Sushizanmai at Yodo-Akiba

Sushizanmai kaiten-style sushi, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

The other joint I wanted to try at Yodo-Akiba was Sushizanmai - a chain of sushi shops reputed to offer good tuna, with its special Tsukiji connections. There are two Sushizanmai shops here, a sit-down restaurant at 1F and a conveyor belt (kaiten-zushi) one on 8F. I just wanted a quick bite, so 8F it was, same floor as Unasho.

From top left: smoked salmon, tamago, snow crab and okra, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

We began with a medley of different stuff off the conveyor belt. All of which were decent but just so-so. We also had to contend with an extra wriggly baby in the cramped dining area, so enjoying the food was not easy.

Ohtoro (fatty tuna belly), originally uploaded by Camemberu.

All the tuna belly seemed to have been snapped up from the conveyor belt, so I ordered it a la carte. Ohh, thick and beautiful slabs of ohtoro arrived. But they were surprisingly tasteless. Guess I can't expect much for ¥398 per plate.

Chu-toro (medium fatty tuna belly), originally uploaded by Camemberu.

I then tried the chu-toro (¥298) for comparison. More ruddy looking than ohtoro but almost equally tasteless. If you blind-folded me, I wouldn't be able to tell you what fish it was.

Fruits - divine bites!, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Surprisingly, the most satisfying plate we had was of the fresh fruits - the melon was extra fragrant, the grapes were almost like wine! It was also the most expensive thing we had there (maybe ¥498 or ¥598).

Sadly the fish was disappointing. But oh well, serves me right for going to a conveyor belt joint (although I heard those in Japan can be good)! And somehow, this has put me off sushi for the next couple of days. Bleah.