If you plan on trying sushi in Japan, you won’t be disappointed. No matter how good your favourite sushi restaurant back home is, you’ll soon realise you just can’t compare with what you’ll find here. You might be familiar with salmon and tuna, but you'll probably try new things as well, such as squid, eel or kazunoko (herring roe). You’ll learn that all parts of tuna aren’t equal in taste and you’ll be able to try them for yourself if you order akami, chutoro or otoro, each one of them being fattier and more delicious than the previous one.
We want to introduce you to sushi, that isn't just limited to fish, and I’m not talking about covering them up with mayonnaise, chilli pepper or fried onions. Instead, I’m talking about top quality meat, raw, grilled or flamed, all of which you can find at a restaurant called Niku Zushi.
What does Niku Zushi mean? 肉寿司
肉 “niku” means meat while 寿司 “sushi”, (often written in hiragana すし) translates as vinegared rice. In Japanese some words can slightly alter unsound when they are joined to others. That is why this place is named NikuZushi with a Z and not an S?
What kind of restaurant is Niku Zushi?
During your trip to Japan, you will find different kinds of restaurants serving sushi made of rice and meat. However, the restaurants called Niku Zushi are franchised restaurants that you can find all around Japan. The sushi can be made of pork,chicken, wagyu beef aswell as duck or even horse!
Some of their dishes are named after fish such as the “anago” which means salt-water eel. The anago you’ll find at Niku Zushi is actually pork, but its appearance matches the traditional anago sushi in terms of colour and shape, with its size being much longer than the rice.
Other great meals include foie gras (speciality food made from duck liver) as well as raw horse sushi. If you’ve never had horse before, try to forget about your cultural bias and make sure to try it out here since you might not get this opportunity in other countries.
One last cool thing about these restaurants is that once seated, the staff will bring you a basket from which each customer will pick their "hashi"(chopsticks) of choice, the chopsticks are wrapped in omikuji (おみくじ). Omikuji are Japanese random fortunes written on strips of paper generally found at Shinto shrines. Show the inside of the paper to the staff and if you got lucky in your choice of hashi, you’ll receive a free drink!
If you plan to try sushi in Japan, you won’t be disappointed. No matter how good your favourite sushi restaurant back home is, you’ll soon realise you just can’t compare with what you’ll find here. You might be familiar with salmon and tuna, but you'll probably try new things as well, such as squid, eel or kazunoko (herring roe). You’ll learn that all parts of tuna aren’t equal in taste and you’ll be able to try them for yourself if you order akami, chutoro or otoro, each one of them being fattier and more delicious than the previous one.
We want to introduce you to sushi, that isn't just limited to fish, and I’m not talking about covering them up with mayonnaise, chilli pepper or fried onions. Instead, I’m talking about top quality meat, raw, grilled or flamed, all of which you can find at a restaurant called Niku Zushi.
What does Niku Zushi mean? 肉寿司
肉 “niku” means meat while 寿司 “sushi”, (often written in hiragana すし) translates as vinegared rice. In Japanese some words can slightly alter unsound when they are joined to others. That is why this place is named NikuZushi with a Z and not an S?
What kind of restaurant is Niku Zushi?
During your trip to Japan, you will find different kinds of restaurants serving sushi made of rice and meat. However, the restaurants called Niku Zushi are franchised restaurants that you can find all around Japan. The sushi can be made of pork,chicken, wagyu beef aswell as duck or even horse!
Some of their dishes are named after fish such as the “anago” which means salt-water eel. The anago you’ll find at Niku Zushi is actually pork, but its appearance matches the traditional anago sushi in terms of colour and shape, with its size being much longer than the rice.
Other great meals include foie gras (speciality food made from duck liver) as well as raw horse sushi. If you’ve never had horse before, try to forget about your cultural bias and make sure to try it out here since you might not get this opportunity in other countries.
One last cool thing about these restaurants is that once seated, the staff will bring you a basket from which each customer will pick their "hashi"(chopsticks) of choice, the chopsticks are wrapped in omikuji (おみくじ). Omikuji are Japanese random fortunes written on strips of paper generally found at Shinto shrines. Show the inside of the paper to the staff and if you got lucky in your choice of hashi, you’ll receive a free drink!
Where can I find a restaurant?
Though they are not as common as famous Japanese franchised restaurants such as, Sukiyaor Yoshinoya that you could find in any city or village in Japan, Niku Sushi is still present in 16 prefectures, including Osaka, Hiroshima or Fukuoka and there are no less than 25 restaurants in the prefecture of Tokyo itself!
Unfortunately, there is no website listing their restaurants.
Typing in "Niku Zushi" on google maps will take you to a specific restaurant in Ebisu, Tokyo.
However, there are other individual restaurants that serve niku zushi.
Typing in"niku sushi" with the "s" in Japan will bring up many different restaurants that offer meat sushi.
Usevul Vocabulary
Kamo- かも- 鴨
Duck
Wagyu- わぎゅう - 和牛
Japanese beef
Uma- うま - 馬
Horse
Chikin- チキン
Chicken
Buta- ぶた - 豚
Pork
Nama- なま- 生
Raw
MeiButsu - めいぶつ - 名物
Speciality
Osusume- おすすめ
Recommend
Useful Phrases
Uma niku ga tabete mitai!
馬肉が食べてみたい!
I’d like to try horse meat!
Nama niku wa chotto …Hontouni oishii desu ka?
生肉はちょっと... 本当に美味しいですか？
I’m not sure about eating raw meat, is it really that good?
Eigo menyu wa arimasu ka
英語メニューはありますか?
Do you have an English menu?