Restaurants in Tsukiji Fish Market

Hi guys! I'm planning to head down to the fish market on a weekday in December.

While the tuna auction isn't what I have in mind, I thought of patronizing the sushi restaurants on the outer market. Anyone knows of their operating hours, best time to avoid queues (specifically, morning) and any recommended restaurants in the outer market area?

The only shops with long queues are the current tourist favorites, Sushi Dai and Daiwa.

I've found Sushi Sei to be quite reliable: http://www.bento.com/rev/0755.html
It's fairly spacious, so even if there's a line it moves fast.

Uogashi Senryo does a nice hitsumabushi-style chirashi: http://www.bento.com/rev/3214.html

If you really want to dine at Sushi Dai, better be there at about 5am to queue. They open at 5.30am and when I got there before 6am on a weekday in February this year, there were already some over 20 ppl in the queue.

I ate at Daiwa instead which hardly had a queue then but a short queue started to form as we were halfway through our meal.

I read that Sushi Dai is better though in terms of variety and their set being more worthwhile. But you might have to take a cab if you really want to get there that early to queue since the trains don't operate till 5ish. Was told a cab ride from Shinagawa costs around 3,650 yen or so.

OP said they wanted to eat in the Outer Market, which I think is a much better idea than wasting two or three hours of your life waiting on line for an Inner Market tourist trap like Sushi Dai or Daiwa.

To be honest, I'm open to any suggestions. Heck, I didn't even expect any of the restaurants there to have websites, something which I was looking for.

Outer or inner is fine to be honest, I just hoped to have a rough gauge of the time, so I can decide if I want to stay overnight near the area or keep to my original plans in Ikebukuro.

Earliest I would reach if coming from Ikebukuro might be 5.15am, so if the outer market restaurants aren't as packed at later times, I would definitely go there instead.

Sorry for double post, can't find the edit button.

Umami Dearest: I've just checked out the two links and yeah, I guess I could drop by and try those, since they open later.

And I might be trying to find a needle in the ocean, but do any of the suggestions by everyone so far happen to offer menu in English/Chinese or at least in Romanji? I can guess some words if they are in Kata as I'm Chinese, but my Japanese is terminally bad.

I can't remember if Sushi Sei has an English menu, but the menu itself is pretty simple - just order a set menu at a set price rather than sushi by the piece. (Almost everyone orders a set menu.) They also had some English-speaking staff if I remember correctly.

Ah that's good to know. Thanks!

I've eaten at Sushi Dai, Sushi Daiwa, and Sushi Bun, and they're all ok. I agree that waiting in line for these is likely a waste of time. You get 10 to 13 Nigiri for about Y3000 to Y4000 or so at all these places.

I know of no high end sushi places in Tsukiji, if that

I would suggest Zanmai. It's a chain, and there are blog posts that shoot this place down and others that tout it. I've been there twice, and it really is a bargain. Not gourmet, but the fish is very very fresh.

http://www.kiyomura.co.jp/

Seven of us ate there this summer, and we spent less than about Y13,000 for a filling lunch. I know for sure there are two zanmai in the outer market (maybe three?), and at least one is open 24/7, even when Tsukiji is closed. The best thing is that there is seldom a line (the places are large). We waited about 15 minutes because we wanted a table to accomodate all seven of us.

Dale

My objective is to simply try out the freshest fish from Tsukiji, since my parents who had went last year insisted that I go try, and I'm a fan of fresh fish myself, having being brought up in a family who's chef (read: my mother) insists on best ingredients.

I'm glad to know of numerous recommendations from this forum now. With the outer ones seemingly to open later (at least 7 or 8), I wouldn't need to consider staying in the Tsukuji area to visit to avoid long lines.

These are the restaurants for the inner market: http://www.tsukijigourmet.or.jp/ with their opening times.

Not in English but there are photos. Seems like they no longer state the prices though. Prices are quite affordable, from under 2000 yen.

Some of the places like Sushi Dai and Daiwa only offer one or two sets. Most ppl order the 3500 yen set, so it's quite straightforward. They don't have a menu for ala-carte orders I think.

CLLR, that is a very useful link.

Here are links to english translations of the zanmai websites. You can access menus online too. Set menus vs a la carte. They had a nice 3 piece akami/chutoro/otoro combo for \595 when I was there. They have picture menus there.

http://tinyurl.com/zanmaimain

http://tinyurl.com/zanmaiannex

Dale