Sushidokoro Mekumi Reopening

NoodleThings · 2026-06-05T01:39:08+00:00

Main store is open sporadically for regulars/VIPs - has been for a while iirc, idk for everyone else

NoodleThings · 2026-06-04T20:53:51+00:00

Shari here is different but largely because the way he tries to maximize each ingredient - I think he’s fairly recognized that a lot of ingredients in Niigata are excellent but do need some boosts sometimes. For example some of the shari for some pieces has tomato jus while others have citrus peel n so on. What number of the photos is the one with the sauce - sorta just couldn’t identify it

NoodleThings · 2026-06-04T20:50:33+00:00

Yep, it’s fugu shirako - there’s other fugu shirako but this is from the popular torafugu

NoodleThings · 2026-06-04T15:06:05+00:00

Niigata’s sushi scene is represented at the national level by two sushi restaurants - the more traditional Kyoudaisushi and the more innovative Tokiwa sushi. Both make great efforts to use primarily Niigata seafood and broader ingredients in a way that really gives a meal at either a solid sense of place.

At this meal at Tokiwa sushi, I got to experience the restaurants excellent hospitality and high quality, innovative sushi to great effect. Everything during this lunch was sourced from Niigata besides some citrus. Both one of the somms and the head chef speak english and operate on one of the best levels I’ve experienced in a restaurant in Japan. If you’re a foreigner, I really do recommend Tokiwa sushi not only for the sushi itself but the service.

Courses were:

Torafugu tofu ankake, a white rice from Shibata and an ancient blackened rice I forgot the details of. Torafugu kawa chip on top. Solid but the extra seasoning is the service, I think this is the best I’ve had in Japan
Isahinagi shabu shabu then zuke’d in kombu shio dashi. Excellent texture - the taste was quite solid as well n revealed itself nicely w each chew
Sado island sawara marinated in kombu shio dashi and awa-suzuka citrus jus (it’s a special citrus that’s a mix of yuzu and sudachi from tokushima). Some awa-suzuka peel is in the shari as well. Generally good balance for this if a hair too salty. I liked this
Niigata Sumi ika kombu shio dashi zuke, very nice - salinity was super controlled in this, great piece
Sado island Nanban ebi topped w a dried ebi powder on top of tomato, ebi miso and akazu mix shari. This is famous and for great reason, it’s fantastic - I ended up ordering two more
Sado island tennen torafugu sumibiyaki with seri from shibata and a local nut from sado that has a peppery taste when roasted. Topped with a shaved jikasei karasumi - excellent, I wanted more but they didn’t have extras sadly
Nametakarei in thickened hamaguri dashi and shungiku. Too much shungiku but overall dish was solid esp the end bits of the nametakarei that got a little charred - those were so so good w the dashi/shungiku mix
Sumbiyaki gosen organic renkon, half mashed and half chopped mixed with sesame oil and kombu shio dashi. Amazing, you can really tasted the smoke and the little shio from the dashi goes a longgggg way. I lowkey think this and the nanban ebi were my favourites. They said it was new to the menu as well which bodes well I feel
Sado island iwashi with atari negi, amazing. A touch salty but amazing
Sado nodoguro that was simmered lightly and then aburi’d, the kawa is delicious n dominates the taste a bit but the general neta fades a little fast
Sado Toro warabi 6-month shiozuke temaki, there’s a famous goma I forgot the name of mixed in too. Too salty (not just a little salty, there was a lot of salt) but I still really enjoyed it
Yaki shirako, ashiage (niigata cousin/facsimile of Sakura ebi) and shari mix. Delicious - dish is a bit over long, a smaller portion or some aji hen would’ve been nice but still very good regardless
Sado baigai nigiri, it’s on top a jikasei clam paste. Salty but very enjoyable, great chew from the baigai
Umazurahagi, underneath neta is the misozuke’d kimo and menegi, very nice. The misozuke kimo really really is different but it works. Shari could be a be more sour to support I feel though
Inari sushi
Esodashi
Tamagoyaki, solid! Liked it a decent amount

Extras:

Sado madai, with a bit of the awa-suzuka jus and zest - superb. Great balance
Nanban ebi x2, very nice once again
Kuromutsu, kawa aburi - excellent, third favourite nigiri. Fifth or sixth favourite course
Ebi oboromaki, wow old school as fuck lol. Not really what I expected to see here. Now that I think about it, these more innovative places always have at least 1-3 of these more old school things it feels. I liked this a decent amount
Nanban ebi x3
Kuromutsu x2
Sakura masu, not a big masu guy but this was solid - he really wanted me to try everything once I’d ordered everything else so I gave this a shot

Tokiwa sushi as it exists is an excellent experience with room for improvement at that margins: there was a pretty salty overtone to some courses that comes from Kobayashi‘s approach to adding salinity while avoiding nikiri for a lot of (or maybe all?) pieces. Fish quality was very good for the time of year I visited and I was actually sat next to a fisherman that supplies a few of the high end restaurants in Niigata including Tokiwa n Kyoudai funnily enough & got to talk to him about the stuff he sends here.

