Our favorite sushi place was closed on a Tuesday. It would have been the perfect farewell dinner date before I left Japan for a month-long vacation back to my homeland. Since it was closed, I told my partner we should just look for some other place in Nakano, even though both of us didn’t like the idea of eating far from home.
Nakano isn’t really that far, but I didn’t want to get tired walking for 20 minutes or so. I still had to pack the rest of my things so I was conserving energy. But my energy was still wasted because we kept on walking and walking around the alleys of Nakano, looking for food. There were tons though but it didn’t really entice us. I guess we’re still hung up on the idea of eating sushi from our favorite place.
Til we found Ganso Zushi (元祖寿司). It’s on the main shopping street in Nakano, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as crowded as the other 2 sushi restaurants in the same street. We entered and then, I was a bit disappointed I wanted to go out right away. But since we’re already inside, it’s a bit awkward to go out. I didn’t want to be disrespectful.
The staff pointed us to an empty, small counter seat. She didn’t really come and ushered us or whatever, it’s as if she knew what we needed to do when in fact, it was our first time in the restaurant.
We had no idea where to find the menu. But since we saw some sushi in plates in the conveyor belt, we took those and ate them. My partner and I had been exchanging glances because both of us didn’t know the process in this restaurant.
There were tons of sushi. Well, that was the saving grace. Though the variety wasn't something I was fond of. There were some that I could recognized and can eat, so those were the plates I took.
Since this was already in front of me, I took it. This plate was Maguro Tataki (tuna) with green onions. Kinda similar to Negitoro or probably they're the same? I usually see the latter in a roll, not like this.
I couldn't remember what this was. I asked my partner if he remembered but he couldn’t remember its name. I remembered having one because my partner insisted to taste it. I guess it wasn’t that great because both of us couldn’t recall.
It was so silent in the restaurant. One movement from me and the sound would be heard in the entire restaurant. I know restaurants in Japan should be quiet but this level of quietness? I just cannot! 😅
There's one customer across us and he was eating peacefully. He called the attention of the sushi chef and murmured something. That's our cue that we could also order like that. The only problem was we didn't know what's in the menu.
I looked around and found a photo of トロ (read as toro). Toro is the fatty cut of tuna and have been our favorite in the favorite sushi place we always go to. I wanted to get it but I was too shy to talk.
I got this fatty salmon instead. This was okay. Tasty and juicy as I expected it would be. It should be, or else I would go home disappointed with dinner.
We realized the menu was just in front of us after all this time. It was so small and not recognizable right away so we didn't know that was it.
As for the drinks, they're on the wall. They even have miso soup and the steamed egg custard but I wasn't in the mood to order them. I couldn't help but compare it to our go-to sushi place where the soup was free of charge and they serve us hot matcha there. I just didn't like the customer service in here though I know it's like this in normal sushi restaurants.
The last one I ate was the Kani Miso (Crab Paste Miso). The volume was something I was happy, at least. They say kani miso is crab innards. Will you eat it if you know it is? I do, and I did. It's one of my favorites when in a sushi place. It's rich in umami.
The plates here were colored according to price. So now, we'd just have to count how many we had.
I had only a few plates and a matcha drink I made. When we have sushi, I always eat a lot but not this time.
Will I go back? I don't think so. I asked my partner if he liked it there but he didn’t. 😅 But I think it's a decent place. I was just probably comparing it too much to our go-to sushi place. Also, there are many sushi restaurants in Nakano that you could probably choose to go to, but they're usually full and this place isn't. Does it have a meaning? Who knows..
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.