Many sushi eating subcultures have developed outside of Japan, particularly in the United States.  Sushi etiquette is not complicated, but it's rich in traditions that you may want to become aware of.  This document was prepared with input from the author's Japanese friends and acquaintances.  When a custom is discussed this HOWTO chooses the "Japanese way" of doing things over "the local way".

Note:  Most sushi chefs (itamae ) are male because of traditions dating back to the time of the samurai.  This document assumes adherence to this tradition and uses male pronouns to refer to the sushi chef and his actions.

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Table of Contents

• Choosing a sushi restaurant
• Warning signs that you probably won't get good sushi
• How to order your food and drinks
• Types of sushi
• The details of enjoying sushi
• Mechanics
• Meal order
• Living dangerously:  Fugu
• What is wasabi?
• Kinome and sansho:  beyond wasabi
  
• Why the rice is so tasty
• What to order
• Nigirisushi
  
• Makisushi
• Temaki
• Other things to try
• Vegetarian sushi
  
• Becoming a master: beyond nigiri and maki sushi (Updated April 2005)
• Bonus recipe:  Yujimaki (aka Amigo Maki)
• About alt.food.sushi
• Ongoing USENET threads about this HOWTO
• Odds and ends
• Why tip the itamae and the waiters separately?
• How much wasabi?
• Quick link to the photos for busy people don't have time to read this HOWTO
  
• Acknowledgements and Copyright

Choosing a Sushi Restaurant

• Eat only at the best place you can find.  Many sushi bars are a bit expensive, but quality usually sucks, so price is no indicator of quality.  Ask Japanese people where they go to eat sushi and go there.
• Stick to one or two good places once you find them.  Regulars get better sushi and better overall service than casual patrons.
• The best sushi places I've been to in San Francisco, Mexico City, Zürich, Manhattan, Beverly Hills, Waikiki, Guadalajara, Paris, Moscow, Boston, Columbus OH (yes, you read that correctly), London, Amsterdam, Dallas TX, Milano, Toronto and Chicago have one thing in common:  They have a very small sushi bar, i.e. they seat fewer than 12 people at the bar.
• A good Japanese restaurant is most often not a good sushi place.  A good sushi place is usually a good Japanese restaurant.
• Count the number of Japanese sitting at the sushi bar.  The more Japanese people eating there, usually the better the sushi.  Remember:  Japanese people are manic about quality.
• Most often than not, avoid the restaurants with little boats of sushi parading along a large sushi bar.  It's a great gimmick, but remember that those restaurants are to sushi what McDonald's is to prime rib.
• The only chain of sushi restaurants in the world worth visiting (in fact, I encourage you to) belongs to Nobuyuki Matsuhisa.  Nobu is arguably the best sushi chef in the world, and has opened a chain of small but high-quality (and pricey) restaurants in major cities in the US and in Europe.

Warning signs that you probably won't get good sushi

1. The fish and other seafood are not on display at the sushi bar
2. The fish and other seafood on display look dry
3. The sushi chef or (worse) a food server wants to take your order for all sushi items at once
4. The sushi chef doesn't give you a chance to order "one or two pieces at a time", Japanese style
5. The restaurant advertises "all you can eat sushi" for a fixed price
6. The menu items are not listed in Japanese followed by a translation; they appear only in your native language
7. The menu consists mostly of rolled sushi with names like California Roll or Oriental Delight
8. More than half of the available ingredients are cooked
9. The sushi chef hasn't the vaguest idea of what you're talking about if you ask for kazunoko, shiso, inago, chirashi, or yama gobo
10. The morsels of fish atop nigiri pieces are so large that you can barely see the rice underneath (believe it or not, some people think that the sushi place is good because you get big pieces of fish).  Big pieces of fish are good as long as the fish quality is good.
    
11. The sushi rice is flavorless; sushi rice must have a delicate aroma and flavor
12. The restaurant is part of a chain or franchise

