Daisan Harumi

[Scharn]

Hey guys,

I just reserved Daisan Harumi for this weekend. Was wondering: Is there any specialty I should directly ask for?, or just get omakase and let the master pick everything.

Cheers!

[oppsie]

Incredibly stupid question I'm sure, but I'm in Japan for the first time and haven't really felt this out yet. What's dress code for Dai San Harumi (and the like...)? My hotel concierge was able to make a reservation for me tonight. Hoping somebody is reading this in time.

[Ninisix]

One drop of parfume, not more. Casual to simple dress is fine ad long as you feel comfortable.

[oppsie]

Thanks. Played it safe and wore ye olde black pants. Parfume...ew!

Kawashima-san took good care of us. There was only one other couple in the place (from 7-9p). Pretty quiet given my lack of Japanese but he and I made do with what little I do have. Many varieties of clam tonight, and the anago was excellent.

[Ninisix]

Good ! Wear fragance is not welcome.
You might have had one of my favorite clam (shell?) the 'torigai (=Japanese cockle)' that can be eaten only from April to June.
My first time at the sushi Daisan Harumi, after consideration of the Chowhound, used refined 'kouika (=seppia)' and 'toro-katsuo (=bonito going down south)' and was at the end of august !!!! 

[jem589]

I'm skeptical of any place mentioned too many times on Chowhound, but I had someone over for dinner on Saturday that raved at length about this place, so I booked to take friends there next week. Thanks in advance for the rec!

[Uncle Yabai]

All ye kiddies have good ol' Uncle to thank for this one. Speaking of which, Aso, Auntie, El Willy, and Uncle went to Saito a couple of weeks ago. Judges unanimously awarded to DSH on points, although the match went the full 15 rounds, and there were indications that Master Saito was punching above his weight early in the match.

[FourSeasons]

DSH over Saitou, no way.....

[Uncle Yabai]

You've been to both? What did you think?

[FourSeasons]

One lone visit to DSH for lunch about a year ago. Can't remember the details there; too much sushi since then. Very good sushi though, decent pricing for lunch but there is nothing there that captured my imagination that remained with me since then. On the other hand, I am much more familiar with Saitou, have been there like 3-4 times over the past few years. First visit it was just 1 star. I always joked with him that I brought him some luck as he always get an extra star after my subsequent visit. Prefer the dinner omakase there. Love the way he prepare his sashimi: shiroebi, tako, komotsi, awabi etc.

[Uncle Yabai]

Completely agreed, the opening dishes were uniformly excellent, and that was the reference to the opening rounds being in favor of Saitou-san. But once we've entered the marathon part of the fight, the score tilted in Nagayama-san's favor, not by much, but unanimous by all four judges, including Auntie who personally dislikes Nagayama-san for being such a hardass.

[Asomaniac]

I followed FourSeasons' recommendation and ordered the full dinner menu for lunch at Saito. The sashimi part featured some of the best seafood I had ever had: unbelievable uni, shiroebi, awabi, ankimo, karasumi and even shirako, which I normally don't like but which was out of this world at Saito.

Then the sushi came. Saito beat DSH in some rounds, but other things (kohada, tennen kuruma ebi, saba etc) were considerably better at DSH and overall it was a close, but ultimately pretty clear victory on points by DSH (sushi part only).

The most striking difference in quality to me was the saba. A few levels' difference between DSH and Saito.

[jem589]

I like saba. It is a tasty fish.

[Uncle Yabai]

I like saba too. And hard to find good saba, very hard to cook or serve as sushi properly.

[shekamoo]

how far in advance would you have to reserve for a weekday dinner?

[Whoiswen]

A week or less in advance should be fine. We just came back from Tokyo and had dinner at DSH on a Wed night.

The saba was definitely the best I've ever had (in my very limited exposure).

Also wanted to say thanks (think it was Uncle Yabai and Asomaniac) for recommending DSH on another thread- totally worthwhile experience!

[shekamoo]

Thanks!

[Asomaniac]

Just got back from another DSH session. Memorable saba as usual. Amazing tennen hotate, too. Kawashima-san asked after Uncle Yabai as he thought you were meant to be in Tokyo. i told him that you decided to go to Sushi Saito instead. He said he won't take your call next time you ring to book.

[Uncle Yabai]

Did you really? Thanks! Bite the hand that feeds you, and all that.

[FourSeasons]

@Aso @Yabai : any difference between the lunch and dinner omakase at DSH? Also any difference between the skill of Kawashima-san and Nagayama-san? I actually have on idea who the sushi chef was serving me at lunch time in DSH. But the guy was real friendly, does not sound like the "hardass" description that Yabai wrote, so perhaps Kawashima-san???

