Cool Guides

The only one I really would avoid is passing things between or touching chopsticks together. This is reminiscent of Japanese funeral rituals and thus considered rude to do at the table.

The others are more about common sense and trying to help you enjoy the sushi as the chef intended:

• They are bite-sized pieces, designed as a flavour combination, so don't break them up in any way
• If you don't want rice, sashimi is a good way to get that
• Putting too much soy sauce on the rice can make it fall apart
• (real) Wasabi is delicate and mixing it with soy sauce will certainly destroy its subtle flavour. In any case in a high-end place the sushi chef will have added everything that's intended as part of the flavour combination before serving the sushi, so adding stuff is not necessary

But again, these are suggestions. Enjoy the sushi how you like, you're not hurting anyone.

Now in fairness we dont know how high end this Sushi place is, if its a place where your paying for the experience its more understandable but It does read a little bit passive agressive.

"No sushi for you!"

I switch my knife and fork as I need to use them, knife in right hand when I need to cut and fork in right hand to eat, that's all I know how to do 🤷

That's not usually the case in a high-end sushi place. The chef will prepare your orders one by one and serve them out as soon as each is completed, so you will get one piece at a time.

I too am looking for the answer to this. Like are you supposed to eat the entire roll in 30 seconds? You're not even tasting it at that point. I'm hoping 30 seconds per piece.

That’s basically how I’m reading this. And I follow that rule quite well.

I assume it's fine as long as you don't get any on the rice

Yea I was like WTF. I went to Japan for work for several months and when the guys at Yokohama office took me eating sushi that's what they did.

All within 30 seconds after waiting 20 minutes to get a tray of 4.

It's actually culturally appropriate to eat sushi with your hands if you want, making the turn over dipping easier. The only reason they say not to dip the rice side is the worry that it'll soak up too much soy sauce and the fish flavor will be overpowered. But it's not that big a deal.

The passing food from one set of chopsticks to another is pretty strictly avoided in Japan though. They pass bones like that as part of funerary rites so it's pretty closely wired into Japanese people as a cultural taboo.

But yes, you're supposed to flip the nigiri 90+ degrees when dunking. It's why I usually just stick to the sashimi. 9/10 chance I drop the chunk in the sauce. Can't go wrong with that.

Why is mixing a thing suddenly?

Definitely not new, people have been doing this since at least the 90s, when I was a kid.

I also know plenty of Japanese people who say dipping the rice lightly into soy sauce is the correct method, so take literally any "sushi etiquette" guide with a grain of salt.

Eat your food in whatever way brings you joy. Anyone that says otherwise is a pointlessly-gatekeeping idiot.

It depends. In really high-end and authentic sushi restaurant, there is already wasabi between the fish and the rice. You are supposed to dip the fish side in the soy sauce only.

On the other hand, it's okay to mix the wasabi if the sushi is not prepared that way. People do this even in Japan.

People in Japan do it all the time. Ideally, the chef would get the proper amount of wasabi on everything and you wouldn't need/want to do it, but that is not always the case. It is generally looked on more favorably to dab some wasabi on each piece rather than mixing, though.

It's just personal preference.

I learnt it from a chef in Japan in 2009, and I assume he had been doing it for many years at that time.

Generally, that's something done at a sushi train restaurant where the dishes won't have wasabi in them already. I'm guessing these notes are for a sushi restaurant where the chef prepares the sushi specifically for each customer, so if you wanted wasabi they'd put it in the sushi itself.

I mix my wasabi and soy sauce every time. I also dip my sushi in this mixture rice-side down. I’ve never had anyone complain about this. If any sushi chef ever does complain I will just leave and never give business to that gas station again.

Sushi is supposed to be bite-sized. In my experience this is not always the case in practice, but the idea is that you should just pop the whole thing in your mouth.

And why not chew it off?

Last time I had sushi (about a week ago), I tried a place I'd never tried before. I ordered some sashimi and they were huge. If I'd eaten those in one bite each, it would have been like that game "chubby bunny". But then again I don't really know how authentic this particular sushi place was. Tasted great, though.

It's quite possible they simply make their sushi smaller, depending where you live. Americans tend to make things a size or two bigger than a lot of the rest of the world.

Real wasabi is way more expensive than $3.