The morning rush for Sushi Dai (Tokyo)

It was 2.40 am. It was time to wake up and get ready for the food rush. There was no metro train or bus running yet at this hour so you either have to take a cab, walk or rent a bike. We decided to do our morning exercise by jogging to the Tsukiji fish market.

Yup, you read it right. It's just like the black friday for a sushi. Sushi Dai is located in the Tsukiji fish market and is a popular sushi restaurant. It probably has about 10-15 seats so crazy queue is a norm. They only served sushi till 2pm, based on our visit in December 2015, the queue was stopped by 10 am, that means the last person has to wait for 4 hours. 

The first time we came here in 2012, we came at 6am (with train) and waited only for 1.5 hours. Based on my friend's advise who came here few months ago, we decided to up the game and come here before 4am instead.

By the time we arrived at 3.45am, there were already 30 people ahead of us. I would guess that the first person probably came around 2am. More people joined the queue. Between 3.45 to 4am, 15 people joined the queue after us. There's no other queue for other shops, except for Sushi Dai. 

For 10+1 omakase, it costs about 3800 yen. Very good price for omakase.

The first seating

The queue around the corner

All of these people queued up for Sushi Dai

Around 4.30am, someone from the Sushi Dai came out to start getting order and pass out hot tea.  By then, people from the queue started to migrate to Sushi Daiwa and other venues to avoid the long wait.

It was around 6.15am when we finally seated down. That's a total waiting time of 2.50 hours. If you come single, chances of early seating is more likely.

For the start, we got a seafood miso soup and tamago. Hot soup is always a welcome given that we had to endure the cold wait. The soup is very rich in flavor and the tamago is sweet and tender.

Fatty Tuna- It wasn't as fatty as what I had before

Sea bream

Snapper

Uni - Yes, it's moist and creamy but still have some fishy smell.

Horse Mackarel

Clam. The chef smacked it first before placing it on the table and you can see it move. Sign of freshness.

Spanish Mackarel

Ikura

Tuna

Tuna Roll

Sea Eel

We can choose the last piece from the menu and we all opted for the Shirako. It was a weird experience the first time I had it 3 years ago as it was creamy and warm. If you don't know what this is, it is sperm sacs of cod fish. 

This time, it was not as warm as last time, and I had better experience. Less disgusted as well.

Yellow tail- additional item off the omakase set.

This is the queue by the time we got out of Sushi Dai, around 7am.

Overall impression, meal is not bad, but not as impressive as my first time. If you don't mind the wait, then go for it. Meal is decently priced for the quality it can offers. Best to come as early as you can to avoid the queue.