I Tried the WORLD'S #1 Sushi Restaurant in JAPAN (Impossible to Book)
Join me in Japan, Tokyo at the best sushi restaurant, Nihonbashi Kakigara-cho Sugita. Led by master chef Takaaki Sugita, this episode explores the art of Edomai sushi and the chef's journey from apprentice to sushi virtuoso. A unique journey into the heart of Japan's best sushi destination.
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Instagram - / alexandertheguest
My name is Alexander. I’m the co-owner of a ONE Michelin star restaurant, and I’m on a mission - to find inspiration in gastronomy. I love fine dining, good wine and sharing what I know with other people.
Check out my restaurant:
/ 42restaurant
#Sugita #TokyoSushi #michelinstar #BestSushiJapan #EdomaiSushi #JapaneseCuisine #SushiArt #TokyoDining #GourmetJapan #TakaakiSugita #MichelinStarSushi #SushiExperience #TokyoFood #CulinaryExcellence #JapaneseTradition #FineDiningJapan
There's something very admirable that the majority of the reservations to this restaurants are booked by locals, and not by the ultra-rich.
Many western high end restaurants are moving towards this idea - obviously its not a new idea in Japan, though. There’s a lot of places moving towards the idea of a “qualified diner”, some restaurant groups won’t even allow people to book certain restaurants unless they’ve visited their other venues and proved to be capable of being well behaved. Obviously the super rich will always be able to dine pretty much wherever they like, but there is a strong movement away from people that want to be seen at restaurants and towards people that enjoy them. It’s divisive, but if the movement keeps growing hopefully it will encourage people to enjoy the moment more.
They are booked by the ultra-rich of Japan and the ultra-rich foreigners who have connections through hotels and business partners in Japan 😅
Japan is pretty notorious for having places mostly for their own people
Yeh, the locals are all going out for $375 meals of tiny bits of fish. 🙄
I can imagne many high end restauarnts are cornered by an utterly boring uber wealthy jet-set, but still, to pay 350 Eur for a meal you need to be pretty incredibly wealthy, not just local
Thanks to the chef for letting you film
Love you using a local guide instead of Michelin to choose this restaurant. I find that Michelin inspectors use certain criteria in their decision-making that I don't always love. Getting ratings from locals is often an amazing way to find incredible places to eat!
While maybe the Michelin guide is useful if you like French cuisine, it's arrival in Japan was very suspect and draws into question it's ratings for Japan. Like you can look up lists by cuisine/country and as you would expect, you'd see France as having the most stars being that Michelin is a French company. What you wouldn't expect is that Japan comes in second. Japan has good food no question, but for a country that Michelin only started going to in 2007 makes you wonder. And you wouldn't be alone since when it happened, the Michelin guide was heavily criticized and some Japanese restaurants/chefs refusing the stars because Michelin was awarding stars partially for marketing their guide and new expansion out to Asia so them awarding stars in Japan was profit driven which makes their guide for Japan suspect.
The main reason though this restaurant is not in the Michelin guide, is because it's technically near impossible to visit if you don't have connections.
The French know nothing about non French food. It’s useless outside Europe.
Probably paid sponsor
Michelin guide is dumb anyways. It started out as a food guide for people traveling by car in the early 1900s so they knew what places were good to eat at as a scheme to get people to buy more cars. Now its just a dumb "gold star" that says you met some foreigner's stupid high standards. I remember watching iron chef japan as a kid and they had some Michelin guide people on the judges panel and they hated everything and thought every dish was some bastardized western food. I like it when people turn down michelin stars. You dont need one to get people to come in. If your food is good and the service is good, people will come. Its why my favorite places to eat are mom and pop hole in the wall joints or dives. The decor may be outdated and they aint serving you caviar and foie gras, but gimme a big plate of wok hei chow fun with gai lan and beef over that any day served by a chef who knows he loves what he does and the folks that pop by for their homemade dishes
Dude, you’re one of the best travelers of world restaurants I have witnessed. Your compliments are the best. You are decent because you admit when you don’t understand the flavors, I respect that deeply. Most importantly, thank you for letting me see what I would not be able to without you.
