Today we’re going to go visit the legendary Sushi Dai in the Tsukiji Market. I’ve seen this place covered all over youtube, food shows, and blogs and today is finally the day where I get to go there. I’ve eaten at dozens of sushi places all across the U.S. from coast to coast and the midwest and at some michelin rated sushi places. I’m hoping this place lives up to hype and that it was be amazing.
This will sort of be a guide on Sushi Dai. You really need to kind of plan out your day if you plan on eating at Sushi Dai. The restaurant opens at 5AM but you will have people waiting in line as early as 2:00AM. If your hotel is not at Tsukiji most likely you’ll need to take a train there, and trains end at midnight, so I recommend you leaving before that so around 11PM.
There are a few places that are open 24 hours near Tsukiji market such as Jonathan’s and Dennys which are diners. Mcdonald’s is open 24hours, however they close for about 2 hours starting at 1AM. Most of the convenience stores are open and there are also some late night eats available if you want to hang out at a bar.
Sushi Dai is a bit hard to find, but in the video I have a map of what the area looks like to find it. By the time I got there, there was actually few people who have been lined up since 1AM, but if you are like me I rather just go early to get in as the first group to eat at 5AM. Sushi Dai seating is limited and each group that goes in has about 45 min-1 hour in order to eat their food. There’s about 10 seats or so and you can estimate how long you will have to wait before you can eat.
The omakase here is a steal and is about 40,000 yen 10 pieces + one piece of your choice. Great for those on a budget and don’t want to splurge on high end omakase. The atmosphere here is very friendly and I never felt rushed while eating my meal here. Be sure to bring cash in order to pay for your meal! Overall thoughts on Sushi Dai, this is by far trumps all the sushi places that I’ve eaten at such as Sushi Yasuda in NYC purely on taste alone. Personal favorites are the Kinmedai Golden Eye Snapper & Sanma Pacific Saury.
The wait is long, however I think it was worth it as a food enthusiast. There was a Japanese couple who I was talking to who told me that although you see a lot of tourist waiting to eat here you may think it’s hype, but there are a lot of Japanese people who want to eat here too. They simply just don’t have the time to wait or take time off from work. They come once every year just to eat here and have been going for the past 10 years. Sushi Dai is rated a 3.92/5 on tabelog and it is well deserved.
I ate at some other establishments in Tsukiji in the next part of the video and they are also really good. So if you don’t have time to wait don’t be afraid of trying out some other restaurants at Tsukiji.
Sadly Sushi Dai may be closed soon due to construction for the Tokyo Olympics, be sure to check to see whether it is open before going!
Location(s):
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» Mcdonald’s – Ginza –
» Jonathan’s – Tsukiji –
» Sushi Dai – Tsukiji –
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