Tanabe Sushi – both highly rated in Tabelog, and the only Sapporo sushi shop crowed three-stars, is conveniently found just a few blocks away from Susukino Station, on the second floor of the New Blue Nile building. It can be a little tricky to locate as the signs are tiny.
Started by Masashi Watanabe (渡辺雅史), manning the fort that night was Chef Yuuki Nishizaki(西崎裕樹) and Daisuke Hujiwara(藤原大輔).
The territory’s got a nature’s gift – seafood. The freshness is so overwhelming, sufficiently so to overlook the rice quality, also a major factor in sushi appreciation. The highlights of the night were the squid from Hakodate, sweet shrimps, sea urchin, surf clams and hamaguri clams. Others weren’t as fresh and nigiri sushi skills aren’t as good as the ones in Tokyo, so they fell into the mediocre category . The seafood was so fresh I went into a la carte mode and tried everything on their seasonal sushi menu.
Throughout the two hours of dining, I received excellent service, and the chef did a good job at introducing the ingredients in simple Japanese. To sum it up, it’s not shoulders to shoulders with the solid three-star sushi restaurants in Japan, I nonetheless enjoyed the meal.
Tanabe Sushi (鮨 田なべ)
Address:
Tel: +81 011-520-2202
Visited on: 3 July, 2013
Price: 6850-13800 yen; I paid ~15000yen per head including a few a la carte and sake.
Hours: Monday to Friday 5:00-10:00pm; public holidays 5:00-8:00pm (Closed on Sunday)
Owner: Watanabe Masashi
Chef: Nishizaki Yuuki, Hujiwara Daisuke
Sommelier: Fujita Naoko
K's Luxe Dining Table 