How to order your food and drinks

1. Eat at the sushi bar.
2. Greet the other people at the bar and start conversation with them; sushi is about community.
3. If you cannot eat at the bar, walk to it and check the quality of the fish before ordering.
4. Greet the itamae (sushi chef) even if you don't eat at the bar.  He'll recommend special stuff if he recognizes you as a regular and/or someone who truly knows how to eat sushi.
5. Remember that itamae are not just "cooks".  They have traditions dating back to the time of the samurai.  These same guys fed the meanest leanest macho hombre warriors of Japan.  Be respectful and you shall enjoy the best sushi.
6. Order all sushi items from the itamae, everything else from the food servers.
7. Order sashimi (selection of fresh fish slices) first; ask the sushi chef for his choice of fish.  He knows what's fresh today better than you.  "Please prepare what you think is freshest," is the best way to order.  Let him be creative.
8. Order one kind of sushi at a time, maximum three if the bar is busy.  That could be nigiri, maki or temaki.  Big plates are for the table only.
9. If you are a regular, let the itamae decide what you're having and at what pace it is served.
10. Don't rush through your meal.  Eat at McDonald's if you want to eat fast.
11. If you're at the bar and in a bit of a hurry (i.e. have a half hour to eat or so), order a chirashi, a small lacquered box with a bed of sushi rice, a bit of sugar, some pickled veggies and a chef's selection of fish and mollusks.  This way you'll get all your sushi at once in a single serving and then leave.  Eat it with chopsticks.
12. Pickled vegetables, sprouts, and some things like ankimo (monkfish liver) are OK to order from the sushi chef if you see them advertised at the bar.
13. Don't be afraid to ask for things not listed in the menu.  Chances are the chef has them under the counter for those people (like you) who truly know what they're doing.  Kazunoko, inago, hebo and idtakko fall in this category.
14. If the bar is busy and you feel like you can't wait, order some edamame (boiled soy beans), suimono(clear broth) or misoshiru (fermented soy bean soup) to keep you busy until the sushi chef can take care of you.
15. Eat sushi with moderation.  More than 10 kinds of fish, crab, and clams is too much because your palate numbs.
16. Drink green tea, beer, or sake with your sushi.  Soft drinks spoil the taste and white wine is for snobs.  Remember there are more than 300 kinds of sake, so at least one will be better than the cheap Chardonnay they offer by the glass.
17. If you're drinking sake, keep in mind that not all sake is heated for consumption.  Nigori (unfiltered) sake looks like milk; drink it cold.  For hot sake, ask for Sho Chiku Bai.  Ask the itamae for more exotic drinks like gold sake -- with real gold flakes in it!
18. If the sushi is excellent and you're having a good time, offer to buy a drink for the itamae and his assistants.  You will discover that most Japanese itamae drink Budweiser (as observed in San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Chicago, New York, and Moscow).  Don't offer to buy drinks during lunch; this is an evening tradition.
19. Don't be surprised if your itamae pours you a glass of the special reserve sake he keeps under the bar if he realizes that you know your sushi and how to order it.  Thank him, raise your glass and toast by saying "kampai!".
20. Tips:  The itamae and rest of the staff are tipped separately unless you pay the bill with a credit card.  The bulk of the tip must go to the itamae.

Types of sushi

• Sashimi:  Raw seafood served chilled and sliced, and elegantly arranged.  It's usually prepared with fish fresh from the water, refrigerated but never frozen.  How to slice the fish for sashimi is one of the most rigorous skills to learn during the itamae's training.  Fish cut too thick or too thin make a different impression on the taste buds, and different fish require applying different techniques.  Depending on what was served, you will be handed soy sauce, ponzu, or red pepper to dress it.
• Nigirisushi:  Nigiri means something like "hand pressed".  This type of sushi is the most common type at the sushi bar:  A small oval made with rice, with an expertly cut slice of fish on top, and with a dab of wasabi on it.  Most types of nigirisushi are meant to be dipped in soy sauce, and must be eaten in one bite, slowly.  Close your eyes and feel the different textures in your mouth while you eat every piece.
• Makisushi: Maki means "rolled".  This kind of sushi consists of fish (or crab) and vegetables rolled in a sheet of nori (roasted seaweed) and rice.  Makisushi is usually served sliced into bite-size portions.  In some restaurants it will be listed as norimaki (seaweed roll) in the menu.  Makisushi is an excellent choice for those venturing into the sushi bar for the first time, particularly if they are squimish about eating raw fish.  The taste and crackling texture of the the seaweed, the visual delight from its appearance, and the combination of salty seaweed, sweet rice, and delicate fish and vegetables soon win even the most reluctant experimenters.
• Temaki: Te = hand.  Temaki describes the hand rolls, something like a Japanese nori taco, that you bite into.  Many of the ingredients you'll find in makisushi also exist in temaki.
• Kansai-style sushi is not covered here because it's not very common in western countries.  The HOWTO will cover it in the future (and the photos are ready for the HOWTO Companion).  Its history and tradition requires a whole chapter contrasting it with Edo-sushi, the one you're most likely familiar with.
  

