Seafood restaurants at Nagahama Fish Market

Nagahama Fish Market is a major wholesale market in central Fukuoka. It is a 10 minute walk from Akasaka station. The real market is only opened to the general public on the second Saturday of every month (from 9am to noon) and there are reports of long lines.

However, the market office complex (pictured above) hosts a number of seafood restaurants (the cluster is called ichiba kaikan,市場会館, market hall, in Japanese). These are spartan eateries, very affordable, where workers of the market and the nearby offices eagerly go for lunch. Some open very early to cater to the fish market’s workers schedule. It was a discovery in Fukuoka. I loved it. The seafood was very fresh and lunch menus were changing daily. I had lunch several times to try as many of the restaurants as I could.

The directory is pictured above. All the action is on the ground floor. Upstairs there is a small seafood museum (but all in Japanese).

Ichibazushi Uotatsu (魚辰)

First restaurant I will mention is located near the entrance and it a conveyor-belt sushi joint called Ichibazushi Uotatsu. The seafood was really fresh. But it was not easy to understand the price of the seafood on the conveyor-belt; this coupled with all of their “rules” made the visit unpleasant and I just had a few dishes. You can also order a la carte.

Okiyo (おきよ)

Okiyo is located in the back of the building and it is easy to recognize from the blue curtain (noren). They had an English menu. Most lunch menu were prized 700-800 yen and come with rice, miso soup, tofu, and pickles. I had deep-fried amadai. Impossible to find a better value in Fukuoka for a seafood lunch set.

Ichigyo Ichie (一魚一栄)

I went to Ichigyo Ichie for their fresh sashimi (1,400 yen), but they also had tempura and classic Fukuoka dishes like sesame mackerel. The sashimi set had over a dozen slices of sashimi: tuna, seabream, octopus, squid, salmon, greater amberjack. It came with miso soup, rice, pickles, and a salad as it is customary for these lunch sets.

Fukuuo Shokudo (福魚食堂)

Fukuuo Shokudo will get my award for the the nicest owner. He was very friendly and wanted to know where I was from. I ordered a tuna bowl with various cuts of tuna. The set had a large bowl of clam miso soup, tofu, and pickles. For 1000 yen (less than 10 USD) it was a great value. I also added a grilled mackerel for just 400 yen. Many dishes were on display on the counter inside the restaurant and could be picked juts by pointing my finger.

Of the most interesting eateries, I think I only missed Hakata Uogashi (博多魚がし). There is also a Chinese restaurant if you crave for it and a shop (see picture below).

This cluster of seafood restaurants was a great discovery and I would gladly have lunch in such a place every day of the week!

Where in Fukuoka:
3-11-3, Nagahama, Chuo-ku.
In Japanese: 中央区長浜3-11-3.
Tip: go a bit early, like 11.30am, to beat the lunch crowd.

An affordable sushi restaurant in Saigon Center: Ikeikemaru (closed)

You cannot splurge every day. In Saigon Center, Ho Chi Minh City, there is a sushi restaurant to keep in mind for a cheap but yet quality sushi meal.

The visit

The restaurant is located in the second basement of Saigon Centre, in the heart of Saigon and its full name is Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru. It is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant (I reviewed a similar restaurant in Tokyo). From what I understand it is originally from Singapore.

They have two types of seating arrangements: counter and booths for groups.

Rules of the house.

What is notable is that they serve a lot of different types if sushi, like this gizzard shard known for its strong flavor.

Another very unusual sushi in Saigon, with a fluffy egg custard.

A shrimp croquette.

Another sushi with a strong flavor: mackerel, seared with vinegar.

I also ordered from the menu (they have reduced the number of dishes on the conveyor belt, but the number is still significant). The menu, by the way, comprises also many other Japanese food classics, such as ramen.

The first trio of sushi included tuna, tuna belly and negitoro (minced tuna). The second one included snapper, hamachi, and tuna again.

Finally I had some tuna sashimi. Not the best tuna in town, but very good value.

They serve over 100 types of sushi.

