Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Like-Sushi

Last Sunday we went to Todai Restaurant , a Japanese Buffet restaurant. Of course they have sushi. Their sushi rating for me is just "ok". So don't expect too much. But if you like sushi and want to eat a lot, this is a good restaurant for you. When I was eating, I saw a table mat that tells you where their current locations are and where future locations will be. I knew about this restaurant since I was in LA in 1996. I saw ad from a Japanese free magazine so many times. They are expanding and opening a new location rapidly since then. Back then I didn't go there because I didn't have any company. Fortunately my friend also started working in LA that time. So I finally got company and we went to the Beverly Center branch that just opened that time. That was the first Todai experiencere for me. Then whenever my wife and I went to LA and had a chance, we ate at other Todai locations, too. I know there are several locations in Northern California these days. But this has just been recently. IThere is no need to go south any longer. But I still like Beverly Center's because we can eat quickly. In the other Todai restaurants..they've divided the food sections and they all have long lines. They require that you start at the beginning of a section even if you just wanted something from the end of that food section. It can be frustrating during rush hour and you happen to stand in line behind a person who takes his/her time deciding what to pick from the buffet table.

Anyway I thought I read somewhere that they planned to open one in Japan as well. But I didn't see anything in the mat. However, even if they will open one in Japan, I don't think they can succeed.

1. The price

Their price is so expensive. If I paid same price in Japan, I'd rather go to regular sushi restaurant or sushi boat restaurant.



2. Like-Sushi

Truly said, it's not only Todai but others provide us "foods". I can't call these foods as sushi. I call it a "like-Sushi ". Most restaurant didn't know how important sushi-meshi(rice) is. Sushi is an art and a combination of sushi-dane(raw fish etc.) and Sushi-meshi. If we are missing one of them, it's not sushi anymore. Sushi-meshi mainly includes vinegar, salt, and sugar. These ingredients pull taste of fish out. So that's why it's very important. I was surprised Todai's big change. When they make sushi, they give us more fish but reduce sushi-meshi to 50% . 50% means they didn't just make narrow sushi-meshi. They just cut it in half like breaking a block. It's not good looking anymore. I don't know customers want these kind of sushi or not. For me, it just made me disappointed like "Is this a joke? ".



3. Sushi-dane

This is not only Todai, too. I think we can get same quality of Maguro, Hamachi, Salmon from anywhere.. They might think as long as they got only these items for good fish, they might not care other fish quality.. But these items are just basic and nothing special for me. Other fishes are a point. Specially hikarimono is most important for sushi. Hikarimono is Saba, Iwashi, Kohada, and Sayori. Real hikarimono is very tasty and sushi chef can't make good hikarimono sushi if they don't have real skill. I still couldn't see any good quality of them in USA. Also this is not fish..but Dashimaki Tamago (egg w/ stock) is a point, too. You know tamago from sushi restaurant is also tasty, too. This also needs a special skill to make one. In conclusion, Good hikarimono selection & Good Dashimaki Tamago = good & real sushi skill = good sushi restaurant.










So, because of these reasons, I don't think they will not be able to succeed in Japan even if they will plan to open. There are so many good sushi chain restaurants in Japan and they always have to compete with the skill and quality.



I grew up near Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. Almost every weekend, my parents went to Tsukiji Fish Market and bought sashimi quality fishes. So that's why I am so picky about sushi. So do my parents. Oh my... They are more picky than me. I've never eaten " sushi " in USA. I tried to accept " Like-sushi " because there are not so many choices in the USA.