The details of enjoying sushi

Mechanics

• The waitress will bring you an oshibori(hot towel) as soon as you seat down.  Wipe your hands with it before touching the food; some restaurants leave the towel throughout the meal for you to wipe your hands; others take it away before your sashimi arrives.  Either way you'll get a napkin for your lap.
• Your wooden chopsticks will come joined at one end; separate them and feel them lengthwise.  Rub them together only if you feel splinters.  Never rub high quality, smooth chopsticks; you will insult the restaurant if you do.
• You may eat sushi with your hands or with chopsticks, whatever is more comfortable
• Use chopsticks to grab morsels from a shared plate, holding the end that you put in your mouth with your fingers so that only the opposite end touches the food.  You may use your fingers after depositing the sushi piece on your plate; turn your chopsticks around to grab it if you're using them.
• Some sushi bars have a small canal with thin springs of running water between you and the itamae; use these to rinse your fingers.
• Never ask for a spoon to eat your soup; simply grab the bowl with one hand and dig the bits of tofu, seaweed, or mushrooms with your chopsticks as you bring it to your lips.  It's perfectly polite to slurp, specially if the soup is hot.  Ignore the gaijin (non-Japanese guys) glaring at you from the other side of the bar; chances are they haven't read this HOWTO nor been to Japan.
• If the spiciness in your sushi is not enough, lace some with soy sauce for dipping your sushi; this is done by dabbing a tiny bit of wasabi (the bright green dough on your plate) onto a small saucer provided to you next to your bigger plate.  Add some soy sauce for dipping.  Blend it with your chopsticks.  The right ratio of wasabi to soy sauce is up to you.  Wasabi is very strong, stronger than hot mustard, so be careful with the amounts.  The Japanese way is to use soy sauce without adding wasabi to it and dabbing the wasabi onto the sushi morsel itself.  Your call.
  
• Never dip the sushi rice in soy sauce; turn your piece so that only the fish or whatever you have on it touches the sauce.
• Never dip in soy sauce something that already has a sauce or decoration on it, like unagi (fresh water eel served with some Teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds).  If it looks elaborate or like it has some sauce on it, ask the itamae whether you should dip it.
• Always dip your sashimi or nigiri if they don't appear to have anything on them.
• Your plate will have some pickled ginger on it.  Eat a little bit of it in between sushi pieces to clean your palate.  Eating gobs of it is bad form.
• Ask for some oshinko (various pickled roots like radish) if you don't like pickled ginger.

Meal order

1. Sashimi first
2. Cooked stuff like unagi (grilled fresh water eel), tamago (omelette), and/or California rolls*
3. Fresh fish and molluscs (nigiri or maki)
4. Exotic stuff because it tends to have a stronger flavor
5. Spicy anything like hand rolls (temaki) should be last
6. Exception Fugu (poisonous blowfish) should be your only course if you eat it - explanation in the section living dangerously
7. Soup, edamame, and oshinko may be ordered and enjoyed at any time during the course of your meal

Please click here to skip to What to order.

Living dangerously: Fugu

Fugu is a blowfish from Japan.  In the United States, I found only one or two restaurants in New York City that serve it.  All other states prohibit (as far as I know) its consumption.  This blowfish is so poisonous that minimal amounts of venom are enough to kill a large, healthy adult, in less than a half hour.  Its effects are similar to those of curare, a nerve poison used by the natives in the Amazonas.  If fugu isn't prepared correctly, chances are good that you'll die of respiratory and cardiac failure.

Here are some tips on how to best enjoy fugu:

• Always call the restaurant in advance and make a reservation; a skilled itamae who knows how to prepare fugu is hard to find, and may come to the restaurant just to prepare the fugu for you.
• Beware of a restaurant that will prepare fugu for you without a reservation unless you're a regular patron.
• Plan on eating fugu sashimi and little else for that meal; don't worry, fugu sashimi is rather abundant, usually enough for two people.
• Never eat fugu if you're sitting at a table.  Order it only if sitting at the sushi bar where you can watch its preparation.  Watching the preparation is part of the fun.
• The itamae will hand you a large plate with very thin slices of fish arranged like flower petals, and a small mound of fugu skin will be piled in the centre.  It will be decorated with chopped scallions and spicy radish (not wasabi).  A small halved sudachi (Japanese lime) will be somewhere on the plate or handed to you separately.
• When adding the Japanese lime, add only a few drops.  This isn't ceviche.
• Eat fugu s-l-o-w-l-y with your chopsticks.  Enjoy its delicate flavor.  Your lips and tongue should tingle, like after a sensuous kiss, making every bite taste better than the previous one.  Drink smooth sake every two or three bites to cleanse your palate.
• Can you feel your tongue? No? Stop eating immediately and call the ambulance.
• Alternate between eating the flesh and the skin.
• Never dip fugu in soy sauce.  If the sushi chef recommends a sauce, it will be a very mild ponzu sauce (sudachi and soy sauce dilluted with a bit of sweet sake and rice vinegar) and he will give it to you without asking.
• Take your time after eating fugu before ordering anything else.  It's better if you just let it settle.  Skip dessert.
• Tip the itamae generously.  You will notice that he is much older (and presumably experienced) than other sushi chefs you might have run into.  In fact, avoid eating fugu from a itamae who looks younger than forty.  Experience is a friend of caution in this case.

