Tsukiji Dontaku

There are plenty of more well-​known places in the fish market, but we enjoyed the efficiency and selection here. We waited about 15 – 20 minutes at 11 on a Friday, while other places appeared to have hour-​long waits or more. We ordered in line, selecting the tuna sushi bowl and the nigiri sushi set, both of which came with hot green tea and the soup of the day (miso — delicious!). It totaled only 4100 yen for the two of us.
It was very, very good! We were amazed at the freshness, and the accompaniments were excellent. The tuna roll I had was the best that I tasted in Japan, while the fatty and lean pieces of tuna in the sushi bowl melted in your mouth.

The lines are ridiculous regardless of which eatery you want to go to. My husband and I decided to go with one that seemed reasonable. We went around 10:30am and Dontaku had about 6 people in front of us. But soon after we stood in line, there were another dozen more to join us.
The hostess came by to take our order as we stood in line. My husband and I went with their picture and pointed to the two Dons with the largest sashimi varieties. 30 minutes later we were seated and served.
For about 2000 yens, you get the freshest mixtures of sashimi one can get in Japan all in one hearty bowl! Tuna, hamachi, red bream, octopus, uni, ikura paired with fresh ginger and wasabi! Simple yet it was by far my favorite meal! I’d always disliked uni because of its pungent, fishy smell/​aftertaste — the ones in my bowl however was creamy and sweet. I honestly couldn’t get enough! Ikura — another converter after this heavenly bowl — I can’t eat rice the same way ever again!
I know there are dozens of more famous eateries to choose from at the market — but I was more than happy with my meal here at Dontaku.

After waking up at 330am to see the tuna fish auction, we were ready to eat some real sushi. After traveling in Japan for 12 days, eating mostly wagyu and Kobe beef and ramen, we finally decided to try sushi on our last day and where else to get other than Tsukiji Market?
After waking up in the wee hours, we weren’t prepared to queue up to their popular neighboring restaurants such as Daiwa and Sushi Dai. With clear pictures of their menu on the storefront and seats left at the boot, we settled for this place, which exceeded our expectations. For ¥2000 per bowl that had generous portions of toro, salmon, row, and uni, you can’t beat the freshness of the fish. I have to say after coming here, sushi in the States is just not the same to me. I’d give it an extra star for the hot sushi bar chef too.

We wanted some fresh sushi for lunch after wandering around the Tsukiji Market in the early afternoon (we didn’t feel too compelled to beat the crowds at 4am). We don’t like waiting in lines either, so after seeing the crowd at Sushi Dai we decided to check out this place with just a couple of locals waiting under the yellow lettered sign. We got in after 10 minutes, sat at the narrow bar and enjoyed some amazing sashimi. Highly recommend this spot if you’re looking for a quick (and tasty) sushi lunch.

This restaurant is located in the same aisle in the inner market of Tsukiji Fish Market as Daiwa and Sushi Dai. Those are two of the most popular sushi restaurants in the fish market with foreign tourists, as evidenced by the crowds waiting outside. I have had the sushi set before at Daiwa, fortunately when there was no outrageous line. Just happened to get there at the right time, during a break in the crowd.
This time, the intention was not to go to either of these establishments. Instead, it was to try out a few other places, when visiting the fish market. Sure enough, there were long lines and crowds for both restaurants; probably a good hour’s plus wait from the end of each line. Chirashi was on my mind. Then, we spotted this place, with a simple and descriptive picture menu posted outside, with no line. Every seat at the counter was filled with happy diners. The hardest part was deciding on which of the dozen or so bowls to choose from. I knew it had to have uni and ikura, so on the first visit I choose the one which also had snow crab. On the next visit, I ordered the one with toro, too. There are also 3 nigiri sushi sets shown on the menu.
You can’t really go wrong here. A filling chirashi bowl and a hot miso soup is a great breakfast, and way to start your day off right. The toppings were fresh and the rice was seasoned. Prices are pretty reasonable (at least from what I can tell around the area) and service is quick.

We were having a ramble around Tsukiji fish market on the lookout for a very late breakfast (12:30…). It would seem the Japanese love to queue, some of the restaurants had queues around the corner (some restaurants were imposing restrictions on how many people could queue!). We were hungry so we opted for this empty restaurant, it’s two neighbours had huge queues so wasn’t sure what the standard of this restaurant would be like. Well, we obviously lent them credibility because our restaurant quickly filled up and when we were leaving there was a queue outside.
I was very happy with our choice, most meals were around the ¥2,000 mark and I was full after. I got the tuna and salmon roe, it was very good indeed. A mate got sea urchin, which you should try if you’ve never had it ;-) The menu has an English translation so you won’t be completely blind ordering. It all comes in a bowl with sushi rice, so you won’t be getting posh sushi laid out on wooden boards.