Sushi at Yoteimaru, Kutchan, Japan

This place was recommended by our host, Matt from Niseko Freedom Inn (read previous post here). His description was, "if you want good sushi, try Yoteimaru.... yes it has a sushi train, and it looks a little commercialised but the food is excellent!".

We booked in a ride to the Kutchan town, where all the locals live and eat. When we got in, we saw the interior and it reminded me very much of Sushi King. It was not that full, at first glanced, but when I try to hang my jacket on the rack, I had difficulty squeezing my jacket into it. I soon realised that there were some private rooms at the back. The restaurant had more and more patrons as the night went by, to a stage where it was almost a full house.

Like all restaurant in Japan, the really good ones, you would expect the staff to speak little or no english. The staff at this place spoke very little english... EXCELLENT!!..  However most of them would have some simplified english menu. Matt had provided us with a few recommended "must try" items, with its japanese name.

We were very pleased with the provide english menu, but soon realised that it was limited compared to the japanese menu. We realised this because we saw the couple next to us order really interesting things. Since the lady spoke little english, we just pointed to her plate, and tried to decode what she ordered by referring to the english menu. We realised that most of the unique stuff is not in the english menu, and just asked the lady to help us ordered a plate.

In no particular order is what we had for the night.

This was one of the first few plates that we ordered. Do you want to guess what is it? It is Snow Crab sushi. To the untrained eye, it may look just like another Crab Stick sushi you get in Malaysia..... however please note that in Japan, they only eat the real thing... real crab legs.... look at the size of it, it must have come from a very big crab!! And once you have tasted the real crab stick..... you'll never look at it the same again.... ever...

Next on the list, we picked up a salmon from the sushi train. From what we noticed, the salmon was grilled lightly using those hand held torch before it was served. The salmon was a little fattier than normal, thus even after it was grilled, it was still very moist.

This sushi we ordered after pointing to the lady next to us ordered. It is NOT available on the english menu. It was grilled fatty salmon with mayo and salmon roe. The salmon was very fatty, topped up with the mayo and roe, the taste just came together... the mayo made it a little more tasty and rich. This was my favourite for the nite. And before we left for the night, we realised that this was the recommend pick from Matt.

This one we picked up from the train again. It was a scallop sushi. A little bland if you asked me. The scallop did have a sweet scallop taste and texture, but paired up with the rice.... a little bland. Please note that japanese sushi is more flat compared to those in Malaysia. Malaysian sushi have a little more salty and sour (vinegar) taste to it.

This we ordered from the menu. Do you know what it is? If you guessed unagi, you got it right. It's eel. However the unagi in Japan is prepared a little different. The unagi itself has NOT been prepared in the sweet sauce that we get in Malaysia (and in Australia). The unagi itself has a salty taste to it, and they just dribble some of the sweet sauce over it(as in the picture). The unagi sushi tasted different as it doesn't have an overwhelming sweet taste to it, with just a dash of sweetness to it. Overall something very different to what I used to eating...

This was a recommended item by the lady next to us. Till today we have no idea what was ordered. If you asked me, the taste was a little bland and the texture was a tad bit hard and rough. If you asked me to guess, I would say that it was a cake of fish roe.... honestly if anybody know what it is suppose to be... please let us know....

This we ordered from the menu. It is salmon roe sushi. The roe was larger than what I am used to eating. Overall the roe was very fresh and firm, but when you bite into, it would literally melt (pop) in your mouth... yummm...

Another sushi we picked up from the sushi train. Again, we have no idea what is suppose to be. Probably some fish.... I mustn't have made an impression because I couldn't remember what it tasted like (probably bland). If anyone knows what it is, do let us know.

This we ordered from the menu. Deep fried Octopus. It was probably one of the top item of the night, not the mentioned cheapest from the menu, only ¥126. A little hard to make out from the photo, but it is NOT those baby octopus you may think it is. It is actually octopus tentacles, and each piece is probably cut to each sucker of the tentacles. It was deep fried with batter. Over taste was salt-ish, but the texture was extremely chewy. Not tough, but very juicy chewy. It has to be fried just right to be chewy, because if they over did it, I would expect it to be dry and tough.

This was another recommendation of our new found japanese

This many Malaysians would know.... Kani Mayo.... or crab with mayonese as stated in the menu. Once again, for just one minute forget any of the Kani Mayo you may have tasted in your life.... now picture this.... fresh crab meat.... mixed with japanese mayo and placed on top of a sushi..... just brilliant! OK now back to reality.... in Malaysia (and Australia), you'll probably only get shredded crab stick on your Kani Mayo.... sad... just sad... in fact, I can never eat another "fake" Kani Mayo again.... ever again....

The last item for the night was also recommended by Matt. He specifically told us to order this as the last item of the night. It is the Otoro or the Fatty Tuna sushi. When we received our plate, we could see a layer of oil on our plate. You could see the layered of fats on the fish. When you bite in your Fatty tuna, it just melts in your mouth... yes really it melts..... Very much like butter melting in your mouth. A little like Kobe beef but Tuna instead. Overall the taste is extremely rich (think of a block of butter). After having it, we realised that it was very oily and overwhelming. We could not have anything else..... just too oily.... 


We realised after our trip, that a friend of us also very much enjoyed the Otoro. You can read on her post here.

As you can see here, most of the people had left, leaving only us, curiously waiting to see anything else on the sushi train. 


Having sushi in Japan made me realised a few key difference with sushi in Malaysia.

• Japanese do NOT add any extra wasabi onto their sushi. If you request for wasabi, they'll give you a weird look.
• They eat their sushi with Soya sauce... thats it.... No sweet sauce option either.
• A sushi train restautant is the only place that will serve green tea. No other restaurant before this had green tea to offer us. 
• Generally the sushi in Japan are more bland, a little less salty & sour (vinegar) when compared to Malaysian sushi. I guess they are trying to bring out the tastiness of the sushi, rather overwhelming you with the taste from the sushi.

Overall we really enjoyed our first Sushi experience in Japan. The experience was a little different, and after being so used to eating at Sushi Zenmai (fusion sushi), it would take me a while to get accustom to how sushi should really taste like. 

Read about our Sushi Dai, Tokyo experience here.