What is wasabi?

Wasabi (wasabia japonica) is a plant that grows almost exclusively in Asia.  It became a sushi dressing in the mid-1800's when the sushi preparers noticed that people who took small amounts of wasabi did not get sick.  It turns out that one of wasabi's best properties is killing parasites in the fish.  Its delicate aroma and sweet undertones enhance the flavor of the fish with which it's eaten.

Studies in the United States and Japan confirm that wasabi inhibits microbes, prevents or aids treatment of blood clotting, asthma, and it's helpful with some forms of cancer (J. A. Depree, T.M. Howard & G.P.  Savage, Food Research International Vol 31, No5, pp.329-337, 1999).  At least one study indicates that it may also help prevent tooth decay (Hideki Masuda, Ph.D. 2000).

Good Japanese restaurants offer fresh wasabi; the best buy the plant and grind it in the premises.  Most restaurants outside of Japan will give you horseradish with food colouring.  Once you try the real thing, however, you will be able to discriminate its delicate flavor and benefit from its many properties.

For information on where to get real wasabi in the US, contact Pacific Farms (this HOWTO is not affiliated with Pacific Farms in any way).

Kinome and sansho:  beyond wasabi

If you want to try something beyond wasabi, kinome and sansho are for you.

Kinome is the leaf of the prickly ash.   This plant is native to eastern North America and has prickly twigs and folliage similar to the unrelated ash tree.  Itamaes use the young leaves as a decoration and edible condiment.  They taste like a combination of mint, basil, and a hint of anise.  It goes well with any nigiri and replaces wasabi as a condiment.  Eat only a tiny leaf at a time or its flavor will overwhelm everything else.

Sansho are the peppercorns of the kinome plant.  Bite half of one before eating delicate morsels of sushi (i.e. hamachi, tai, suzuki, waloo, etc.) and wait a couple of minutes before you put the fish in your mouth.  The sansho peppercorn (or berry as some itamaes call it) will explode in flavor, almost numbing your tastebuds, but then it'll create a tingling sensation on your tongue and palate.  Eat the sushi when the tingling starts.  The best wasabi taste won't come close to how delicious sushi with sansho is.

Sansho and kinome have similar medicinal properties to wasabi.  It's used as an antibacterial and for anti-candidiasis.  It's known to reduce swelling and it's thought to aid in dealing with colds and coughs.

Why the rice tastes so good

• Short-grained rice
• Water
• Rice vinegar (different kinds produce different colors)
• Sugar
• Salt
• Konbu, a form of kelp specifically used for sushi rice
• Some itamae add a bit of sake

What to order

Nigirisushi

shake	fresh salmon	Some restaurants use smoked salmon; others have it both fresh and smoked.  Eat it fresh if available.
toro	fatty tuna	Delicious but expensive; expect to pay up from $10 per piece
maguro	tuna
kampachi	Japanese yellow tail
waloo	Hawaiian angel fish	Incredible, melt-in-your-mouth texture and a complex flavour.  A good one to try if you're new to sushi
suzuki	Japanese sea bass
tai	red snapper/pargo/huachinango
saba	mackerel
binjo	fatty albacore
ebi	cooked shrimp
masago	capelin caviar
tobiko	flying fish caviar	Masago and tobiko are bright orange and delicious; tobiko eggs are a bit larger than masago, each about the size of a pinhead
ikura	salmon caviar
aji	Spanish mackerel
katsuo	bonito	A special kind of migrating tuna; delicious and a bit expensive, and available in very few places only through the summer
hamachi	yellow tail
kohada	---	A silvery small fish, like a sardine; very tasty
hirame	halibut	Don't eat hirame from the San Francisco Bay.  Rumour has it that you get your yearly dosage of mercury out of a couple of nigiri pieces
unagi	fresh water eel	One of the most delicious fish you ever tasted; served grilled, with a bit of Teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds
anago	sea water eel	Similar to unagi; eat it only if there is no unagi
takko	octopus
ika	squid or cuttlefish
mirugai	long neck white clam
akagai	red clam
awabi	abalone	Hard to find and expensive; if possible, eat it in sashimi instead of nigiri
hotate	scallop	Eat it only if it's fresh; ask the itamae
kani	crab
ka-kani	hairy crab	Exotic and expensive; hard to find outside of Japan
tamago	hen egg omelette	Eat only if made in premises; you'll give your sushi chef a chance to show off
amaebi no tama	raw fresh shrimp (alive just a few seconds ago) and its caviar	Seldom found; the roe is raw, unlike ikura or tobiko which may have had some preparation

