The chef just drank my sake. A full glass, necked in one go. I mean, I poured him that glass, I passed it over the counter, so I suppose it should have been expected. Still.
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He's finished the sake and plonked the empty glass on the counter. He's thanked me with a loud "arigatou gozaimasu" and a quick bow. He's grabbed a long, razor-sharp knife and gone back to the business of slicing some of the world's finest fish to be placed on top of some of the world's finest rice.
This is Sushi Rinda, on a plain street in the plain neighbourhood of Meguro in Tokyo. This is a high-end restaurant with a difference, where sushi is fun. It's also very good - but more than anything, it's fun.
You've probably heard a thing or two about top-end sushi restaurants in Japan. One, that it's difficult to get bookings. And that's true. Also, that there's a hushed, reverent atmosphere, which is also true.
Sushi is serious business, particularly high-end sushi, and there are all sorts of unwritten rules that govern the behaviour of those lucky enough to sit at the counter and enjoy the food.
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Not so, however, at Sushi Rinda. Chef Yuuta Kouno spent three years living in New York, and speaks excellent English. His sous chefs also converse easily in two languages. That completely changes the game for foreign visitors, given the interaction between chef and diner is so integral to the sushi experience. There's also nothing reverent about the atmosphere at Rinda. The sushi might be serious (and seriously expensive), but this place is supposed to be fun.
And so the chefs laugh and joke with each other, and the diners. On the last service of the night, the 8pm seating, they drink as they work. It gets loose. The customers react in kind, proffering their cups of sake across the counter.
Pretty soon, everyone needs a refill.
