A sushi meal is often completed with clear soup or miso soup. Interestingly, the ingredients in the soup differ depending on the sushi restaurant or the day.

Put all four fingers of your left hand under the bottom of the bowl and place your thumb, gently on the rim. The key is to smell the aroma first. Next hold the rim of the bowl right up to your mouth, and do not make any slurping noises. Then eat between the soup and the ingredients alternately.

Turn the lid over and place it on the right side of the bowl. Do not place the lids on top of each other as this may scratch them. Make sure to drop the water drops from the inside of the lid into the soup.

When asked “Could we serve you a soup bowl now?” at a high-class sushi restaurant, it sometimes is a sign that the Omakase course is about to end. If there are any additional sushi toppings you would like to eat, this is the right time to order. And occasions like having a client dinner imply that your meal has reached the budget you informed in advance.

[sc_apply url=”https://sushiuniversity.jp/apply/”]

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: March 1, 2024

Share this article

The post How to eat soups at a sushi restaurant first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

Everyone can relax and enjoy a meal at a familiar restaurant. However, when visiting a new restaurant for the first time, you may feel a little nervous and find it difficult to concentrate on the food. You may feel a sense of being out of your element.

The purpose of going to a sushi restaurant is to eat delicious sushi. There should be no disagreement about that. And many regular customers at sushi restaurants enjoy casual conversation with the sushi chefs. The topics range from sports like baseball and soccer to politics, economics, and the opposite sex. The more skilled the sushi chef, the more they can remember all the conversations in chronological order.

For travelers who don’t speak Japanese, it may be hard to understand, but sushi restaurants are the only places in the world where customers can have a direct conversation with the head chef.

When I mentioned this, someone argued that at teppanyaki restaurants, you can watch the chef’s performance while having a conversation. In our opinion, that’s the same as a street performer. The performance should take priority over conversation.

Sushi chefs look at all their customers and adjust the timing of serving food for each one. Of course, they also want customers to see their beautiful techniques, but there’s no special reason why they have to make sushi in front of customers.

So why do they make sushi in front of customers?

Generally, it plays an important role in enhancing the transparency in the cooking process and instilling trust in customers regarding hygiene management and quality maintenance. But that’s not all. Sushi chefs are expected to learn communication and create the right atmosphere on their own. Because sushi tastes better in a fun atmosphere than when eaten in silence.

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: May 19, 2025

Share this article

The post Why do sushi chefs make the sushi in front of the customers? first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

During the Edo period in Japan, nigiri sushi became extremely popular and was sold at street stalls (yatai). It was similar to what we now call onigiri, eaten by hand. The term “onigiri” was used because the nigiri sushi of that time was about two to three times larger than today’s version. After finishing their meal, customers are said to have wiped their hands on the stall’s curtain (noren). As an aside, historical records describe Edo as a rather unsanitary city at the time, and this practice serves as evidence of that.

Later, in the 1950s, sushi restaurants began installing hand-washing devices (grooves) on the customer side of the counter. Instead of using hand towels, customers would wash their hands in the water and moisten their fingers before eating sushi. Some traditional sushi restaurants in rural areas still have these grooves today.

Recently, some high-end sushi restaurants have started serving nigiri sushi directly from the sushi chef. This is particularly common with delicate ingredients like uni, which are prone to falling apart. In this case, customers are forced to eat nigiri sushi with their hands.

In the old days, Sushi was originally a food eaten with your hands.

Even, for example, if you are in a prestigious sushi restaurant in Ginza, you can still eat with your hands. You can actually use your hands to eat the ginger (gari) too (Some guidebooks state that gari should be eaten with chopsticks, but no sushi chefs would ever say such a thing). Restaurants that prefer you to eat with your hands will provide an extra, smaller towel called yubifuki for cleaning your hands between sushi, along with the normal hand towel (Oshibori towel). Even then, feel free to use chopsticks if you prefer.

Anyway, using chopsticks for the first time can be challenging, but don’t worry – here is the ultimate guide to becoming an expert at picking up your favorite sushi without damaging it. You’ll learn how to use chopsticks like a pro.

Follow these simple steps to use chopsticks like an expert:

1. Hold the chopsticks by their thickest end.
2. Place the chopstick on the lower end of your hand in the gap between your thumb and index finger.
3. The chopstick on the top goes on the fingerprint of the thumb and index finger.
4. To pick each piece of sushi, move the upper stick with the help of your thumb, index, and middle fingers.