Makisushi

futomaki	pink fish powder, egg, gourd, vegetables, rice and nori
tekkamaki	tuna, rice, nori	Originally invented as a snack consummed at gambling parlours (tekka); think of it as a Japanese distant cousin of the sandwich
kappamaki	fresh cucumber, rice, nori	Named after Kappa, a water goblin in the Japanese mythology.  Kappa is very fond of cucumbers.
oshinkomaki	pickled yellow radish, rice, nori
unakyu	unagi, rice, nori
umekyu	cucumber, plum paste, rice, nori	Eat it as the last entree because of the pungent taste of the plum paste
walmartdotcomaki	maguro, shake, suppo (white tuna), hamachi wrapped in fresh turnip	Simple, delicious maki found in the last place on Earth where you'd expect to find amazing sushi
dynamite roll	maguro (tuna), spices, rice, nori
Special roll	unagi, mango, avocado, rice, goma (sesame seeds), shake/maguro/hamachi, tobiko, two kinds of chef-made mayonnaise, a few bacon bits on the plate; shoyu and mayonnaisse make the splash pattern on the plage	Nobody knows for sure what goes into this one; found at a sushi bar in San Bruno, CA.  One of the most delicious rolls ever.  Careful if you find it, though:  it's a meal in itself; don't plan on eating anything else during that outing
California roll	crab+mayonnaise, avocado (sometimes), nori, rice, sesame seeds, tobiko	It's OK if there are no other choices from this list.
Rainbow roll	all kinds of ingredients; each itamae has his own recipe
Caterpillar or Dragon roll	similar to rainbow roll but with the ingredients on the outside	Rainbow and caterpillar rolls usually involve avocado.  Avocados (not tomatoes!) became part of the sushi tradition because they meet the sushi criteria: they have a delicate flavor, they are exotic and expensive.  Remember that most noveau sushi now comes from California; avocados are used on both sides of the Pacific
Spider roll	soft shell crab, rice, nori
Spicy spider roll	soft shell crab, organic multi-grain rice, nori, pink soy paper as wrapper, and a fried river crab as decoration	This is a specialty from Juni in San Francisco - haven't found anywhere else
Tempura roll	shrimp tempura, rice, nori	Order only if soft shell crab isn't available

Temaki

• Dynamaki, dynamite roll, spicy roll :  Maguro or hamachi mixed with either a hot spicy sauce or with hot ground chilli peppers.  If possible, try hamachi instead of maguro.
• Salmon skin roll:  The name says it all.  Eat it while it's still hot.

Mozuko	Seaweed, a bit of vinegar, and a raw quail egg	Appetizer; normally offered by the itamae
Sunomono	Scallop, crab, octopus, cucumber, a bit of vinegar, and sesame seeds for decoration	Appetizer; normally offered by the itamae
Kobe gyutataki	Kobe beef, the most delicate of all beefs in the world, lightly seared and nice and red in the center of each morsel	Expensive and usually available in the autumn or winter
Shishamo	Grilled capelin; eat it whole, starting from the head; normally full of delicious caviar	Summer fish of the north Pacific and Atlantic, related to the smelt
Tekka donburi	Slices of red tuna (maguro) serverd in a bowl of sushi rice.	A snack common at tekka gambling places.
Sawagani	Fried river crab	Itamaes tend to keep them alive at the restaurant and cook them when you order.  Eat them alone on a bed of seaweed or in a spider roll.

