Two weekends of sushi indulgence (Part II)

As mentioned in the previous entry, a couple of my friends recently came to Japan on a working holiday (I never understood that oxymoronic term) and I had to bring them to our favourite sushi place in Tsukiji, Sushi Zanmai. The three of us were the epitome of the term tourists, as we were armed with our cameras, snapping away at the food as they were served and at the chefs on the other side of the counter. Here are my friends seated on either sides of me with their cameras:



Both A and C were delighted with this experience, which they claim is their first sushi experience in Japan. They were fascinated with the proper techniques of using the shoyu (soy sauce) dropper bottle and the correct way of dipping nigiri sushi in the plate of shoyu, so much so that they took photos of the techniques in action and put them up on their blog. Even though I'm not a tourist and have been to Zanmai countless of times, I still had my chunky dSLR on the ready so that I can show and tell on this blog. I was more preoccupied with chatting, ordering and eating than taking photos, so these are shots of only some of the sushi pieces we had.

Uni (sea urchin roe/gonads); Chuu-toro (medium fatty tuna belly) and Hotate (scallop):


Joh-Anago ("top quality" eel); Aburi-toro (flame-grilled fatty tuna belly) and Kazunoko (herring roe):


During lunchtime, there's usually a special item that is yakitate (freshly prepared), and it gets a special announcement with a bell and everything. Only the customers on the ground floor dining area benefits from this since the special item usually runs out really quickly (there are three floors in this branch), so Rob and I always felt like we missed out on something huge whenever the special item is brought out and we're on the upper floors. I was happy that a special item was brought out during our visit:



The special item was tamagoyaki (one of the many types of Japanese omelettes) with nori (seaweed):


My friends loved the Uni (it was their first time trying sea urchin "roe"/gonad), Joh-Anago, Chuu-toro and Hotate (scallops). They say it's the best sushi experience they've had, and it was my utmost pleasure to introduce them to it. It always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I know I've done good :)