Steph C.
Yelp
Kyubey is an incredible sushi bar, an absolute must-visit restaurant when in Tokyo. You can get a phenomenal omakase meal for as little as ¥8,250, or about $55 at the current exchange rate, and you can walk in without a reservation--an impossibility at most of the city's famous, beloved sushi joints. I've been twice now, once for a memorable dinner in 2010 and then for a wonderful, decadent lunch, just a couple of weeks ago.
Kyubey is big for a sushi bar, and I'm not even talking about its multiple locations (this one is the original, but it has an annex right across the street as well as outposts in three hotels in Tokyo and one in Osaka). The main restaurant has several distinct seating areas spread out across five floors. I don't know if they're all always in use, but even the first floor counter has 17 seats, which is more than the typical high-end sushi spot. This is probably why Kyubey doesn't have a Michelin star. It isn't a tiny, precious place driven by a single master chef. The scale has a few significant advantages for the customer. It keeps the prices relatively affordable and allows for an atypical level of flexibility in the omakase, a huge plus if you like sushi but can't hang with every delicacy to comes out of the ocean. And did I mention that you can walk in?
In fact, Kyubey doesn't even take lunch reservations except for the first seating at 11:30. After that, it's first come first served. My husband Matt B. and I went at around 12:15 on a Tuesday and were told to come back at 12:50. We wandered around Ginza until then and were seated shortly after we checked back in.
We sat at the counter on the first floor in front of Chef Futagawa. The space was attractive in a clean, elegant way, and the vibe was just right, easy and lively. Service was good all around. We were able to order two different tiers of nigiri omakase--the 10-piece Oribe for Matt and the 16-piece Kyubey for me. We shared a little bottle of Yamadori sake and enjoyed a heavenly meal.
It was a pleasure to watch Chef Futagawa work. He was such a pro, fast and relaxed and friendly all the while. He made everything look so easy. I'll bet he's better at slicing tuna than I am at drinking water. He also gave Matt--who is too picky for most omakase--a generously customized experience. Matt will eat any fish roughly shaped like a fish, but there are a lot of sushi staples that he dislikes. Chef Futagawa understood exactly what he wanted, and served him the best sushi of his life.
My omakase lunch was equally amazing, every nigiri beautiful and delicious. I had chutoro, then sawara, and ika touched with salt. Sweet, creamy uni came in gunkan nigiri form, followed by sweet, supple shimaebi with a strip of nori, finished with salt, and a squeeze of lime. There was akami shoyuzuke, then kohada and a truly remarkable scallop nigiri, belted with nori. Next up, kanpachi, then hamaguri, boiled clam with a delicately chewy texture, brushed with a sweet soy sauce. I had meltingly fatty otoro, then stronger, firmer katsuo, garnished with ginger.
Then came the amaebi, which Chef Futagawa dubbed "Ebi-chan" before ending its sweet shrimpy life. I actually remember the amaebi from my first visit to Kyubey, and it was just as impressive the second time around, so fresh it had barely stopped moving. After the nigiri came a fragrant miso soup made with shrimp heads.
The aburi maguro was a luxurious bite, the seared tuna just immensely rich and flavorful. Then there was a palate cleanser, thin sandwiches of crunchy, refreshing daikon with ume, shiso, and sesame seeds. A duo of anago finished my 16-piece nigiri parade. These were both superb, one made with salt, the other with tare.
Lunch wound down with an outstanding cut roll that might have been filler at a lesser sushi bar. There were two pieces each of negitoro, kanpyo, and cucumber with sesame seeds, and even the goddamn cucumber was fantastic. Ebi-chan made one last appearance, its head and tail fried into crisp little crackers. Finally, there was spongey, sweet tamago--made with shrimp, served both with and without rice--and gorgeous slices of eggplant tsukemono.
The Kyubey was ¥16,500, or about $110, and it felt like an actual steal for the quality and quantity of sushi. Matt ordered a couple of extra pieces (I told him he had to have the shimaebi and aburi maguro, which didn't come in the Oribe), and we were still out the door for the price of a pretty normal nice restaurant meal back home. Kyubey is not a normal restaurant. It is an extraordinary destination sushi bar, the kind of place that could charge $400 a person in America. I may live thousands of miles from Kyubey, but I look forward to my next visit. I will be back any time I'm in Tokyo.
