Dish · 4 kitchens in 2 cities
Sushi
Vinegared rice with raw or cured fish — nigiri at the counter, bowls and boxes.
Nobody paid to be here. Each kitchen is described from its own menu where it publishes one, unranked, so each note says how that kitchen makes it.
In London
20-course omakase
Maru · Mayfair · ~£170 pp
Twenty courses of omakase, chef's choice, built largely on raw and cooked fish and shellfish, served in sequence. Book it, and mention dietary needs before you go.
In Tokyo
Kohada (小肌)
Kanda Sasazushi · Kanda · ~¥5,500 pp
Gizzard shad cured in salt and vinegar, as nigiri sushi
Kohada, gizzard shad, cured in salt and vinegar and pressed onto rice, the classic of the Edo cure. The piece we'd begin with.
Oribe (織部)
Kyubey · Ginza · ~¥9,000 pp
Oribe, the lunch course of ten nigiri, hand-pressed sushi, a roll and soup. Ask whether the uni gunkan, sea urchin wrapped in nori, the house's own invention, is among today's pieces.
Ōtoro (大トロ)
Yoshino Sushi Honten · Nihonbashi · ~¥3,300 pp
Ōtoro, fatty tuna belly, brushed with nikiri, a soy glaze, on red-vinegar rice. The house says toro nigiri began here, so here we'd begin.