[HKTraveler]

Actually have not been back to DSH for several years now. Out of my 5 or 6 meals there which included both lunch and dinner, the dinner blows lunch out of the water and all of the really memorable pieces like the otoro sashimi were during dinner.

[Asomaniac]

It should blow lunch out of the water - lunch is a lot cheaper, except on Saturdays when it is the same price as lunch, but Saturday night according to Uncle Yabai is by far DSH's weakest slot of the week, quality wise.

[Asomaniac]

No, of course not. I just told him that you asked me to give them your regards.

[Uncle Yabai]

@Aso: Domo domo.

[Asomaniac]

In my other post, I meant last w/e in April, not the last w/e.

[Scharn]

yup, that was me. :-)

enjoyed the shop a lot and will go again next week. i notice that the couple (?) to your left sat there a very long time with just occasional sashimi. just when I was about to leave, their plates were exchanged for sushi plates.

did you ever try such a sashimi/sushi combination there? what should I budget? The lunch with a few extra orders was about 12000 yen. I would be willing to pay more, but i don't really want any 30000 yen surprises =)

[Asomaniac]

I have had it there on some previous visits and would recommend it. Have it with sake. Daisan Harumi only have one kind of sake, but it is very good and goes spectacularly well with the sashimi. I think we paid something like 4,000 Yen for the sashimi, so it is not expensive at all. You can always keep it manageable by going omakase for the sashimi and then - if you want to have more - order individual items.

On saturdays, you would never have a 30,000 Yen surprise, so no worries!

BTW, it is a shame that we are now in spring - I understand you are going to Europe for a while, but when / if you are back in Tokyo, make sure that you go in ther autumn or winter, the types of fish are much better than what is available now or in summer. If you want, you can join Uncle yabai and me sometime at DSH.

[Scharn]

sounds good, sollten wir mal machen wenn ich im winter wieder hier bin.

you probably know this already but DSH has an awesome book. they say its sold out, but i found a copy in jimbocho and it's just great. had the intern scan it and run OCR over it. this way it's a nice read -- without having to constantly look up strange fish kanji. really really interesting and beautifully executed.

ps: so sashimi is always just about Y4000 or on saturdays? if it's that cheap I could drop by DSH more often, just get some sashimi, some tuna cuts, some anago and uni and maybe pay around Y7-8000.cool.

[Asomaniac]

You lucky man! I tried to find the book, but have not been successful. It is even sold out on japanese amazon.com.

yes - no more than 4,000 for a normal sized portion of sashimi. I sometimes have that, followed by the 7,000 Yen omakase sushi. Morwe than enough for lunch.

Let us know when you are back.

[davew666]

ive got a copy, nice pictures - shame i can't read japanese!

there are second hand copies on amazon UK if youre interested

[Asomaniac]

Really? Great, thank you for the tip! Will check it out immediately!

[davew666]

im sure you can find it, but heres a link anyway

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sushi-Pie-Boo...

let me know if you have problems with postage, I can probably help out if needed

[Asomaniac]

brilliant, thank you so much!

[Scharn]

you can also get it for 1/5 of the price in jimbocho

[Asomaniac]

So basically, they sell it absolutely everywhere and i have just been totally useless in looking for it..!

[Scharn]

yup. kinda comes down to this. ;-)

[lost squirrel]

If you go looking in Jimbocho, let's get Kanzan ramen first!

[Uncle Yabai]

Well, remain illiterate no more! Nagayama-san has just published a version of the book in Japanese with English translation (and a pretty good one, actually), so you can read first hand his wise words about fish, the zen of sushi, and life in general.

[graceface]

That's great news! Indeed, Amazon and other retailers have pre-order pages up for the book, due out in April 2012. Looking forward to finally reading it! Thanks for the announcement :)

ISBN-10: 4756241344
ISBN-13: 978-4756241344

[Uncle Yabai]

April 2012? I am holding a copy in my greasy, grubby hands right now (well, not right now, because I am typing this, and I can't hold a book and type at the same time but you get the idea).

[miltronix]

April 2012 is a long ways off. I just picked up a copy of the bilingual version at Tsukiji last week for 2100Y.

[graceface]

Ah, I see, the stateside English listing is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Kazuo-Nag...

But I'll check out the bilingual one via Amazon Japan. Thanks for the tip!

[Asomaniac]

Always omakase, though if he does not include the anago, then do ask for it. The sauce is spiked with yuzu and out of this world. Also always make sure that you have the tennen kuruma ebi (wild prawn), which is the best I have ever had in a sushi place.

Were you at daisan harumi last weekend lunchtime (german speaker)? I happened to be there with a friend who was visiting that weekend.