Choosing Sushi Restaurant

Many people I met told me that they don't like sushi; upon pressing the matter, I learned that the place where they ate it was far less from ideal. It's sad to think that many people cannot enjoy sushi because of a bad first experience. The usual culprit for this is a combination of lack of tradition in the place where they ate and poorly prepared fish. All fish swim in the ocean, but not all fish are suitable for sushi because how the fish is handled, from the water to the sushi bar, greatly influences its quality.

* Eat only at the best place you can find. Many sushi bars are a bit expensive, but quality usually sucks, so price is no indicator of quality. Ask Japanese people where they go to eat sushi and go there.

* Stick to one or two good places once you find them. Regulars get better sushi and better overall service than casual patrons.

* The best sushi places I've been to in San Francisco, Mexico City, Zürich, Manhattan, Beverly Hills, Waikiki, Guadalajara, Paris, Moscow, Boston, Columbus OH (yes, you read that correctly), London, Amsterdam, Dallas TX, Milano, Toronto, Chicago, and Oslo have one thing in common: They have a very small sushi bar, i.e. they seat fewer than 12 people at the bar.

* A good Japanese restaurant is most often not a good sushi place. A good sushi place is usually a good Japanese restaurant.

* Count the number of Japanese sitting at the sushi bar. The more Japanese people eating there, usually the better the sushi. Remember: Japanese people are manic about quality.

* Most often than not, avoid the restaurants with little boats of sushi parading along a large sushi bar. It's a great gimmick, but remember that those restaurants are to sushi what McDonald's is to prime rib.

* The only chain of sushi restaurants in the world worth visiting (in fact, I encourage you to) belongs to Nobuyuki Matsuhisa. Nobu is arguably the best sushi chef in the world, and has opened a chain of small but high-quality (and pricey) restaurants in major cities in the US and in Europe. (eugeneciurana)

See also : soto, dim sum