It never ceases to amaze me the quality of the products in Tokyo. Sembikiya is the oldest fruit shop in Japan selling fruits of unbelievable quality you will get nowhere in the world. The fruits at the Sembikiya shops are so expensive that usually you buy them by units and…

If there is one sushi den in Manhattan that could be easily compared to top sushi restaurants in Tokyo, it would be Sushi Azabu. The location of the restaurant couldn’t be more unassuming and is typically Japanese. It is hidden in a basement of Greenwich Grill ( probably owned by…

I think that the appreciation of Japanese kaiseki art grows with experience. First time I had a kaiseki meal in Kyoto, I found it too unusual to enjoy. The flavours of most of the dishes were very mild, kind of “muted” and some of the ingredients were quite bizarre. Then…

“Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking” by Michael Booth is an amusing and super informative book about Japanese food and culture. If you are passionate about Japan like me, you will really enjoy it.

If you pass by this tiny Japanese restaurant in the 16th, you might not even notice it. The exterior and interior of Juan ( 144 rue de la Pompe, 75116 Paris, tel. 0147274351 ) are typically Japanese, very discrete and minimalist. When I sat down at one of the four tables…

A 342 kg bluefin tuna has been sold for a record $400 000 this morning. I guess it will be more and more expensive in the future because of the overfishing…

Ushiwakamaru (136 West Houston Street,10012, tel. 212-228-4181, New York) sushi bar on West Houston is one of my best discoveries in NY this year. If you are a sushi purist like me, you will love this simple place run by Japanese chef Hideo Kuribara where the product is the king.…

For years I considered Sushi Yasuda in New York as the benchmark for perfect sushi outside Japan, this time it was just a shadow of its former self. Everything seemed to be like always, yet the key element, the fish was much worse than previous times. The fish was dry…

After eating in all these “alpha” sushi places in Tokyo the standards for fish and rice get pretty high. I don’t want to sound snobbish – the first time I went to Japan I was so ignorant, I thought that sushis are the most basic meal to prepare, something everyone…

Sushis in a random sushiya somewhere in Japan.. Nothing in common with this or this. Looking from a European point of view, the fish in “a random sushiya somewhere in Japan” was still better than anywhere in Europe. The rice was a disaster though. You get what you pay for…