Daisan Harumi is not a fancy sushi place, it is a counter seat and bar style place which serves some excellent sushi at more reasonable prices compared to some of the top sushi places in Tokyo. Sushi here is served by Chef Kazuo Nagayama. Chef Nagayama is a well-known authority on sushi in Japan. He has not only done sushi for over 50 years, but written various books on sushi, including an encyclopedical bilingual guide that describes a magnitude of different fish.

You can also expect a wide variety of fish here, with just some examples being aji (horse mackerel), maguro (tuna), anago (freshwater eel), saba (mackerel), Japanese prawns, abalone and geoduck. Recommended is to go for the omakase (Chef’s choice) so you get to taste the wide selection.

Chef Nagayama is not only an artist in sushi, but also in calligraphy and pottery. He handwrites the beautiful menus and all the porcelain is made by him. The menus in Japanese contain several details of not only the type of fish, but where it comes from, the fishing method and even how it was killed.

Daisan Harumi is not the place to go if you are looking for beautiful interior design, instead the place is functional and the full attention is on the fish. The sake is also recommended as Chef Nagayama has put a lot of effort into finding the perfect matching sake. Even the nori (seaweed), which Chef Nagayama uses, is unique and is the original Asakusa nori used in Edomae sushi.

Even though Daisan Harumi is not as refined as some of the top sushi places, Chef Nagayama is a great artist, who takes pride in his craft, from the wonderful fresh selection of the fishes to the details in his pottery and calligraphy. He is highly ranked in Japan thanks to his high quality sushi and long experience and he will make your meal a great sushi discovery.

Written by Joakim