Let's make this top comment
wrrrr
Frfr
He is definitely the best on KZhead
Bro I wanted to say exactly the same! ❤
Henry tearing up and experiencing food at 10:09 is really amazing… you can see how much this sushi meant for him
I'm quite sure he just had too much wine and was nursing a headache
wake up babe, Alexander The Guest posted
Lmao glad I’m not the only one to wake up my other half for these amazing pieces of work
LOLLL true😂
Hell yeah!!
hahaha it's so true
hahhahaha sameeeee
Some highly underrated thing that I love about your vids is that you credit all the B roll footage you get, its very easy to just take some else's footage, but its awesome you do that. I also love that you have subtitles, thats just going the extra mile.
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This might be my favourite one yet, the pure joy on both your faces, trying something you are not well versed in, how high end but personal the whole episode was, this one was pure class.
i live in japan and i love the philosophy of kintsugi - finding beauty in imperfection, highlighting, not hiding the brokenness, and being made whole again with something precious.
That's very deep. It's something that hits home for Japanese people too. As you probably sense it, it's not just referring to pottery. It symbolizes life itself.
@@yo2trader539 exactly. it’s a beautiful metaphor.
Being a foodie here in Japan and having been to dozens of the greatest sushi restaurants (including Sugita and Saito mentioned), I was very positively surprised to see that you did top notch research. Normally you would expect reviewers coming to Japan just to go to the famous places (which generally cater to foreigners and fall far from the greatest restaurants) or follow the international guides (The World's 50 Best Restaurants has listed "Den" as the top restaurant in Japan for many years, which is a total joke according to the foodie community here), so when you mentioned that you had been to Tokyo in a recent video I feared that you had ended up at one of these places. So when you mentioned Sugita, and also its top spot on Tabelog, I knew that you had been in safe hands. Although that being said, Tabelog is unfortunately also not very accurate because the scores are weighted to certain approved reviewers, so unless your restaurant is often frequented by them you cannot increase your score over a certain number, thus heavily favoring the approved reviewers top spots. Because of this Tabelog is also generally useless outside main cities, and even the Tokyo suburbs, since the approved reviewers do not go there and restaurants are stuck at a permanent maximum low score. In the end, word by mouth through other foodies is the best way to find the truly greatest spots. Also, while you can get some decent hints, Guide Michelin is also not a great one to follow since many top restaurants even refuse to be a part of it, plus it does not have the same prestige as overseas so most chefs do not care about catering to the Michelin standards (and also do not care about their stars at all). Hope you will continue your research and come back for some other of the top spots, and of course explore outside of Tokyo as well!
Wooow super awsome info!
This is not just a food & travel channel ....This is a cultural documentary that makes me appreciate our planet and I will support this channel till I'm an old woman. 🥰👍🥰👍
Whoever is the editor and animator, PLEASE give him a raise. Zseniális mint mindig.
Might be my favourite episode ever, I love Sushi. The level of accuracy those sushi masters reach is something you can’t experience in any other cuisine.
I really love how you scale your expectations regarding atmosphere and decor with the place, culture, intent and are always ready to accommodate.
My favorite video you’ve done to date. Your respect for the Japanese culture and way of doing things is beautiful. So happy for you that you’ve had this experience! And major kudos for your pronunciations - very good job! This continues to be the best food and restaurant content to be found! ❤❤❤
His pronunciation on Japanese words is actually better than I see in most KZheadr videos too. I was kind of surprised.
