Seizan, Roppongi (漬山)

Stepping back to a nondescript moment in time…Seizan is “the 5th floor sushi place” that I’ve been to or had takeout from lots of times. I even struggled to remember the name for this after going there yesterday. Due to its location in my office building, it tends to get visited on rainy days. Something about the atmosphere, which is perfectly normal open-plan, light wood, mid-range sushi, thus makes me think of rainy days and gets me down (like Mondays).

You know, the food was better than I remembered. There are about 5 lunch sets with semi-picturesque names (in addition to ばらちらし, there’s 花ちらし and 江戸小町. I know these are normal names for things, but still! You know, my Chinese colleague cracked up when I told him that our new Japanese colleagues were named 鴨川、鈴木、桜田, etc.) The chirashi’s are good, the komachi is good…prices range from Y1000 to Y1500 for a special nigiri set or something. These all come with some combination of pickles, soup, salad and roll. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the fish in my hanachirashi; in the past I’ve found this place a little tired-tasting despite the fact that the chefs at the counter look the business and make everything fresh. [Aside: I was really stunned the first time I visited this standing sushi place in Monnaka, I think called Chiyoda. The fish was pre-cut, and almost looked like it was cut by machine. ]

Weird, I can’t find a link. But you shouldn’t need one. It’s the sushi place on the 5th floor.