Ever been to Tsukiji outer market (築地市場)? Much like how London had Smithfields, Paris had Les Halles and New York had the Fulton fish market, Tsukiji was the location of Tokyo's wholesale fish market (the inner market, which only ran from 2a to roughly 11a), 6 days a week excluding holidays and some Wednesdays from 1935 all the way to 2018 (it then moved to Toyosu in the Tokyo Port lands). The outer market was an ancillary market with seasonings, kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, stuff of that nature, but is nowadays surrounded by tourist trap stands outside - you'll walk past stalls of vendors hawking Tamagoyaki, eel yakitori and strawberry mochi who out of casual earshot will grumble softly in Thai, Vietnamese or Mandarin Chinese, and most of the self-proclaimed foodies from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam will pretend not to hear (the same happens at the less trafficked parts of Dotonbori in Osaka).
The heart of Tsukiji outer market is a 2-building complex called Tsukiji Uogashi (築地魚河岸) which caters to retail consumers (as opposed to Toyosu's wholesale operations). Within that complex there is a vendor which specializes in curing/pickling fish and dried sardines and whatnot...it's called Okume 尾粂. Okume had a pretty long history at Tokyo. They were at the original Tokyo market at Nihonbashi until it burnt down in the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, then moved to Tsukiji in 1935, then moved mostly to Toyosu for wholesale ops, but their retail are pretty big and considered "very boughie". For example, they have 2 retail locations outside of Tsukiji - one is at Mori Azabudai Hills (super-boughie tower complex in Minato, Tokyo where TeamLabs have their "borderless" display)...and the other is at Taki Vison in Mie Prefecture, which is a boughie commercial resort/farmers market catering to Kansai/Aichi new money vacationing at Ise-Shima national park nearby - it's like gourmet food vendors out near Arcadia in Maine or Yosemite in California pitching "slow food" to yuppies. Due to its boughie image, the store has a more "faux-nordic" look similar to Cibone/Kama-asa/Balmuda/Cafe Ote sharing the same space, and Uzuki next door (in fact, the workers here use a door to access the Uzuki space next door for lockers/storage/prep space and I am starting to suspect that they share the same investors). AFAIK Dashi Okume doesn't have much in common with the establishments nearby other than the fact they share the same roof.
So, what do they specialize in? Well, they carry high end seasonings (holy crap, is that a 23 dollar bottle of 6 year aged Gingo Kanzuri 吟醸寒造里 from Myoko, Niigata prefecture 新潟妙高 I see there?! Getting the 3 year stuff is already difficult as-is in NYC) and they can sell you cured fish from Tokyo indirectly via their 33 dollar Japanese breakfast sets (only during the weekends). Yep, broiled cured fish, 2 sides, pickles, miso and rice - the cured fish is also sold at Wegman Astor place through them as well, but most people don't have a Japanese fish broiler at home (Panasonic, Zojirushi or otherwise). How good is the fish? Don't know, haven't had the chance...but I had the breakfast sets while in Japan from a local chain (Shinpachi), and Ichiju-Sansai 一汁三菜 works just fine for breakfast (of course, I paid like 7 bucks there, so keep that in mind). Their "party trick" however is that they could sell you bags of freshly shaved dried seafood, kelp and seasoning in disposable bags, which you can use to prepare dashi (Japanese soup stock). They have several mixes (Kyoto, Tokyo and Premium) which can be used for stews, oden and such. Wanna do your own mixes? They can mix match shave and bag a custom set for you. While buying your own dried seafood/kelp and doing your own soup stock is considered very old fashioned in Japan, having most of the legwork done for you via modern technology and quality ingredients...is a convenience - most of the old-school purveyors in Japan frown on that, so it's surprising that Okume is willing to step up here.
One of the recurrent but slightly outdated running jokes in Japanese culture is to be careful about telling your girlfriend how much you love the taste of her miso soup and you'll want to drink it daily...as it is tantamount to an indirect marriage proposal (a spouse typically cooks you a breakfast with miso soup on the side daily). As for me? I enjoy the miso soup from the missus and don't mind it daily, but that's partially due to buying her the "good stuff" (usually the Tokyo style - Kyoto's too light and Premium isn't that much better) from Dashi Okume that she can use to nail the results. Of course, she's been making miso soup for me for a while (and no, I am not corny enough to drop that line when I proposed), but I don't mind spending 40 bucks once in a while for a stash of Tokyo dashi since we'll both be benefitting from it. Overall, a bit expensive for my tastes, but it's an affordable luxury straight from Japan that's worth it. read more