Haven’t really seen anyone post about Sushi Kobayashi yet, so throwing this in the ring. Ikuya Kobayashi trained at Sushi Saito for a hot minute before being tapped to hold down the fort at Sushi Saito in Hong Kong, earning the outpost 2 stars. He returned back to Tokyo to helm one of Saito’s other projects, 3110NZ, a sort of art gallery/sushi counter hybrid. Koba-san then branched off on his own to open Sushi Kobayashi in a pretty residential area of Ebisu, and you certainly feel the vibe that it’s pretty quaint and quiet.
The vibe inside the restaurant is definitely laidback with a neat antique-looking radio playing music (somewhat akin to modern jazz or city-pop), but the cooking and food coming behind the counters is no joke. Favorite pieces were ootoro, kasugodai, kohada, aji, anago, and the tamago/futomaki ender.
Chef and FOH were super friendly and talked with everyone. I broke the ice when I mentioned that I was from LA and we talked about the Dodgers winning the world series lol. I ended up paying about 26,000 JPY, drinks included. Base price is 24.5K JPY I think, but with how popular the place is getting, I think it won’t last long. I booked via IG dm, so I’m unsure if he’ll open online reservations. Honestly, this was my favorite sushi meal and experience, beating out even Namba. Vibes were great, food was great, and chef was super chill.
by KAWAIIDUKE
3 Comments
Kobayashi-san is great! It’s been too long but I recall he speaks English surprisingly well. Glad to hear his restaurant is buzzing.
Ayyy one of the fun openings at the tail end of last year, I think he does good work but for a variety of reasons, I don’t think this will be hard to reserve for the next 5-10 years so a good spot to keep in the back pocket for sure. It’s sorta a route a few Saito alums have gone now that I think about it lol
There were two openings outside of Tokyo near the same time that I’m really tryna hit up next trip, the issue is they’re both already extremely hard to reserve
I do not care for the Shirako. Lol