Itamae Sushi Akasaka - Best Value in Town

OK, so I probably have a bit of a soft spot for this place as it was quite literally the first place I ate on Japan. But as it just so happens Itamae Sushi Akasaka is a bit of a legend in its own right.

Why is this? Well generally speaking patrons laud it for its value and taste. For me? Well it has both of these points, as well as offering a great late night place to eat, drink and people watch in this crazy town.

What the Itamae Sushi?

Itamae Sushi is part of a small but growing chain of sushi joints scattered around Tokyo, with locations in Ginza, Shimbashi, Shinjuku, Atago, and Odaiba. There’s even a swankier offshoot called Itamae Sushi Prime and a few hideouts like Hanare that pretend not to be part of the same group. But make no mistake, Itamae Sushi Akasaka is the one that slaps hardest.

The concept is simple. You sit at a long wooden counter with the chefs in front of you hacking up some of the freshest tuna and shellfish in town. You can literally see the slabs of meat they’re working with, and if you sit long enough and smile wide enough they’ll probably pass you a freebie or two.

Everything is transparent and open. You order from a tablet menu or flag down a waiter. The chefs joke, drink, slice and dice while occasionally shouting some unintelligible Japanese. The whole thing runs on a mixture of precision, chaos and late night booze energy. It’s the sort of place where you can turn up at 2 am, order a platter of toro and not feel remotely out of place. That’s rare in Tokyo.

The Itamae Sushi Akasaka Menu

The menu here is long, deep, and surprisingly affordable. This is not one of those sushi joints where a piece of fatty tuna costs half your rent. Most plates come in between ¥100–¥500 (about $0.65–$3.25), which means you can stack up ten or twelve dishes before it even starts to hurt.

The big sellers are what you’d expect. Bluefin tuna sashimi in all the cuts. Otoro, chutoro, akami. Wagyu beef sushi for the meat inclined. Grilled eel, buttery scallops, and horse mackerel that actually tastes like something. They’ve also got a selection of bizarre seasonal things like cockles, ark shell, and fish you’ve probably never heard of. One night they gave me conger eel with citrus paste and I didn’t even flinch.

There’s also miso soup, wagyu tataki, and a decent side of sides. If you’re looking to drink then the menu has you covered with highballs around ¥400 ($2.60), sake, beer, and the occasional weird fruit cocktail. There’s even a pet-friendly outdoor terrace if you want to share a yellowtail nigiri at ¥280 ($1.80) with your dog, yeah thats a thing here….

The Taste and The Vibe

For me Itamae Sushi Akasaka just resonates for pretty much everything that is good about Tokyo, Japan and Japanese cuisine in general. For example on my last visit I had blue fin tuna, wagyu sashimi, some free cockles and a high ball. This set me back less than $30. OK, so not exactly cheap, but cheap for Japan and quite literally proper high grade stuff.

And as for the vibe? Well yes it is a chain, but most everything in Japan is, yet it still gives you that homely vibe. And being located in Akasaka you get an eclectic bunch of people. My last jaunt had people dressed in cosplay, a foreigner who spoke Chinese and a very unconvincing transvestite. All the while outside drunken locals were being lured into girls bars that for whatever reason were all Vietnamese themed.

And you get to sit at the counter being served directly by the chefs as you watch this all happen. All very Tokyo if you ask me.