E.L.
Google
What differentiates Hashida from the rest of the crowd is that he creates. And because he creates, he is no longer a chef, but an artist.
Someday, people will look back and realize just what a gem it was to have experienced his food. If you think about iconoclasts, such as Gertrude Stein, Monet, Picasso, Matisse, Kurt Vonnegut, Van Gogh, even Turner when he evolved towards Impressionism; they were all dismissed by their contemporaries as being too simplistic, too childlike in their works of art. But no one would dare to dismiss them now.
No one would dare reject the notion of acquiring any of their priceless pieces, if given the opportunity. And that’s what I feel Hashida is like.
You have to step in not thinking you’re going to eat another Edo-mae sushi. Because with Edo-mae, yes you do get the same consistency and tradition, which is important, but there comes a time when you want something more, what lies beyond this boundary of tradition that everyone is bounded comfortably familiar in.
Think about the first time you ate a bite of fries, fried chicken, or your first ever umami experience. Your senses suddenly went, “Wow!” And that’s what it feels like when you eat at Hashida. Not every day may be the best day. Some days, you may feel placid and sit back and enjoy it, but there will be a time when everything comes together on the palate, where everything is so precise and perfect that you can feel every sensation, and the craftsmanship and the passion, in the food! And you plop one of those nigiri’s in your mouth and suddenly everything feels blissfully divine until you won’t even know where you are. You won’t know if you’re eating sushi or being transcended to another dimension.
It’s not that Edo-mae sushi isn’t good, but if you are willing to try something new, something worthwhile, if you have the opportunity, try Hashida. Other Edo-mae places are good. Really good. Thus, it tells you how good Hashida is.
Great artists don’t create beautiful artworks in the past, but they keep creating and evolving, for the present and the future. With Hashida, the future is here now.