Maguro Shoten is one of those touristy places that do things right. If you like tuna, this is a great place. Apart from the variety of tuna dishes, you can also see their daily demolition show and learn about the anatomy of a tuna.
The visit
I had a reservation at 6.15 on a Sunday with the goal of attending their famous demolition show that takes place at 6.30pm on weekends (I believe it is 7.30pm on weekdays).
The restaurant is located in the basement of a building in a busy street of Shinjuku.
I arrived at around 6pm and I was seated at the counter, right in the middle of all the action. Ordering took place through a device providing an English menu. I had several dishes before the show.
This was a piece of “skin meat”. With the help of a spoon I scooped up all the delicious tender meat.
I ordered their fried tuna. Delicious, but a bit heavy.
A very popular dish was the bucket of sashimi. The pieces of sashimi were placed on a “dome” of ice.
A very special dish was this dark tuna meat, from a region rich of veins. Quite a strong flavor. I will pass on it next time.
I also tried the tuna eyeball. It was very gooey and every bit of tissue was edible.
I believe this ball was the actual eyeball… there was actually an hard “ball” covered by tissue. This dish was mostly for fun. It was not disgusting, but nothing I would like to try again.
Around 6.30pm the staff gathered everyone in the restaurant in the main dining room to see the demolition show. Seating at the counter, I had a front-row seat. The show was well managed. There was even a screen with English translation. The two cooks provided information about different species of tuna and its anatomy.
Then they invited customers to play paper-rock-scissor with them (all against one…). It was a rock and I kept my palm open. I was one of the winners getting a special card entitling me to a free dish with meat harvested from the freshly cut tuna.
This was the dish I won.
Finally I was one of the two customers who could order the precious kama-toro (a fatty meat from the tuna’s collar even more prized than the famed o-toro). It was a great finale for this memorable dinner.
The check (and some tips)
Final check was 8,810 yen that became 7,810 thanks to a discount… The discount was a coupon downloaded from Voyagin (for free) entitling the holder to get 1,000 off for every 5,000 yen spent. So in the end I spent 72 USD. For what I ate it was a very good deal. I can think of restaurants where just the last dish would cost that.
I also pent 800 yen (7 USD) for the booking through Japaneazy service. The reservation was not really necessary, but I do not regret the price since it guaranteed me a seat at the counter that gave me the best view of the demolition show.
Where in Tokyo:
1-23-14, Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0021
In Japanese: 〒160-0021 東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-23-14 第1メトロビルB1