Travelling Sushi
Sushi has become a huge symbol and almost synonymous with Japan and the Japanese culture.
There is an annual Japanese Food and Sake festival, which hosted by the Japanese Food Culture Association. It includes sake tasting, cooking demonstrations, sushi eating competitions, and traditional Japanese events. In 2012 it was held at the Hilton Hotel at Los Angeles, Universal City on January 29th. Although the festival is already over this year, it’s almost guaranteed to come back next year.
For more information on the festival, visit http://japanesefoodsakefestival.com
An indepth review of the festival in 2009 can be found here : http://exilekiss.blogspot.ca/2009/03/introduction-to-japanese-food-and-drink.html
Should the festival be held at the same place and around the same time next year, the best hotel to go to would be the hotel that the festival is being hosted at! Hilton Hotel at 555 Universal Hollywood Drive in Universal City, California. For an adult, it would cost about $297 a night.
More information regarding the hotel can be found here : http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/california/hilton-los-angeles-universal-city-BURUCHF/index.html
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Supposedly the best sushi restaurant in the world is located in Tokyo, Japan. It is called Sukiyabashi Jiro run by Chef Jiro Ono. He is even considered a living national treasure by the Japanese government thanks to his contributions to Japanese cuisine.
Jiro Ono is the man on the left.
The Michelin Guide gave his restaurant 3 stars out of 3. Even being able to earn one single star is one of the greatest honours a restaurant can hope to achieve, so to get 3 stars is truly a feat. However, this restaurant costs a pretty penny. A full meal for a single person will cost around $300-$400. For example, this reviewer and his friend’s meal together cost approximately 70,000 yen, or about $865 CDN. His meal is blogged and can be found here : http://www.alifewortheating.com/tokyo/sukiyabashi-jiro Ingredients used are world-class, and it even has ingredients like vinegar specially manufactured to the Chef’s exact standards. Everything is made in a specific order, served at a precise temperature and time.
Here is the trailer of a documentary featuring him and restaurant :
Location of this restaurant is 2-15, Ginza 4-chrome, Chuo-ku, Koyo (Tsukamoto Bld B1F). Their phone number is 03-3535-3600, and their website is at http://www.sushi-jiro.jp/eng-index.html
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Finally, you should most definitely check out the infamous Tsukiji fish market. It is easily the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, also a major tourist attraction for foreigners. It is located in Tsukiji in the heart of Tokyo. The market varies from the smallest sardines and cheapest seaweeds to the most expensive caviar, 300kg+ fish and whales. The number of registered employees in 2010 was between 60,000 to 65,000 including auctioneers, distributors, wholesalers, accountants and more. Every year the total value is in excess of 600 billion yen, approximately 5.5 billion USD. This fish market and provides sushi restaurants with fresh fish. The majority of this fish gets bought by people who will then resell them to other companies or businesses all around the world. The fish and seafood you have at a local restaurant has a high chance that it has passed through this market before.
Located near this fish market are sushi restaurants who simply buy from the market in the morning to serve. All ingredients here are very fresh. There are over 50 sushi restaurants in the vicinity of the fish market , but one that is more well known is the Daiwa Sushi restaurant. Lines are known to be very long (up to 3 hours!), but it’s well worth the wait. The fish is as fresh as can be.
Located at Bldg 5-2-1, Market #6, Tsukaiji. Phone number for Daiwa Sushi Restaurant is #81 3 3479 5820
A hotel located in the Tsukiji area is the Dai-ichi Hotel Annex. One night costs approximately $209 USD. The hotel is located at 1-5-2 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-011. It’s about 1.32km from the Fish Market, which is very close. Should you hang around the area, you will experience, learn and taste many more types of sushi and all types of japanese cuisine!
The Dai-ichi Hotel Annex website can be found here : http://www.daiichihotel-annex.com/english.html