Sushi Kuriyagawa :: 鮨くりや川

I actually forgot about booking any sushi restaurants. My mind was completely on organizing logistics for Choya. Then the man said he must have sushi in Tokyo. FINE. Found him one. I have no interest in fancy Ginza sushi restaurants that's just going to give me tuna and more fatty tuna. I've done those rounds and I can skip that. I wanted something simpler, a sushi-ya. 

The friends recommended Sushi Kuriyagawa / 鮨くりや川. I looked at the address and that clinched it for me. This restaurant isn't far from Ebisu station. I like this Ebisu loads. The restaurant is located in the basement of an apartment block, along the modest stretch of restaurants in the residential lanes. Perfect. It's QUIET. It was a lovely little stroll to dinner, meandering through the uncrowded streets. for its little restaurants and bistros. 

Sushi Kuriyagawa welcomed us in right on time at 8pm. We took its omakase set with sake pairing. It turned out to be a great choice because neither the man or I wanted to drink so much. We didn't want to do 720ml of the same bottle, and with this pairing, we got to taste a generous pour of four different expressions of sake from different makers. Yay!

I wasn't very approving of the sharks' fin used in one stewed dish with madai. I ate the madai and left all the sharks' fin behind. I didn't bother to say anything to the chef. Why confront? It's the restaurant's prerogative to use whichever ingredients, and it's my choice to not eat and leave it be. 

The anago was an add-on. The chefs showed us the eel and asked if we wanted it. Sure thing. I opted for it without rice, and the man took the version with rice. Heheheh. Delicious! The tuna wasn't trotted out so often. Just a regular chutoro and then a otoro. Okay can. I passed the otoro to the man. I also gave him all my sakura ebi that topped the chawanmushi. He happily ate them all.

There were about 15 items in our omakase set for the night, including 10 pieces of sushi. The night ended with one last rice thing in the form of an eho-maki (恵方巻き, with seven fillings). NOMS. Against my better judgment, I drank the offered matcha. It was such good matcha! I only realized that the caffeine would keep me awake when I got back to the hotel room. Oops. 

It was hilarious when they handed us a plaque that said 'Happy Anniversary'. I had already explained in my reservation and during dinner that this was just a regular date night — there was nothing special. It isn't our honeymoon, not our birthdays, and definitely not our wedding anniversary. YET. Hahahaha. Okay lah okay lah. We took a photo with it anyway.

This was a great meal. Chef Koichi Kuriyagawa doesn't bother with the extra flourishes. Those are unnecessary to this meal. It's just back-to-basics decent sushi. Not completely traditional, but nothing crazy. It's absolutely dependable and what I would return to eat again and again. I'm glad I opted for this sushi-ya, and the man is really happy with this memorable menu too.