The check

Total check was 376,300 VND (or 16.20 USD). A single sushi dish from the conveyor belt was 27,500 VND (1.18 USD).

Ikeikemaru is good value for money and at the same time it provides a nice assortment of sushi that is difficult to come by even in higher end restaurants in Saigon.

Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
~~65 Le Loi, B2 Floor, Saigon Center.~~

Update 2020: After the March lockdown the restaurant did not re-open. Keep an eye on their FB page to see if they re-open.

Conveyor-belt sushi experience at Hamazushi in Tokyo

Conveyor-belt sushi (or kaiten sushi in Japanese) is a popular type of sushi restaurant in Japan. If you are not familiar, just picture a literal conveyor belt running through the restaurant transporting the sushi plates: customers can pick from the conveyor the dishes they like.

Let’s be honest, conveyor-belt sushi is to sushi what fast food is to beef. Not your first choice for quality sushi in Japan. However, it can be a fun experience and a good way to have a quick meal.

This review is about a lunch at Hamazushi, the largest coveyor-belt sushi restaurant chain in Japan (with over 400 outlets).

The visit

I visited a Hamazushi restaurant located in a non-descript shopping mall near the Oi Racecourse. Not your usual tourist spot, but I had a reason to be there (hint: the massive citizen flea market) and there was not much around.

First of all, I was greeted by the house robot… and guided through a number of choices (counter? table? how many people?). Once Mr (?) robot was satisfied I got a ticket with my assigned seat number. The staff then escorted to my spot:

All well, the only drawback of the system is that the algorithm is not spacing people… the place was almost empty and the few customers were sitting neck to neck in one corner of the restaurant. Not a tragedy… but they could rethink the algorithm to make a better use of the space when it is not too crowded. This is also why I cringe when I hear speaking about artificial intelligence… still a long way to go.

The first thing I did was preparing some hot tea. In this case, as customary, I was provided the green tea powder (matcha) and I poured the hot water by keeping a button pressed with my cup.

As you can see, they have five different sauces available for each customer, including different types of soy sauce. The sushi comes without any soy sauce or wasabi added by the cooks.

It was early, but there were already a good number of dishes on the conveyor belt. Hamazushi is very technological and they also gave me the chance to order additional items and drinks using a touch screen. Every spot is equipped with one of these touch screens and English language is available.

When your order is ready, the screen will display a message. The order will come through the conveyor belt and it will be placed on a special pedestal (like the tempura sushi in the photo above) so other customers will not take it (not sure if it always works…).

I did not picture all the dishes I had. These are a few:

Mackerel with vinegar sushi.

Lean tuna sushi.

Seared salmon sushi.

You can have a look at their website (in English) for the full standard menu. They also have a bunch of seasonal items.

This is kind of run-of-the-mill everyday sushi, but it was good. The dishes were simple, the rice was ok. I have been in other conveyor-belt sushi restaurants that made a mess and were using rice probably one day old. Or that were trying to game the customers by putting on the conveyor belt only expensive qualities of sushi to push your final ticket. Nothing of this happened at Hamazushi that struck me a very professional establishment.

The check

When you are finished, you have to indicate that you are finished through the touch screen and the waiter will come to give you the check to pay at the reception.

I spent 864 yen (7.74 USD) for six dishes and a coke. All the dishes individually cost me 108 yen (except one that I ordered via the touch screen that cost 162 yen). The dishes usually have a pair of nigiri sushi. The one that cost me 162 yen had three pieces of tuna (one fatty, one medium fatty and one lean). It is also great that they do not have a system of colored plates with different prices according to the color (it can get confusing sometimes).

That’s as cheap as it gets for fresh sushi. Again, this is sushi fast food but everything was made by the book and I had a positive experience. If you are looking for cheap sushi and you like the coveyor belt concept, I strongly recommend Hamazushi. After all, you cannot have an omakase every day!

Where in Tokyo:
They are everywhere in Japan. Check their website for locations (even if for some reason the English version of the website only list a fraction of their locations).
The location I visited was located on the second floor of Wira Oi shopping mall.