Follow the steps above and soon, you’ll be the one teaching your friends! Now you know how to pick up nigiri sushi with chopsticks!

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: June 17, 2025

Share this article

The post Is sushi eaten with your hands? Or should you use chopsticks? first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

First of all, it is impolite to place chopsticks on your dish in the middle of a meal. Make sure to place them back on the chopstick stand when you aren’t using them.

It is also poor manners to stab food with chopsticks (Sashi-bashi) and or to use chopsticks to look through dishes. Please avoid breaking up the beautifully arranged dishes when you eat.

The improper use of chopsticks

1. Passing foods (Hiroi-bashi or Awase-bashi): Never use your chopsticks to take something from someone else’s chopsticks. This way of passing things relates to Japanese funerary customs (Kotsuage).

2. Drawing plates or bowls near you (Saguri-bashi): Don’t draw a plate or bowl toward you with chopsticks.

3. Touching foods unnecessarily (Utsuri-bashi): Don’t touch foods with chopsticks unnecessarily without eating them.

4. Scooping: Don’t scoop up food by using chopsticks like a spoon and bring them to your mouth.

5. Shoveling food into the mouth (Komi-bashi): Don’t put your lips on a plate or bowl and shovel food into your mouth with chopsticks.

6. Picking up plates or bowls while holding chopsticks (Nigiri-bashi): Don’t pick up a plate or bowl while holding chopsticks.

7. Pointing at someone (Sashi-bashi): Don’t point at someone with chopsticks.

8. Laying chopsticks across a plate or bowl: Don’t lay chopsticks across a plate or bowl.

9. They stuff their mouth full of food and push it in with chopsticks (Oshikomi-bashi).

10. Lick the chopstick tips (Neburi-bashi).

11. Hold it with chopsticks while dripping the cooking juices (Namida-bashi).

12. Eating the same food over and over again (Kasane-bashi).

Related contents: SUSHI RESTAURANT ETIQUETTE

[sc_apply url=”https://sushiuniversity.jp/apply/”]

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: March 1, 2024

Share this article

The post Some notes on chopstick manners first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

If you visit a high-end sushi restaurant, such as one that places piles of salt by the entrance for good fortune, you’ll notice there are no price displays.

There’s not even a menu for nigiri sushi. All you find is a slab of wood hanging down the wall with names of the daily offerings such as Japanese conger (anago) or Gizzard shad (kohada).

Here, customers do not get angry and say, “I can’t order anything because I don’t know the prices.” First time customers may not know the market price and worry about payment, resolving to pay with a credit card if they don’t have enough cash in their wallet.

It’s as if modern sushi restaurant customers have come to accept the absence of price listings as a long-standing tradition. But actually, before World War II, sushi restaurants displayed wooden boards with prices written on them, such as “Tuna belly: 2,000 yen.” It was during the 1960s that they stopped displaying prices.

The 60s was the start of an era of high-growth in Japan. Prices were rising rapidly and sushi prices also went up drastically. At the same time, the business practice of entertaining clients was gaining popularity, and the customer base of high-end sushi restaurants shifted from individual diners to business clients.

In such a situation, if a sign displayed “Chutoro: 3,000 yen,” the guests being entertained would find it difficult to order their favorite items. They would end up calculating the total cost and couldn’t order as many pieces as they wanted. As you can see, this practice of not displaying prices at sushi restaurants was in consideration for the business customers who were entertaining clients, as well as those being entertained as clients.

In high-end sushi restaurants, it is sometimes considered proper etiquette not to say or ask anything that might be seen as tactless (busui). This reflects a uniquely Japanese sense of aesthetics, also found in traditional arts like tea ceremony, where the underlying philosophy is to express sincerity and consideration through form and ritual.

Along with this, the “omakase” system, where customers order by saying, “Master, please select and serve nigiri sushi,” was also born. This allows the host, who has already communicated the budget in advance, to focus on the reception without worrying about payment.

For your reference.

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: June 12, 2025

Share this article

The post Why aren’t the prices included on the menu at sushi restaurants? first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

・Bitte kommen Sie nicht zu spät, halten Sie die Reservierungszeit ein.

