Friday Food Porn: some 3 star sushi, Sushi Saito

My beautiful foodie wife S’s all-time favourite food is sushi. It’s what she craves when she’s feeling crappy. It’s what she wants to eat when we’re celebrating and it’s what she would like to eat – if we could afford it – on an almost daily basis. 

Quality and skill are important things when deciding where to enjoy one’s sushi. The fish has to be of the freshest quality and the chef has to have the chops to do the fish justice. The best chefs can elevate simple slices of raw fish and lumps of seasoned rice into something somewhat sublime. And once you’ve had truly extraordinary sushi, you simply can’t go back to eating all that supermarket or conveyer belt stuff.

When S was expecting our first (and only) child T, she fastidiously stayed away from sushi – which, for her, must have been torture. She did, though, allow herself one sushi meal during the entire 9 month term. And that was because we were in Tokyo and had been able to get a reservation at the three Michelin starred Sushi Saito. Chef Takashi Saito is a wonderfully charming man. And a true culinary artist. Having been told ahead of time (thank you American Express concierge services!) that S was pregnant, he served her only fish that was low in Mercury, plus a few cooked items. And even though she couldn’t indulge in anything and everything she wanted to, S still declared this tiny, almost hidden restaurant one of her favourite sushi joints in the world (and still in her top four I believe).

The only sad moment for S came when Chef Saito started serving me toro (fatty tuna), which is a huge no-no for pregnant mommies. While placing the toro in front of me, he was looking directly at S, apologising in an oh-so-Japanese way for not being able to serve her this delicacy, which judging from the look on her face, she so obviously wanted to devour.

Unfortunately, over the last few years, Saito has become super popular and super famous. With just 6 seats, it’s become almost impossible to score a reservation. And while lunch is usually easier to get reservations for in Japan, the word is out that Saito’s lunch prices, for what you get, especially compared to other three-starred joints, are unbelievably reasonable. Our biggest disappointment when we went to Tokyo for S’s birthday in March earlier this year was that we couldn’t get a reservation. I guess she’ll have to wait just a bit longer to try Chef Saito’s toro.

Sushi Saito
1-9-15 Akasaka, Minato-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81 (0) 3 3589 4412
noon-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-11 p.m.
Closed on Sundays and some national holidays