The world's most famous sushi restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro has been awarded three Michelin stars for 11 years running, and master chef Jiro Ono now 93, still makes the sushi himself at the counter with his son Yoshikazu. World-famous thanks to the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb, this tiny 10-seat restaurant tucked away in the Ginza Station is one of the most sought-after reservations in Japan. Despite his advancing age, Jiro still takes the subway to work every morning and oversees nearly every facet of his restaurant, from planning the seating arrangements to the menu, but has cut back in recent years. Not only has he decided to give up smoking, but also purchasing high-quality fish every morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. Hi son Yoshikazu now makes the daily bicycle ride each morning to buy the best fish, but also visiting a special rice dealer who only sells his best grains to Jiro because he believes he’s the only chef in the world who can properly cook his rice.
Only six people work with Jiro: Yoshikazu; another shokunin, or sushi chef; three apprentices, who must train with Jiro for a decade before attaining the status of shokunin; a woman who handles all the accounting and the cash register, and a woman who cleans the restaurant. Having amazingly secured a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro through our hotel, we were emailed a list of 10 things we must and must not do, including bringing our passport as proof of identification, and absolutely no photographs. They also warned that the service is fast, but didn't realize that by the time we sat down promptly for our 7pm reservation, we would be finished twenty minutes later. I was still chewing my last piece of sushi and the hostess asked us to move. I turned to her, while still chewing, and said "I'm not finished yet." Not missing a beat, she stayed where she was, waited until I swallowed and told us to move to a small table where a slice of musk melon was served. By 7:30pm we were shown the front door and made our exit $990 lighter. Was it worth it? Absolutely not.
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