Takumi Shingo 匠 進吾 @ Aoyama Itchome, Tokyo (2nd Visit)

From what I recall from my blog post when I went to Takumi Shingo for the very first time, I praised Shingo-san for treating the Japanese customers better even though I was somewhat disheartened that I can never receive the same treatment because I am a foreigner. During my second visit here though, unlike the first time where I was scared to speak up, I took a chance and willed myself to be brave and connect with Shingo-san. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made because after that, he treated me like a Japanese customer and served me what he would serve to the Japanese locals. Let's have a look at the pictures:

Horse Mackerel, Squid, Snapper marinated in yolk powder, Striped mackerel marinated in kelp

Grated Yam, Spanish Mackerel and flounder, Octopus, Horse mackerel with negi, baby tuna, shirako, grilled belt fish, seaweed with sea grapes, snapper steamed with sake

Young Tuna, Spanish Mackerel, Herring, Prawn, marinated lean tuna, Medium fatty Tuna, young yellow tail marinated with shoyu, sea urchin

Monkfish liver maki, seared alfonsino, conger eel, botan prawn, aoyagi, marinated black trout, clam soup, 2 kinds of egg.

Dessert 1 - ice cream with wafer

Dessert 2 - sorbet

I ate about 30+ items - a mixture of tsumami dishes and nigiri sushi. As a disciple of Sushi Sho, Shingo-san serves both aged and marinated fish and combines them with different flavoured rice such as the red vinegared rice that is often used with fatty fish to compliment its flavour. Stand out pieces include the seared alfonsino, monkfish liver maki and aoyagi. But honestly, everything was already bloody good to begin with; it's really hard to say which piece was better than the other. It's no wonder that out of all the Sushi Sho related restaurants, Takumi Shingo is often rated as the best one after the main Sushi Sho itself.

With regards to my experience this time round, as I mentioned earlier on, connecting with him and letting him know that I can somewhat communicate in Japanese enabled me to be treated differently from the first time; I felt like he treated me like his Japanese customers. The dishes that we got for the tsumami this time were the same size as those given to the Japanese (unlike the first time). He also allowed me to pick the sushi pieces that I wanted towards the end; previously he chose them without asking me. I enjoyed myself the first time I was here, but this time I truly enjoyed it tremendously because for once I felt that my learning Japanese finally began paying off. Looking forward to the next time!

Tabelog Website: https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130603/13155925/
Address: 東京都港区南青山2-2-15 ウィン青山 1F
Budget (Dinner): 25,000+
My rating: 5 /5