・Bitte nehmen Sie den Ihnen zugewiesenen Platz

・Selbstverständlich ist es absolut unerwünscht, im betrunkenen Zustand laut zu reden oder andere Gäste anzupöbeln

・Aufdringliche Gerüche wie zu starke Parfüms sind nicht erwünscht

・Rauchen ist natürlich nicht erlaubt

・Wenn Sie Fotos machen wollen, fragen Sie bitte vorher den Geschäftsinhaber und die anderen Besucher um Erlaubnis

・Es gibt zwar keine bestimmte Kleiderordnung, doch es ist ratsam, sauber und dem Anlass entsprechend gekleidet zu sein.

・Telefonieren im Lokal ist nicht erlaubt

・Legen Sie bitte keine kantigen Gegenstände wie Ihr smartphone oder Ihre Uhr auf die Sushi-Theke, da diese aus empfindlichem Holz gemacht ist

・Sich all zulange mit dem Sushi-Meister zu unterhalten ist kein wirklich cooles Benehmen

・Bestellen Sie bitte nicht immer nur Sushi mit dem gleichen Belag

・Ein Ihnen vorgesetztes Sushi sollte sofort verzehrt werden. Optimal ist: Innerhalb von 10 Sekunden.

・Mit der Hand oder Stäbchen – Sie können Sushi essen, wie Sie wollen

・Um das delikate Gleichgewicht von Reis und Sushi-Belag optimal zu geniessen, sollte man am besten das ganze Sushi-Stück in den Mund stecken. In diesem Sinne ist davon abzuraten, den Belag vom Reisklumpen zu trennen.

・Fische und Meeresfrüchte aus natürlichem Fang schmecken in der jeweiligen Saison am besten. Wir empfehlen, saisongerechte Beläge zu wählen.

・Dippen mit zu viel Sojasauce ist nicht ratsam. Der Sushireis saugt die Sojasauce schnell ein und dann zerfällt der Reis in Klumpen. Zu viel Sojasauce stört auch den feinen Geschmack des weissen Fischfleischs.

・Eine geregelte Reihenfolge gibt es beim Sushi-Essen nicht. Sie können völlig frei wählen, mit welchem Sushi Sie starten und welchen Sie als nächsten essen.

・Ein echter Sushi-Kenner bleibt nicht noch lange sitzen, wenn er fertig gegessen hat. Sich nach dem Essen zu lange in einem Sushi-Lokal aufzuhalten, gilt in Japan als uncool.

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: September 5, 2017

The post So verhalten Sie sich in einem Sushi-Lokal richtig first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

During the Edo period when Nigiri sushi originated, it was sold in food stalls. People chose the sushi topping they wanted and satisfied their hunger. There is no such thing as the order of eating. In the first place, there are no rules about how to eat food.

The order in which the food is eaten is at the discretion of the eater.

You can eat Nigiri sushi in any order you like. We dare say that the order of eating dessert first, then the main meat or fish dish, and finally the appetizers is not a good one. Something similar to this even exists in Nigiri sushi.

Recently, Nigiri sushi has become a mainstream dish served in the Omakase course, in which the sushi chef has thought of the best order to eat the sushi. In this case, the sushi chef has thought of the best order in which to eat the sushi. The eater is left to his/her own choice.

Since when do we care about the order of eating?

This is due to the internationalization of Nigiri sushi. Everyone is taught how to eat a dish for the first time. And if you don’t know much about sushi topping, it is only natural that you would want to know more about it.

Generally, start by eating fish with a lighter flavor like white fish and move onto fish with a heavier flavor such as Toro, Uni, Japanese conger (Anago), and then Egg (Tamagoyaki). Finishing with Seaweed rolls at the end is a typical way.

The following menu is an Omakase style at the Former 3 Michelin star restaurant in Ginza. Since Sayori is offered, one can imagine that the season is early spring. This menu is composed of sushi topping that changes as the seasons change.

Begin with white fish?

Marbled flounder (Makogarei)

Striped jack (Shima aji)

Golden cuttlefish (Sumi ika)

Akami

Chutoro

Otoro

Gizzard shad (Kohada)

Common orient clam (Nihamaguri)

Horse mackerel (Aji)

Kuruma prawn (Kuruma ebi)

Japanese halfbeak (Sayori)

Common octopus (Madako)

Mackerel (Saba)

Ark shell (Akagai)

Uni

Salmon roe (Ikura)

Japanese conger (Anago)

And Omelette (Tamagoyaki) comes last, just along the general order. Perhaps the way this owner serves might have become common.