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Thank you for this quality content, its an amazing way to look into the fine dining experience. Perfect vid as always
Cool to see you use an other local way of determining the restaurant would be cool in different countries too
I can't believe you actually went to Sugita!!! I've been disappointed that hardly any westerners post videos about Sugita, especially since it is praised so highly here in East Asia.(many consider him as 'The God of Sushi') Whenever I saw a western review video about a sushi place in Japan, swooning extravagantly over some kind of 'respect' and 'artistic culture', I thought "These guys know nothing about real sushi..." But your choice of restaurants is fine as always. You, sir, have gained another layer of my respect. The quality of your videos are unrivalled. Proud to be subscribed ever since your first video and will stay tuned for more excellent gourmet content!
I absolutely love how this channel has evolved! It looks like you had lots of fun in this episode, and you seem a lot more relaxed and happy narrating it! 8:50 was really humorous, and I'm glad you had such a great time. The editing, storytelling, and pacing were all also great. Can't wait till the next episode!
While it may not have been apparent, the order the fish is served in and the temperature of the rice and fish are all meticulously planned. You may not have noticed, but chef Sugita was likely varying the time he'd work shaping each piece so it would be served at the proper temperature to get the best flavor. The only downside to eating sushi at a place this good is it makes typical sushi seem like junk food versions of the real thing forever after.
Massive respect to Alexander that used a local guide to pick up the best restaurant and not a Michelin star
When Science and Art meet in perfect harmony: Sugita San, watching you brought tears to my eyes! Thank you Alexander for taking us on this ride with you...
Loved this. I LOL when you commented using the word sh*t while trying your best to pick up that first piece of sacred sushi. It reminded me of one of those broken little cups that they fix representing ourselves one day. 😎 That was so nice that the Japanese man helped you to get in there. I have been to Japan a few times. Used to live in Asia. They are so polite and friendly there. Everything is so organized. Clean. Things the rest of the world could really learn from.
That was something else, it's a privilege to experience what Sugita is, something that many will never be able to in person. Thank you Alexander
Sugita-San and his staff are amazing. Even though he doesn’t speak English, he is very welcoming and warm. Iba-san, his head sou chef is fluent in English will help translate and explain things to you. It’s definitely an incredible experience. Top restaurants in Japan are so incredibly hard to get into now. Sushi Amamoto (#3 ranked sushi in tabelog and had 2 stars) also was removed from the guide this year. If you’re traveling to Japan, use Tabelog as a guide. Any fine dining over 4 is quite good. Anything above 4.5 is top of the top.
Why were the stars removed?
Amamoto made reservations not open to the public like many other top level restaurants in Tokyo. A lot of these places are tiny and only hold 9-10 seats per serving. So they are maybe serving 20-30 people per day. The regular and the people who they bring take up 99% of the slots . The demand is so overwhelming it that losing stars on michelin wont affect the restaurant. These restaurants have tried to alleviate this with private rooms and side counters, manned with sou chefs but these eventually get scouped up immediately
Though iba san has gone ages ago
@@Solomonsjcshe was there in September but I guess she must have left recently since her IG says Ex sou chef. She’s in this video 5:25
As a Chef trying to work up and get better i found your Channel and i've just been binging these videos non stop i love them! Glad to catch a new one
Very nice to see different types of cuisine on your channel. Appreciate the quality as always!
Thank you, Henry, for letting Alexander and us alongside with him see this side of Japanese high class dining!
Fresh wasabi is really easy to grow in temperate climates. I've been growing it under a large tree for years in the garden and just make sure its protected from frost.
I'm actually shocked by how unassuming and simple the restaurant and food looked. I've been to fancier looking Japanese restaurants with better looking dishes. Really shows the essence of the food and simplicity is all that matters.
Excellent review of your experience at the best sushi restaurant in the world. Simply magnificent sushi prep. I always love Alexander, how you relate your experience with such humanity, such as fumbling that one piece of nigiri. ❤
actually so pleasantly surprised by the quality of this video and the clear depth of effort. the pronunciations, the digging beyond western michelin guides, not orientalizing japanese culture while still highlighting unique aspects, just all around amazing video. way better than any ive seen in this genre
i truly believe the best restaurants in the world are those that no one knows about. the kind of place that a chef runs out of a passion so pure that only a select few ever get to experience and be a part of. as much as a restaurant stays with you, the experience of cooking the perfect dish and serving it to another stays with the chef, that kind of experience cannot be commercialized. it was very interesting watching you go to a place that is not on the Michelin guide, and i truly hope to visit such a place one day. thank you to Alexander and Sugita-san for putting this on the internet, much love from Switzerland.
At 10:06, seeing your friend having a full-blown existential crisis made me laugh so hard. What an experience this must have been, even coming back monthly as you said he does. So blessed!
PFFT. You simps are a dime-a-dozen. 'Existential crisis'... He was fuming from the wasabi, jakaz z.
wrrrrr
Existential crisis? Feeling heat from wasabi qualifies as an 'existential crisis'. Your parents shouldn't have dropped you.
@@CooManTunes Lol aww someone's unable to process emotions. It's okay buddy, one day when you're an adult these big ideas won't be so hard to understand :)
@@noahvanderveer-harris4257 Don't blame me because your parents dropped you.
One of my most favorite episodes for sure. I can live on sushi alone. When you and your guide closed your eyes and he sometimes was close to tears as to how delicious the food was I totally related.
I like this style of video compared to the others, it feels much more respectful of other diners' privacy
We have been to a few very similar Japanese restaurants in Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima. No tourists - just locals. Everyone sits at the counter and just a dozen or so seats. Everything prepared fresh right in front of you. It's amazing and the chef's love it when their exquisite skills are appreciated. I loved the mirror polished knife. Great review ATG. Your channel is outstanding.
Just find this channel past 5 days, In love with the Food Experience and Classy story telling. Best Food, Great Experience, Classy Story Telling and neat video editing. Keep up!
I imagine you have been binge-watching his videos?!
Magical. As a sushi apprentice and michelin cook, when i go to omakase experiences i pay attention to everything and tend to end the menus exhausted more mentally than "stomackly". Making difficult and delicious stuff is fascinating. But making difficult and delicious suff be seen as simple is only for few chosen ones. Have a nice day ^^
Love the introduction to Tokyo and the chef! Great to see you branching out a bit. It was always interesting in Japan seeing how the Tablelog guide and the Michelin guide differed on certain restaurants. As a Westerner, I found sometimes I was agreeing with each, depending on the place. An example of each: I was at a 2* place in Tokyo that served French cuisine; nice but I wasn't impressed, easily my weakest 2* experience (and worse than many non-starred French places I've been to). It was scored around 3.8 on Tabelog. I also went to a restaurant that had 4.43 on Tabelog, which puts it in the top 1000 in the country (it had one star); there were three dishes that were good (not great), the rest were very underwhelming.
Pain in the ketsu hahahahaha, I love how formal you always are, even when needing another language to swear while still seeming hospitable and formal.
Fun fact: this random guy Henry's restaurant was once the #1 ranked Yakiniku restaurant in Japan as well.
Fantastic! Lucky you! keep it up, one of the best channels on You Tube, I was here when Alex had 10,000 subs. Doing good, keep it up.
The two greatest cuisines in the world are Japanese and French, but for exactly the opposite reasons. The French cuisine takes ingredients thru a complex process to create something entirely new. The Japanese cuisine takes ingredients thru a complex process to get at the essence of the ingredient.
I bought wasabi root for my self once. I live in Switzerland. It’s amazing and tastes different than horseradish or “fake wasabi” although it is to a certain degree similar.
Few will get a chance to eat here and all I can say is you have made it look quite magical! Great content sharing!
I really love the story you shared about the broken dinnerware, how they fix it and the reasons why, that is so beautiful
my favorite thing about dining in japan is that online review sites are actually accurate. people genuinely consider 3/5 stars average, so great restaurants start at like 3.5 stars and you start finding gems at 4 stars. even at 3 stars i’ve been to a few places that had really standout dishes, it was just other things that brought the review down. in nyc every goddamn restaurant has 4 or above, and so much of reviews are based on hype. i’ve been to some 4.5 starred places that were mid as fuck, and some 3.5 hidden gems
very interesting to see your take on sushi. having really good sushi in japan is one of the only fine dining experiences I've had, and I completely understand the inability to fully convey just how unique it is in flavor and texture.
Traditional exclusivity and luxury in Japan is almost always understated. The exceptional aspect is the quality of the craftsmanship and resources used.
one of alexanders best videos for sure, absolutely loved every minute of it!
Jiro dreams of Sushi is one of my favourite documentaries. It really made me appreciate the artistry of Sushi-making!
I'm glad Alexander knows about Tabelog (食べログ). You'll see how passionate many people in Japan are about their food. They write friggin' novels disguised as restaurant reviews. You'll usually see places with a high 3 have a line during lunch and dinner. Mind you, a high 3 is quite high already considering how critical Tabelog users are.
Thank you for taking me there!
Love the video !!! What a special treat, and what a cool experience. It reminded me of a 2 Michelin star sushi omakase restaurant in NY. Very comparable experience; difficult to find the entrance, small place, sushi by hand, etc. Thanks again, loved your video !
Ur pronunciation of these places is top tier your incredible the one true goat of the restaurant reviews !!
Your pronunciation of the restaurant was spot on! Consider me impressed
Thank you Alexander
A huge thank you, once more! this was so touching!
the second appetizer roll is about as perfect as any roll can be
Production quality is off the charts on this one!
I really hope to visit too
you are so elegant in criticizing...I love it
Truly, true luxury is tradition done over the top. Without tradition, it's just expensiveness. Japan and it's sushi tradition is a reminder of us that we should push our own tradition to the limit, to make something beautiful
As a Chef I may not agree with many Restaurants Featured. But as a Chef Humility must be present. I honestly thought this might be a feature on Jiro. But to find out the Shady practice of Reservations in Japan was something I Just Learned. As well as Japanese People taking back their Cuisine. AMAZING STUFF ALAXANDER
I LOVE the broken and repaired dishes.. The Food looks GREAT. Too bad MOST will NEVER get to experience it.. Such is life
I just had my first shift as a professional Sushi Chef in Chicago yesterday. I wish we had real wasabi at work, and I wish we didn't use so much frozen fish (it's hard to get fresh ocean fish in the Midwest)! But the job is still fun as hell and I'm improving rapidly. I'd love to visit Tokyo someday and see Sugita-san's incredible work myself!
That knife! I'm a chef and blade sharpener, the pursuit of excellence in everything I just watched is humbling. Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing! Who knows, we may never get a reservation.
I have been waiting for you to do Japan and sushi in particular. More of this please. My wife and I are planning a trip to Japan and hope to eat and an upper-level sushi spot.
Bro this channel has been such a pleasure to watch. The growth rate speaks to the quality of the videos
Fool.
I might give you you a hard time sometimes, But I really do enjoy your Channel . But I would be interested to see you review like a place that you had been when you were just starting out as a Sous Chef that has like a special place in your heart ❤️. And what that experience was like.
Well, as far as I know he never was a sous chef, nor a chef of any kind - he's a filthy rich businessman who happens to be into fine dining...
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@@sophisticated9999 He owns a restaurant in Hungary. In one of his first videos he says hes doing these travels to gather impressions on what to change and improve in his own restaurant. Its true hes not the chef though. Not that I care. Im just glad he chooses to share all of this and in such a well-edited manner. And I can watch it all for free.
And the best part about Japan is that for about a 10th the price of this meal, you can still get sushi that is 100 x better than anything you will find in the west. Eating in Japan is an absolute dream!
