Comparing Two Kanazawa Conveyor-Belt Sushi Restaurants with a Sushi Chef: Maimon Sushi and Sushi Kuine!

According to Ryuji, earlier episodes in this series had gone to cheap conveyor-belt sushi chains, but Maimon Sushi "seems to be on a different level." Permission to film had been obtained in advance.

The first plate was nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch). They were recommended to eat it with the salt on the table, but Taisho ate it as it was. What surprised Taisho was not so much the topping as the handling of the rice. Commenting on the rice temperature and how firmly it was pressed, he said it "goes beyond the level of conveyor-belt sushi," and asked whether it was made by machine. The staff replied that it should be shaped by hand by sushi chefs.

Next came gasu shrimp. One of the companions said they had eaten it at a market before, but that this was better.

With the flounder, the talk turned to the soy sauce. Taisho noted that it was different in direction from the sweet soy sauces of Kyushu, then praised it as savory and slightly sweet. Asked whether the restaurant blends its own, the answer was that they had heard it was house-made.

The fugu is normally served with ponzu, but Taisho said he wanted to eat it with salt, and everyone ate it with salt. The reactions—"The fugu is super good" and "Shockingly good"—were the strongest so far. With the white shrimp, the wasabi wasn't spicy when they first tasted it on its own, but turned out to be quite spicy when eaten on top of the sushi. Even so, the strong sweetness of the shrimp was well received.

A firm-textured topping described as being from Noto was well received for its "crunchy-crunchy" texture. With the octopus, they felt it might go better with salt than soy sauce, and praised it for having no wateriness at all.

The tekka maki came in a style where you roll the wasabi-laced filling yourself, and the deliciousness of the nori, the good condition of the rice, and its clean bite were all mentioned.

The unexpected reaction came with the heshiko. Thinking the heshiko itself would be salty, they ate it without soy sauce—and even a companion who had said "I don't really like heshiko" was surprised at how good it was. The saltiness was just right, and someone remarked, "This calls for sake." One person said it was their first time eating it.

They also ordered jibuni, a Kanazawa regional dish. Taisho explained that in Ishikawa Prefecture, the rule is to dissolve wasabi into the broth when eating it. When he makes it himself, he adds the wasabi partway through simmering. The staff also advised them to dissolve it, and everyone ate it that way. One person said they love the kurumafu (wheel-shaped wheat gluten) in it, and it was well received.

Of a simmered-style topping brushed with sweet tsume sauce, Taisho said it was better than at a Tokyo sushi restaurant he had visited recently. At the same time, he said he would like to try this one with salt.

The inari came in a form where the vinegared rice was not wrapped in the fried tofu. The fried tofu was hot and the broth tasted like oden, and the group was surprised: "This isn't the one I know." Here, Taisho shared his view that at this restaurant there were no items where you think, "If I order this, it's definitely going to come out cold." As an example he brought up eel, saying that whenever he sees the many restaurants that write "domestic eel," he wonders what's really going on with it.

Not everything was well received, however. A soup with no solid ingredients that smelled of shrimp got good reviews, but for another dish Taisho pointed out that the temperature was a bit low, calling it "a little disappointing."

They also tried several of the restaurant's creative rolls. The "Melty Roll" has conger eel and cucumber rolled inside with avocado on top, and it was explained that "melty" means "melting." Others included tuna marinated in red wine soy sauce rolled with cucumber, and red sea bream rolled with a pickled plum sauce. The rolls are reportedly named after rivers that flow through the area.

The red sea bream roll was praised for its good balance with the plum. Taisho, however, pointed out that the rice was a bit cold, and said he wished they had used the rice from the nigiri earlier. With the red wine–marinated tuna, the red wine flavor didn't come through much; the impression was more like something marinated in steak sauce. Taisho said it was the most "baffling" thing he ate that day, but surprisingly good. Overall, the creative rolls were all judged delicious, to the point that you could order every one of them. As a suggestion for improvement, someone said they would like a crunchy texture like takuan (pickled daikon).