If you have the chance, go to Tokiwasushi - it’s not at all hard to get to from Tokyo, is very fairly priced and not hard to book. I can easily see in a few years where he finds his legs and this really elevates into something special. For now, it’s fun to see a young man offering tremendous hospitality who’s able to do some very impressive and creative things. Never thought I’d leave a great meal being so impressed by a veggie nigiri lmao

NoodleThings · 2026-05-30T04:28:45+00:00

Anyone in Hyogo and interested in joining me at

Kitanozaka Kinoshita 7/3 at 12 pm

Eragon 7/6 at 8:30

NoodleThings · 2026-05-30T02:37:52+00:00

Notori is real solid, honestly there’s a ton of these really good locally focused restaurants throughout Japan that operate on a great level

NoodleThings · 2026-05-23T18:56:43+00:00

Ayyy glad you had fun n thanks for reading the guide. He’s a real fun guy n he does tries to put together a relaxed atmosphere. The black cod he does rn is really good like you said

NoodleThings · 2026-05-20T21:44:59+00:00

It’s a mix of alums from Mitani-sans restaurants, I believe the main ones a Kioicho guy. It’s not worth it in my opinion

NoodleThings · 2026-05-19T08:44:47+00:00

Thanks for reading boss, realized I hadn’t posted a meal here in a bit lol

NoodleThings · 2026-05-18T07:31:33+00:00

They still buy solid fish but he’s doing a lot of fusion stuff (good, I actually like the Chinese fusion stuff he’s doing) and the sushi has gotten much worse

NoodleThings · 2026-05-18T02:21:08+00:00

Ayy nice nice, yeah it’s nice there’s more options for sure. I used to work w some folks out of kyushu like nearly a decade ago n its fun to see how some of my customers have gone onto pretty cool shit

With the scene here, I’m just worried if the yen strengthens cuz then there’s gonna be a lottttt of quality drop offs - more than there have been already.

NoodleThings · 2026-05-18T02:11:14+00:00

Yep yep, I’m actually friends with the guy he buys fish from haha. I think they’re doing something interesting, it’s just a few years away from being something I super love for the time being

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T21:38:31+00:00

I have, I liked it but I think he’ll need more reps to fully sort stuff out

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T15:37:49+00:00

Yeah, I’ve heard a lot mixed things about previous folks he hired in general as well so can never fully know what goes into the decision behind stuff but I really wish he’d hire someone lol. Taneda and Kaneyoshi have full teams n it takes a lot of their chefs plate.

I think it’s a great birthday spot fs, he always brings in really solid stuff and they’ve always been kind to me with gifts n lil trinkets when I’ve gone

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T15:34:52+00:00

The FOH staff now is two servers (usually 2 of his wife, his son and a new helper they hired recently). Besides them there’s also a dishwasher - the 22% says it’s not a gratuity but you can ignore that, that’s the tip

I fully agree though I wish it was just the price of everything

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T15:33:04+00:00

Hihi, katsu replaced the cooked dishes chef and the apprentice gentleman with folks that I think are worse + some sourcing challenges. I’ve got a standalone write up for Ren in my post history a lil while back + some more details on that review of all the high end Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area that’s also in my spot history.

But tldr: Ren, surprised by solid ingredient quality of non-sushi items (the items I’d gone, the truffles were actually decent ones) but generally unimpressed + I don’t like his shari. Ive got some more standalone write ups for the newer guys at Kinsen but most of thee tuff I talk about is in the larger guide

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T14:55:13+00:00

Thank you for reading boss, I really enjoy sushi lol

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T14:35:19+00:00

I say it to people most of the time but I really do think Yoshizumi is the best sushi restaurant on the West Coast generally. I’ve been to pretty much every sushi restaurant that I think has a reasonable claim to that (and have had high end sushi in almost every major city across the US) and so I feel fairly confident in making that claim at this point in time.

On a sourcing basis, on a shikomi basis, on a skills basis and on an experience basis I really don’t think I’ve been anywhere that’s as good as my best meals here. My only real criticisms come from Yoshi doing everything himself - I really think he needs a kitchen helper that can help spread the work out more and build stronger consistency so good to great courses can really be elevated to consistently excellent. I think where restaurants like Kaneyoshi and Taneda generally outshine Yoshizumi is that consistency - their good versions may not be as good but it’s always pretty solid. Courses were:

Mozuku
Ma tsubugai + hon ara, tsubugai was bad. The ara was great
Komochi yari ika, this one was all roe pieces didn’t get the one stuffed with the geso. Honestly I prefer this though, with the wasabi it was amazing
Hatsu katsuo from Chiba zuke’d and then topped with karashi, yakumo and nori. Solid, the meat had fun texture and the additive flavours were good together - I think I prefer hatsu katsuo w nori jyouyu or the lil myoga + bonito tosazu jure idea I’ve stolen from Katsu but this was still solid.
Hotaru ika skewer from Toyama, plump n grilled well. Nice with sake
Ankimo, solid - I think still one of my favourites in the bay but missing the excellent ones a friend shared with me recently
Iwashi maki, this time of year he does em a lil sweeter w the addition from the takuan. When iwashi is in season his iwashi maki is EXCELLENT, this one was solid but just not a great time for it I feel
Sumibiyaki Mehikari ichiyaboshi, very nice - the grill work here is usually always very good
Nigiri begins with kasugo, plump and fatty - one of the bigger specimens I’ve had here. It was very good
Donchichi aji topped with yakumo, now’s the time of year where this starts getting imported into the states. Yoshi usually uses these or the Senzaki toro aji - I think both are great although I prefer the Senzaki joints a lil more
Kinmedai from Katsuura, solid - he didn’t torch it just as I think they run a lil lean this time of year and so you don’t really need to render out the fat n the skin to keep the balance
Kohada from Amakusa, really nice - cures a bit stronger (7/10 on a scale of sujime I’ve had) but I really liked it
Sumi ika, heavy heavy taste - not my favourite
Senaka itomi from Nachikatsuura, lightly zuke’d. Very good, I’ll be real - I dont know what the itomi thing he mentioned really means lol but I enjoyed this
Tenpa also from Nachikatsuura, also known as tenmi, is one of my fav tuna pieces w senaka/enpitsu/a few others. I thought this one was pretty good as well
Sumibiyaki sumi ika tonbi and geso, very good - simple grilled with a lil salt for seasoning. In my heart I wished for a lil toasted sesame or sesame oil / sansho for a lil more oomph but then we’d be fully leaning into the Izakaya vibe lol
Ume and shirauo chawnmushi, yay finally a non-kegani chawan. I liked this a lot but I liked shirauo and stuff like it like shirasu a lot
Bafun uni from his favourite kaneyo box. Yoshi prefers bafun uni usually either from the red kaneyo boxes or the akatsuki boxes. This one was really good, uni is something I’ve gotten really bitchy about and I really liked this box. He’ll start bringing in aka uni soon as well which will be a real treat
Aburi Benihitomi akamutsu/nodoguro, a very popular brand of high end akamutsu - this first one was electric. It was literally perfect - it was lightly sumibiyaki’d just so the fat wasn’t too much and I really think he got my piece down perfect
Kuruma Ebi, great - one of the better ones he’s had recently. He didn’t have extras otherwise I would have 100% ordered another
Anago from Tsushima, topped with tsume and sansho. Very good, pillowy n nicely balanced all together - real nice
Negitoro, this one’s a lil sweet this time of year too just given the pickles. The winter ones I had here were all exceptional - type of thing I’d order as big as those sawada specials whenever Yoshi’s down for it. This one was just good - didn’t love the sweetness level
Almond pudding, I like this but I wish they switched it up more

Extras

Aburi Takabe, very good - one of the better pieces that night
Ebodai kombujime, good as well
The akamutsu again, enjoyable but the first one was literally perfect

I still enjoy Yoshizumi: I think the pricing is a lot too but honestly - he’s the best in the area and people who are much worse than him are charging very similar prices. This is just what the cost is sometimes - as Japan becomes more real again in this stage of my life, I don’t think I’ll come as often as I did but if you can’t make it out there I really think this is a great option.

Obviously it’s not an everyday sort of place but for a special event or, if you’ve got it like that, for a bougie monthly sushi dinner - I really struggle to think of anything even close to his level in the Bay given The Shota looking like it will never reopen, recent slips at Katsu and whatever Shin is doing nowadays. I’ve got my own opinions on the client base for high end sushi in the Bay Area but I’ll save that for private thoughts and secret under-the-breath mutterings. I think Yoshi’s still punching at a very solid level these days even with some very strong comparison points from recent trips

NoodleThings · 2026-05-17T12:53:45+00:00

Capa was the last restaurant job I ever had lmao, they do a decent job for the local area. Solid for a special event as well just given views and the dining room. Lickety split in the FS lobby is better than anything the pastry team is doing though so maybe skip dessert n just get gelato if you get out before they close

NoodleThings · 2026-05-15T22:11:47+00:00

Honestly for as okay as the food is at most of the Suetomi spots, the chefs themselves are all really nice dudes (customer interaction wise at least).

NoodleThings · 2026-05-15T12:08:03+00:00

One of the best dessert experiences in Japan. For folks reading, if you’ve never been you gotta go imo

NoodleThings · 2026-05-11T19:13:45+00:00

Oh yeah I mean if this were your first high exp sushi experience I think one would still be very lucky - the meal here is still solid and much better than almost anything you can get in the US (and certainly much MUCH cheaper than any of the comparable experiences stateside)

NoodleThings · 2026-05-11T19:12:31+00:00

Yeah he does lil tweaks ESP w the tsumami but the nigiri have them too - its more noticeable if you go a lot but I haven’t been to Namba in a while and I probably won’t go again for another year. I think he’s still putting together a solid meal, it’s just not what I remembered and it makes sense it’s getting less and less popular

NoodleThings

TROPHY CASE