The full omakase menu looked to be way too much food for me, and included a lot of non-sushi stuff, which is all I really wanted to try, and my companion didn't eat sushi. So we turned to the menu.
Good gyoza. Not great gyoza. Hmmm... that's kind of a first litmus test for me... I mean, dumplings.
He got the yakisoba, stir-fried noodles with vegetables and pork. I think it's the first time I've ever seen yakisoba quite like this - it's not obvious from the photo, but the vegetables and pork are over a mound of deep fried noodles. It's literally like one big mass of crunchy noodles under there in a dome, like someone piled them into a wok full of hot oil, fried them crisp, and then turned them over. Kind of like a version of Chinese chow mein.
I got the tokujo sushi combo - the sushiman's pick of the day (I have the feeling, looking at some online photos, that it doesn't really change day to day, which belies the whole chef's pick thing). No explanation of what fish is on it, in fact, service was very perfunctory and pretty inattentive. We kept having to flag down our waitress to get anything - menus were tossed on our table when we sat down, and at the almost 20 minute mark we were ready to walk out when we finally got someone to the table to take an order. All attention was being given to a few obvious regulars, and to Japanese customers. Back to the sushi - it was pretty good, but no more than that - the fish was fresh, but the rice was bland, and the pieces had a tendency to fall apart. It certainly wasn't anything that made me want to come back and try more, or even order a few a la carte pieces extra in the moment. Even the miso soup with cockles that accompanied it was just kind of average.
I've had better at neighborhood sushi bars in NYC, without even pimping for anywhere special. Even Buenos Aires has sushi bars these days that put up a better sushi selection than this. I know this place is no longer the elected "best Japanese" in the city in the last year or so, but it still seems to make it onto various lists near to the top, and if that's as good as Japanese gets in São Paulo, I'm not impressed. I assume there's better, and hopefully, a lot better. read more