Sushi Dai, Tokyo

I had been adequately warned about the super long queues at Sushi Dai prior to heading to Tsukiji Market, and was advised to get something to eat prior to embarking on that venture. No better place then, than at the market itself. This gyu don shop along the main street was full of people, who ate quickly and left promptly without lingering.  

They had a cow guts don, filled to the brim with tripe, intestine, and goodness knows what other offal, topped with finely sliced negi, which we ordered to fuel us for the long road ahead. The name, I learnt, was hor-mon don. 

Goodness in a bowl. 

Everyone stands up to eat.

A closer look at all the guts, half of which I couldn't identify. It was a case of just eat, think later. 

Best eaten with beer, even at 10 in the morning. 

There were chewy parcels of konnyaku that soaked up the beefy flavour so well. It was even better with chilli pepper powder. 

All fueled up and ready to begin the long wait. This was the front of the queue.

So we turned the corner, and found the rest of the queue

And obediently got into line with everyone else

Two long hours later, we finally made it close enough to photograph the sign above the door

Yup that's where we were all right

2 sets available, one for 2500Y, the other for 3900Y

They have instructions in English. After queuing for 2 hours, it was a no-brainer that we would get the 3900Y set. 

So close you can even smell the food

FINALLY WE MADE IT INSIDE. And got seated. 

All the stuff on display inside

The excitement of being ushered inside and told to sit down had to be managed, in the super small space 

The view I had 

And we were off! First up, it was otoro seasoned with soy sauce which was pretty orgasmic. 

The miso soup was so tasty, no idea what they had in there

This was tai, or sea bream

Followed by a tamago yaki which was super smooth and moist and sweet

Our super friendly sushi chef

Then kinmedai, or golden eye bream. 

Then uni came out

It doesn't get any fresher than this

Then it was another serve of maguro, also marinated with soy

Followed by this clam that was folded by the chef to unfold in front of us. Nice and crunchy.

The sister had a sanma sushi instead of the clam, since the unfolding gave her the creeps

Then it was saba, with some seaweed on top

Followed by ikura - ooh those sweet crunchy balls

There was also aji. 

And maki to end off with

Before you end off, you're given a choice of your favourite seafood for your last piece of sushi, as well as this menu to choose anything separately. 

This sweet and moist anago was to die for.

And for my last item, I chose awabi. This was divine.

Pretty much the perfect sushi meal, but not quite. There was still room for one more. 

So I ordered a hotate off the a la carte menu. 

It was absolutely perfect. Sweet, succulent and super fresh. 

This sounds so cliched, but Sushi Dai gets my vote for best sushi ever. I've never thought it was worth the money to pay for Jiro or his 3 starred counterparts, when you can get such good quality for less than 4000Y. Besides, my uncultured tongue can't tell the x10 difference between a 4000Y and 40000Y meal anyway. Sushi Dai wins hands down. 

http://www.tsukijigourmet.or.jp/22_sushidai/index.htm#02