Winter in Tokyo has been a bit “Groundhog Day,” so for a change of pace I jumped on the shinkansen to Sendai to visit Sushi Toku after hearing glowing reviews from a few sushi chefs in Tokyo.
Iwanuma-san trained at Sushi Taichi and Sushi Take before returning to his hometown of Sendai in 2022 to open Sushi Toku. His family has a long-running local business in Sendai.
The course has a strong Sushi Take (and ultimately a strong Shimbashi Shimizu) influence. He sources most ingredients locally but does source a few things from Toyosu in Tokyo (primarily tuna, awabi, and uni).
His shari is larger in size with firm, large grains and a blend of akazu for a slight punch. There is great balance between the shari and neta so neither overpowers the other throughout the course.
At lunch, you can choose either the tsunami and nigiri or nigiri-only course. I had the former and it ran me 25,600 yen with one drink. Here is a summary of the course.
Tsumami
1. Uni in a Hamaguri Dashi
2. Steamed Tako
3. Botan Ebi with Eggs + Karasumi
4. Steamed Awabi
5. Grilled Shirako in Shoyu Sauce
Nigiri
1. Sumi Ika
2. Buri
3. Akami
4. Chu Toro
5. Hokkigai
6. Kohada
7. Akagai
8. Otoro
9. Kuruma Ebi
10. Anago
11. Tamago
The course was on the lighter side, but I didn’t feel the need to eat immediately afterwards. The larger sized nigiri were rather filling. I was busy observing and chatting with the chef and missed pictures of the tsunami and some nigiri. Tabelog has some decent, recent photos to give a better idea. I would say the tsunami shined today but the nigiri were also excellent.
If you find yourself in the area, please give this place a try. It was a unique experience being able to try local neta, and hospitality is top-notch. Reservations are rather easy a week or two out on TableCheck. I’m not sure if English is spoken or not, but I can inquire with the chef.
Tohoku isn’t well known for sushi, but Sushi Toku, along with Sushi Sho (Akita) and Sushi Koma (Akita), are great experiences to help reset the Tokyo sushi mindset I sometime fall victim to.
by m046186