Sushi is my favourite food above all and Midori Sushi in Umegaoka, Tokyo, is my favourite sushi bar of all, and now I have quite a good experience and taste. In Japan are called sushi bars and not restaurant because at the beginning, in the Meiji era, this was a fast food to be consumed standing at the bar, nowadays there are also sushi restaurants with tables but I prefer, and sushi lovers as well, to seat on stools at the bar, in front of the cook, admire him working, choose the fish or seafood one by one, and to have a conversation with the cook, if you are able (I'm not ;-). Is a fashinating spectacle to see a good suhi cook at work. In the back of the bar cooks clean and prepare the fishes, the seafoods and cooks the rice for all the suhi cooks at the bar. But a chief cooks make the difference, even with same ingredients, I experienced few times, the result is different. At Midori Sushi bar, Shimizu san, the chief cook has always the que of customers waiting to be served by him only, even if there are four of them at the bar, hi is really special.
I believe hes secret ingredient is ..... love! That's the difference, for him is not just work or a job, this is his passion and love, it, that make his work art.
For the first time in 2007 the word famous Michelin restourant guide have done the Tokyo red guide and awarded more stars in this town than in any other part of the word, even Paris, and for the first time a sushi bar was awarded three stars! The chef is the 82-year-old Jiro Ono of Sukiyabashi Jiro sushi. This decision has been very controversial, because, critics says, the restaurant is very small and the toilet is outside ..... probably the negative criticism was just........ envy, I think. The food and the taste are the only issue to be considered.
Sushi and sashimi are accompained happily by beer, and Japanese beer is very good, and even better by sake, the rice whine. I prefer it cold and lightly sweet sake, there are so many different kinds, from very dry to very sweet.
Tsukune is a barbecued hamburger of chicken meat, like Yakitori bar dish, at home is made more simly in a pan. Accompained by soy sauce or lemon and salt and salad. Taste very good, and in yakitori restaurant are shaped like a sausage and cooked on a bamboo spit, this is the home cooking version. A traditional side salad in Japanese cisine is the raw cabbage (the one used for sauerkrauts) sliced very very thin no dressing is used. Again this is a photo for an Italian magazine of few years back.
This are called Kaki-no-tane, literally kaki seeds, just the name, this are Japanese classic snacks at the bar or at home. You can see peanuts and the other are little crackers, of course there is soy sauce in the ingredients, they are crunchy like pretzels but taste differently. The one I love the most are wasabi flavour, fantastic with an iced beer or a cold sake. mmmmmhh very stimulating!
This is Green Tea Icecream witt a spalsh of Soy Beans marmelade, I love it, Matcha Icecream is very popular in Japan in many different shape and makers, even 
Cooks work in front of you and is interesting to see the preparation, the use of different sauces or even the use and the taste of different salts from different countries. Here the cook dips the spit into a bis of soy sauce.
