Sushi and beyond at Tsukiji Fish market

I went to Tsukiji several times with friends (both Japanese and foreigners) so I brought my family down for some fresh sushi on their first day in Tokyo. However this post will be a compilation of ALL my trips down to Tsukiji so you can have a better idea of what to expect.

Sushi zanmai

Sushi Zanmai is a major sushi chain restaurant and their main restaurant in Tsukiji is open 24hours, 365days a year! (Wow, no joke, they work hard!) They also have other branches around Tsukiji but their main restaurant is the biggest. There are three floors and the top floor, which has tatami flooring, is able to accommodate big groups (maybe up to 30 people).

They won a bid for a huge tuna that weighed 222kg for 155,400,000 yen! Wow...

Sushi Zanmai is basically value for money with its fresh sushi at reasonable prices. They also have sushi/sashimi sets but they usually contain a few things that you might not like.

They have 3 kinds of miso soup but my favourite is clam miso soup. It is REAL meat inside and not the tiny ones that are used in Singapore.

Sashimi set looks fantastic, love the sweet Ebi (prawns)

This is my favourite, ootoro (fatty tuna) :D~

With other grilled sushi :)

Anago (sea water eel) is one of my favourite too!

We wanted to try Sazae (horned turban shell) but not pay for two, so my friend and I asked the chef to split one sazae into two for us, yummy!

And you might recognise this photo from my "Difference between a 20,000yen sushi meal and a 2000yen sushi meal" blog post :P

Sushi dai

Although I am very satisfied with Suzhi Zanmai, one of my Japanese friend said that they will never go to Tsukiji and eat there because this restaurant can be found everywhere in Tokyo. So we went to hunt down a really good sushi stall called Sushi dai:

Unfortunately the shop was TINY and the queue was incredibly long. We were famished and did not want to wait for 2 hours...

So we found another shop with a similar name, also called "Sushi Dai", that has no queue at all.

I like my ootoro so I chose the third set that cost 2,800yen.

This is the traditional way to serve sushi over the counter. Each sushi is delivered to your serving plate one by one as soon as it's done.

Yes, my favourite ootoro :P

While eating our sushi, Mr. Seiji Ozawa, a famous Japanese conductor, popped by the store for his late lunch too! He noticed that everyone was aware of his presence so he bowed and smiled to all of us before he left. So nice of him~

Friend ordered sake (rice wine) and it came like this (sorry we drank finish already :P )

Fish Market

You really got to be here early in the morning. By noon, everything was gone. If you want to go for the auction, you got to go there early (like 4-5am) to queue up as seats are limited. What people usually do is to hang around nearby for late night karaoke then take a cab down.

Other shops not selling sushi/sashimi

Merry Christmas? XD

You can find these expensive matsutake mushrooms (pine mushrooms) during late September.

BBQ crabs!

Cheap cheap omelettes for 100yen!

Yummy and sweet!

They have many shops selling seafood and the last weekend of the year is when Tsukiji is the most crowded. You really have to push your way through as people are trying to get their fresh seafood because many stores won't be open during new year. Of course, some would opt to buy the traditional Osechi, which is a special bento that requires pre-ordering from supermarkets/restaurants/online Rakuten store. Osechi basically contains preserved food so you just take it out of the fridge and eat them. This is because the housewife of the family needs a day off too during new year. (PS. Not everyone likes osechi since it is served cold)

Of course, if you have 20,000yen or so to burn, you can always go to Sushikoh :P

*This old fish market will be moving on March 2015 to make way for the Olympics development.*
That's it for my mini Tsukiji guide, be sure to hit that like or share button if you enjoy reading it. You can also follow me on Facebook or Google+ for more updates, thank you! :)