Again how does this channel not have a million subscribers yet?!?! Proud to say I was here before that mark💪🏾🔥
If I had a Michelin restaurant, I would set up a small area for photographing the dishes, and just put them on a DVD for the customer to take
Just a note, Edo style isn't "fresh". Great care by chef is made into properly aging it (sometimes for up to a week), to bring out all of the great umami flavors you taste. So you're paying not only for the presentation, temperature management, rice prep and cutting skills, you're paying for the extreme care in curing the fish to just the perfect flavors that occurs days before you step into the resto. As a fun pairing, try semillon like white bdx next time instead of champagne.
Such a high quality video. Storytelling, the story itself, footages(especially the small details mentioned like the chef's scooter), and the edits on the video are all phenomenal. A very fitting video for a very exquisite restaurant experience.
Amazing as usual. Thanks Alexander!
Anyone else notice the floating dragons slot music in the background of the intro?
Thanks for the video
"and I fumble it.. shit" LMAO 😂😭
Japan is a special place. From high priced sushi to yakitori on the street. The food is the best in the world IMHO.
Michelin guide is NOT the thing to follow in Japan, as you did right. Tabelog is waaaaay better in Japan not even comparable.
You can find very good affordable sushi restaurants in Japan. The price range is usually between 50 USD to 100 USD and the quality is probably similar to those Micheline start restaurants.
The food looks absolutely amazing and i can't wait to visit Tokyo
He should be on a food network. Im poor as can be, and could never afford these meals nor could i travel really, but i love watching his videos. I love the concept of traveling to the best restaurants
It looks like they actually gave you time to really experience the whole meal at a decent pace unlike others that forcefeed each course down your throat like a firehose.
Love Tokyo, so many great food options.
What about Sukiyabashi Jiro? It’s that still the best? Or one of?
Not really, it was only the best because of that documentary. It is good but it's not usually considered the absolute top tier. He also rushes, the entire dinner is like 25 minutes and you're told to obey a ton of rules. None of that innately bothers me, like all these places have customs to follow though Jiro is 10x worse but the style itself is not as good.
It's good but like radical said, not really one of the best. Tabelog lists Sugita as #1, but like most top ranking Tabelog restaurants, they fall under the category of "ichigensan okotowari" - that is, no entry without introduction. Basically, you need to be invite by a regular and if they like you enough, you can become a regular. I'm personally a fan of "Sho-style" sushi with places like Sushi Sho or Sushi Sho Masa, where they have a distinctive style of sushi preparation.
Jiro in Ginza is currently ranked #101 on tabelog in the category sushi.
Wow. This was so cool. Love how much context you provide. *Amazing Stuff*
Japan is a must visit country for people who love to eat good food. It is the best place for restaurants & food. Also other cool things.
Yes new video, and it's all sushi! I love sushi, so I'm excited to watch this video!
when you eat nigiri try flipping it so the seafood is on your tongue and the rice is on the top so you get the fragrance and scent of the rice more, and the flavor of the seafood on your taste buds
Michelin Guide is good for western food. Many of their recommendations for Asian food turns out to be very fusioned. Don't get me wrong, their recommendations for French, German, and Italian restaurants are amazing, but their stars on Asian restaurants does not necessarily mean the food is good in a local sense.
For sushi, the Tabelog Gold, Silver and Bronze winners are soooc damn good. You can't go wrong. Just count your blessings (and friends) if you can get a booking.
Cooking media in Japan must be really inspirational for people in the industry.
The fish is aged for several days for more umami, they are fresh at the time of procurement but 'aged' at the time of serving, perhaps you can make a video on this!
In all the channels I am subscribed to and all the different walks of life I am interested in… this is my favourite channel on KZhead. I’m am addicted.
Sushi here in Ireland is good so can you just imagine how good it is there!
I thought instantly about Jiro from the document "Jiro dreams of sushi" and his place, called the best one in Tokyo. I don't know if he still owns this place or if his son does. I hope Alexander will visit this place as well ❤ Anyway, it's incredible that Alexander was allowed to take the pictures and make a video! 🙌👏