booking by phone or Omakase.  English spoken.

📍 Location: 4-18-20 Nishi-Azabu.  Nisseki Dori.

📅 Visit November 2025

🕛 Lunch 16,500

🍣 Shimai aji
🍣 Aji
🍣 Aoyagi, nori
🍣 Ikura gunkanmaki
🍣 Akami zuke 
🍣 Chutoro 
🍣 Kohada
🍣 Ni hotate
🍣 Amai ebi kobujime 
🍲 Miso soup 
🍙 Bafun uni gunkanmaki 
🍣 Anago 
🍙 1/3 tekka
🥚 Tamago

💴 Damage: 16,500

⏱️ Time taken: 1h