Things you don't eat at home every day: the best sushi ever - Sushi Dai

So, here we are. We've just left the Tsukiji Market, but we're not sure exactly where we are on the map, let alone where Sushi Dai is. This is our first morning in Japan and my vocabulary is not very extensive, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I find a friendly-looking old man near a temple, and I jump straight in "sumimasen, Sushi Dai wa doko desu ka?" And he gives me an answer. And of course I don't understand a single word, but he points right, and he makes a gesture that represents several tall buildings, so we set off in the general direction. After a further enquiry and even less understanding of the answer, we find ourselves just in front of it.

And the queue isn't too bad - 6 or 8 people ahead of us. That means a waiting time of less than an hour, we hope. Sushi Dai has a reputation. It rates very high on Trip Advisor. Some people say that it's charging well for its reputation with Americans rather than for its food. Well, on the day we were there, we were the only Western tourists, and my guess is that all the other customers were Japanese. They could have been Chinese or Korean, true, but I think they were Japanese. And the food was glorious. Not cheap, yes, but absolutely delicious. I don't think I'll ever be able to have sushi in Ireland ever again. We went for the set meal - omakase - and we were delighted with what the chef presented us with. (There was one Japanese man on his own beside us ordering à la carte, and he got more weird and wonderful choices than the majority of customers, but on our first day, I don't think we were quite ready for that.). Tuna, Horse Mackerel, Sea Urchin, Salmon Roe, tamago omelette, Unagi eel, clam, amongst others. All extraordinarily tasty and fresh. And of course miso soup and green tea.

And the experience was great too - Sushi Dai is a tiny restaurant - you eat at the bar, along with another 12 customers or so. There is no room behind you. And you watch the chefs prepare your food, right in front of your eyes. It was so good, I forgot to take pictures of every dish. Anyways, without a flash, the pictures I took didn't turn out great, so you'll just have to believe me. Best sushi I ever had! And first time I had sushi for breakfast! Sushi Dai is definitely a must do if you're in Tokyo. PS: as there were very few tourists in Japan during our visit (last 2 weeks in April), we only had to queue for 40 minutes. PPS: the Sushi Dail link just above looks like a good food porn blog, if you're into that kind of thing!