When they ordered ikura toward the end, Taisho talked about prices. This year's price increases have been shocking—"It's beyond just going up," he said. His outlook that ikura and uni may become impossible to eat in the future, and that ikura may disappear from osechi New Year's dishes, was presented as his personal view.

What appeared to be the "Kintoki Pudding" dessert was praised for its sweetness. One of the companions loves sweet potatoes, and it came up that they eat ten pieces of sweet potato tempura at tempura restaurants. The dashimaki (rolled omelet) was sweet and warm, and described as having a homestyle flavor.

At the end of day one, one of the companions mentioned another restaurant, and the next day they decided to go to Sushi Kuine! Kanazawa Ekimae. It was introduced as not being number one in popularity rankings, but easy to walk into thanks to its location in front of the station, and delicious.

This was Ryuji's second visit to this restaurant. Saying that the previous day's Maimon Sushi had also been "super good," he added that this place tasted better to him, and predicted it would hit the spot for Taisho too. Orders are placed on a touch panel, and plates are delivered on an upper lane.

The sweet shrimp plate was large, and everyone reacted that it was sweet and delicious. The seared nodoguro is eaten sprinkled with salt and a squeeze of citrus.

Taisho judged the rice to be better at this restaurant. He was careful to say, however, that what he was comparing with the previous day's restaurant was "the flavor of the rice itself," and that the way it was shaped was a separate matter. According to the restaurant's explanation, they use only Ishikawa Prefecture vinegar and Ishikawa Prefecture soy sauce. The toppings and rice are generous in volume, too big to eat in one bite.

With the hikiwari natto gunkan, Taisho explained the difference in mouthfeel. Natto doesn't coat the rice in oil, but with fatty toppings like toro, that fat helps the rice break apart more easily.

When they compared by ordering smaller portions of rice (sharikoma), Taisho said this amount was just right. There was also a small commotion when they turned a plate around for filming and ended up with it the wrong way.

Of the toro, Taisho judged, "That's not wild-caught." He gave three reasons. First, the fat really comes through at the end. Second, a wild fish of this size with this much fat isn't available yet at this time of year. And third, the texture is very soft. If it were wild-caught, he said, it would take a very long aging period to get this texture. On the other hand, he also rated the rice temperature on this plate as the very best.

They decided to eat the flounder (the subtitles waver between "akagarei" and "magarei") with salt. Someone said the salt from the previous day's nodoguro had been better, and they specially asked the restaurant for coarse salt. It was also revealed here that the salt for the nodoguro had contained gold leaf.

With this plate, one of the companions asked, "Doesn't this taste like candy?" Taisho replied that it must be the taste of the ginger on top, and someone also said the ginger wasn't needed. The companion went further, pointing out that they could detect a lemon-like sourness in the ginger. When they checked with the restaurant, the answer came back that a little lemon juice is squeezed in to preserve the color. The group was astonished, and someone joked to Taisho, "How did you raise this kid?" Ryuji laughed, saying he was "a little weirded out."

After that, the debate continued over whether the ginger was grated and stored, from a tube, or fresh. One view was that since fibers were visible, it was likely grated and stored, while others said it had the pungency typical of tube ginger or that it seemed fresh, and no conclusion was reached. Still, there was general agreement that the ginger was too strong and didn't pair well with the topping.

Finally, they looked back on what had been best across the two restaurants. Ryuji's number one was the sweet shrimp and the nodoguro. Taisho said that for nodoguro, the previous day's Maimon Sushi had been better. He explained that the fish there was in much better shape, while here it was fluffy but in poorer condition.

At this point, the conversation turned to how they were probably the only ones making comparisons like this, while other customers were eating with their families with smiles on their faces. Taisho prefaced his remarks by saying both were super delicious, then said that although they had been comparing them to sushi restaurants, the very fact that they could be compared to sushi restaurants shows how high their quality is. His view was that a restaurant at 100 yen per plate draws customers on price, but these restaurants draw this many customers while being at a level that can be compared to real sushi restaurants.

Next time, they plan to visit Triton, a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Hokkaido. According to one of the companions, Triton gives the impression of being cheaper than the restaurants this time, and drinking plenty of alcohol and eating until full came to about 4,000 yen.