To maximize each flavor of toppings, have some pickled ginger or hot tea between different types of sushi to cleanse your palate. You don’t have to stick to the specific order, though. It seems like having customers eat freely is the idea held in common by most sushi chefs. However, indeed, you won’t be able to taste the next flavor after eating something rather sweet. Japanese conger (Anago), Egg (Tamagoyaki), and Kanpyoumaki should be eaten at the end.

[sc_apply url=”https://sushiuniversity.jp/apply/”]

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: January 29, 2024

Share this article

The post Is there a certain order for eating sushi? first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

预约好的时间不能迟到。

坐在指定的座位上。

禁止饮酒后大声喧哗，干扰其他客人。

不可过度使用香水。

禁烟。

不可随意摄影。

不需要穿礼服，但是务必服装得体。

不可打电话。

木制的餐台很容易划伤，所以不要将手机或手表等放置于上。

不可沉迷于交谈，独自占用店主时间。

不可只点同一品种的寿司

目标10秒内将捏好的寿司吃掉。

用手或者筷子吃都可以。

寿司米饭和海鲜食材有着绝妙的平衡搭配，尽量请一口吃掉。正因如此，将寿司米饭和食材分开的行为是不可取的。

应季的鱼肉中富含饱满的脂肪，是最美味的。所以如有机会请务必品尝应季的食材。

寿司米饭不可直接蘸酱油。寿司米饭有着吸收酱油的性质，寿司不仅会松散开，过多的酱油也会盖过白身鱼肉等细腻的味道。

品尝顺序没有限定，可以自由决定。

品尝结束后马上站起来才是成年人的行为。不要久坐。

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: August 10, 2017

The post 寿司店的礼仪 first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

[sc_apply url=”https://sushiuniversity.jp/apply/”]

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: July 26, 2017

Share this article

The post Is it polite to use Gari as a brush to apply soy sauce? first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.

Even if you order beer or sake at a sushi restaurant, your meal will almost always end with a cup of tea. But if you’re going out for sushi, consider drinking that tea earlier, rather than saving it for the end. At sushi restaurants, tea is more than just a simple beverage—it plays an essential role, especially when enjoying fatty cuts like tuna or bonito. It offers benefits that beer and sake simply can’t match.

Why Temperature Matters

One key reason lies in the temperature.

Hot tea helps dissolve the residual fat left on your tongue after eating fatty sushi. This thin layer of fat coats your taste buds like a film, dulling your ability to fully enjoy the flavors of the next bite. Beer and sake, no matter how much you drink, are ineffective at removing this film. But hot tea melts the fat and washes it away, essentially resetting your palate. In that sense, tea serves as a kind of preparation for fully appreciating each new piece of sushi.

Tea’s Antibacterial Benefits

Another reason hot tea is ideal—particularly when paired with raw fish—comes from its antibacterial properties. Tea contains catechins, natural compounds with strong antibacterial effects that can kill many of the bacteria responsible for food poisoning.

Foodborne bacteria are generally divided into two types: toxin-type, which causes illness when bacterial toxins are ingested, and infection-type, which results when live bacteria infect the intestinal tract. Catechins combat both: they neutralize toxins from toxin-type bacteria and destroy the cell membranes of infection-type bacteria, reducing the risk of illness.

Catechins are a type of polyphenol, responsible for tea’s astringency and bitterness. They are especially abundant in green tea, where they account for about 85% of the total polyphenol content.

The amount of catechin extracted depends on the brewing temperature. They are not easily extracted at low temperatures or in cold water but become more soluble as the temperature rises. Brewing tea at 80°C (176°F) or higher maximizes catechin extraction and, in turn, enhances its health benefits. That’s one reason tea is typically served hot—not just in sushi restaurants, but in many other Japanese eateries as well.

The Origin of Oversized Teacups

Here’s another interesting detail: the teacups used in sushi restaurants are typically larger than standard teacups. This tradition dates back to when sushi chefs operated small stands on their own and didn’t have enough hands to constantly refill cups while also preparing sushi. The oversized cups helped minimize refills and keep service efficient.

And to be perfectly frank, there may have been a practical motive as well—if customers fill up on tea, which is easy to drink, they might end up eating less sushi, the main (and more profitable) attraction.

Related contents:

GREEN TEA THAT PAIRS WITH SUSHI

What are Konacha and Mecha?

We hope this information will be helpful.

Revision date: June 11, 2025

Share this article

The post Drinking tea makes sushi taste better! first appeared on Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity.