Tokyo: Where to Eat: Local Cuisine: Kyubey

Kyubey

Gourmets agree that this is one of the very best places in Tokyo to sample sushi, which means it’s among the finest on Earth. Chefs at Kyubey and similar restaurants rise at dawn to search the close-by Tsukiji fish market, the world’s largest, for the absolute choicest fare. Though housed in a modern building, this family-run restaurant has a seventy-two-year history. The owner, Yosuke Imada, learned to make sushi from his father, who started the restaurant in 1936. Sushi connoisseurs speak the word “Kyubey” almost reverentially; reservations are essential.