Sushi Hashimoto

Hmmm after having been here a few times, I feel like this place is more polarising than others. Pros: - Neta are huge. Rich pieces like the senaka chutoro and buri belly entirely envelope one’s palate, you really get to taste the shiro amadai, and the chef is really generous with his uni. - The atmosphere is chill. The chef isn’t stern and regulars are chatty. - Easy to book for returning customers. Cons: - You will almost certainly be ignored in favour of the regulars. Even if you try and make conversation in Japanese, there’s no follow up. - Add on orders were taken for the regulars far earlier, and I wasn’t asked until halfway through the add-on prep (and even then, not directly). Felt like an afterthought. - Add ons are bizarrely priced. In my latest visit, a boiled hamaguri and kaki gunkan cost >¥8000. - Small temperature control and balance issues. The aji was too cold, the sawara smoked too aggressively, the kaki had too much sudachi, the akami wasn’t good enough to not be tsuke’ed etc. If one just sticks to the base course and doesn’t care about interacting with the chef, I guess it’s a nice meal. But I wish there were improvements here

This had to be the best sushi I've ever had in Japan. The entire staff was kind and informative. Though they couldn't speak english that well, it was well enough to provide information about each and every dish. Maybe because of its over-the-roof price, but I couldn't finish the sushi as is, so I had to ask for less rice after about five pieces. If I ever get a chance to visit here once more with a thickned wallet, I would seriously consider skipping the prior meal.

To summarise, fantastic otsumami and superb service, but unsure if I will not return due to the low cost performance. RESERVATION: Difficult for newcomer on Omakase, but easy for regulars. The full course price was 36,300 JPY. Not as good cost performance compared to another Sugita alumnus Sushidokoro Yamato at 29,700 JPY for the full course. FOOD: For 40K JPY after drinks and add-ons, I was expecting a lot more. The course started off strong with fantastic otsumami! My favourites were the silky smooth ankimo, the signature Sugita iwashi roll, and the fugu shirako. The nigiri was traditional Edomae sushi with al dente shari and large neta. There was not a single piece of nigiri that stood out. Even the expensive shiro amadai add-on did not have much flavour. Tamago was so dense and dry. There was a noticeable temperature issue throughout the meal with some cold neta clashing with the warm shari. SERVICE: The apprentices provided fantastic service and were constantly on top of re-filling drinks and wiping down plates. I was impressed that my glass was never less than half full. The interaction with Hashimoto-san was limited to the naming of the fish. There was not much of an atmosphere overall. Perhaps the poor atmosphere during my visit was not entirely due to Hashimoto-san. My visit was on Friday March 14th lunch. 30 minutes into the meal after all the otsumami were served, 2 wannabe Youtubers came in late. Hashimoto-san shook his head and refused to let them in at first, but they insisted that it was their second visit. If this were their second visit to the store, there should be no excuses about being late! Unfortunately, Hashimoto-san let them in, and this disrupted other customers and the pacing of the meal. I had no idea who these rude Youtubers were until another customer said that they had Youtube channels and Tiktok (Justin Lee hwoo.lee and Kathryn Tan). As soon as they sat down, the Youtubers immediately setup their tripods and cameras with long lens on the hinoki wood counter to film the meal without even asking for permission first. This was extremely tacky to see. The wannabe Youtuber girl had a lot of hair products on, which you are not supposed to wear strong perfume or scent to omakase courses. How disrespectful. In the future, I hope that Hashimoto-san will be stricter about not letting rude customers in after being 30 minutes late and disrupting other guests. It is gaijin with poor manners like them that give all foreigners a bad name.

Based on my sushiya experiences so far, I would give Sushi Hashimoto the highest score total accounting for taste, balance, shari forming, temperature, service, attitude, and clientele. Hashimoto-san’s nigiris may not have as much of a wow factor like that of Harutaka and Inomata, but they are still very delicious and I prefer the larger-sized nigiri’s, al dente cooked rice, near body temperature shari, and mild vinegary taste. The other factors also make up for it. Personally, I do care about the atmosphere and service in addition to the taste, and I like the laid-back atmosphere of Hashimoto. The clientele that day seemed to be food lovers and often asked about his ingredients and wine/sake pairing. There was even a young sushi chef who dined there to learn. I feel like this sushiya is just right for me, will definitely visit again. Highly recommended.

Always my favourite place for sushi, as the food is excellent and the meal is made relaxing and enjoyable by the friendly chef and staff. This makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Always a sushi-ya I visit every time I'm in Tokyo.

Great little authentic sushi restaurant with beautiful sushi expertly prepared by the sushi chef with each piece served and explained by the chef. Very good value at 4000 yen for 10 pieces. Staff are very friendly and all speak good English if your Japanese is weak. A lovely waiter there that spent time in the UK was incredibly nice and and went over and a one to make sure the experience was one to remember. Will be back!

Phenomenal fish dishes and sushi products! Extremely hard to book high end sushi experience with some of the most unique sushi I ever had. Chef Hashimoto is truly an artist and watching him prepare each piece of sushi was really entertaining. The chef and his team also had fun, and unlike many other high end sushi restaurants it was not overly serious environment.