Vegetarian sushi

Becoming a master:  beyond nigiri and maki sushi

• Uni: sea urchin caviar (roe).  It's considered one of the most delicate pleasures at the sushi bar.  Uni is a dark yellow mass served on nigiri, with a strong nutty flavor coming from the iodine found in the sea urchin.  Always eat it fresh; the grossest thing you can eat is old or previously frozen uni.
• Fugu:  Poisonous Japanese blowfish.  It's the most delicate and sensual of all sushi plates.  Your lips and tongue literally tingle while you eat it--and for at least a half hour afterward.  The fugu experience is like a long-lasting sensuous kiss.
• Hebo:  Bee larvae.  Roasted in honey, hebo will be served in a very small porcelain container.  Pick one or two at a time, eating them in between other types of sushi.  Their flavor explodes in your mouth, blending the hebo with the honey and flowers flavor.
• Amaebi:  Fresh water shrimp.  Raw fresh water shrimp nigiri.  The head (and sometimes the shell) of the shrimp are fried and served separately.  Squeeze some lemon juice on them and eat them.
• Odori:  Dancing langoustine.  Raw live baby langoustines.  There is nothing quite like watching your food move its antennas as you eat it.
• Inago:  Roasted grasshoppers.  Served as nigiri.  The taste like shrimp with a bit of lemon.
• Kazunoko:  Herring caviar.  Consummed as a traditional New Year's sushi.  Also known as "yellow diamonds" because of its texture and exorbitant price in Japan.  If you live anywhere from the Bay Area to Mexico City, however, kazunoko is very reasonably priced:  The best kazunoko comes from the waters around San Francisco.
• Idtakko:  Baby octopus.  Served atop on nigiri, with each octopus (head and tentacles) fitting comfortably on top of the rice.
• Ankimo:  Monkfish liver.  Think foie gras and you'll get the idea.
• Hamachi kama:  Yellowtail shoulder.  This consists of the area right behind the fish's head, served grilled on a plate along with some shredded daikon radish and a bit of garlic.  Squeeze a few lemon drops over the fish, then carefully separate the meat from the skin and the single bone.  Pour some soy sauce (not too much) over the daikon.  Garnish each bite of fish with daikon.  You will enjoy the most delicate grilled fish you've ever eaten.
• Tai kabutoyaki:  Red napper grilled head, a delicacy from Western Japan.  Exactly what its name describes:  a grilled red snapper head, server on a plate along with some shredded daikon and lemon.  See the hamachi kama preparation.  Eat all the meat around the head, and pay special attention to the eye:  it's delicious!  To eat the eye:  remove the round white thing.  Dig the eye out of the socket; it'll have the consistency of jelly.  Add a couple of drops of lemon juice and pop it in your mouth...  amazing!
  

Bonus recipe:  Yujimaki (aka Amigo Maki)

Yujimaki is a temaki developed over a period of seven years between the author and Yoshi The Man in San Francisco.  It's a spicy roll on steroids.  How spicy you want it is really up to you; we came up with a loose scale ranging from 0 to 10, where 0 = very mild and 10 = as spicy as possible.  If you like spicy food, this is for you.

Ingredients:

• Hamachi or kampachi (don't use maguro if you can help it)
• Sriracha HOT chili sauce (http://www.huyfong.com/), possibly the tastiest spicy sauce in the world
• Tobiko
• Kaiware (radish sprouts)
• Yama gobo, a pickled root that looks like a long and pencil-thin carrot
• Sushi rice
• Roasted nori

1. Mix hamachi, hot sauce and tobiko in a small bowl.
2. Estimate how much sauce in an imaginary scale from 0 to 10, where 0 = one drop of sauce, 10 = so spicy that the white hamachi flesh turns bright red.  Let it rest for 2-5 minutes.
3. Toast a sheet of nori in a toaster or electric oven for one to two minutes so it's crispy.
4. Apply a layer of sushi rice to one side of the nori sheet.
5. Scoop the spicy hamachi onto the nori sheet on top of the rice.
6. Add a stick of yama gobo and a small bunch of kaiware.
7. Roll the nori and eat immediately.

About alt.food.sushi

Ongoing USENET threads about this HOWTO

Odds and ends

Why tip the itamae and the waiters separately?

If you don't like this advise, or getting involved in your restaurant's politics, leave the tip whichever way you feel the most comfortable.  It's your money, after all.

How much wasabi?

Acknowledgements and Copyright

• Luis Dumois for taking me on my first sushi outing in 1988
• Michael Zogg for showing me the only place with good sushi in Zürich
• Greg Gilliss, Kolya Colt and Bob Lippman for sharing their sushi moments with me.
• Yoshi and José
  
• Yuki (Takara Restaurant, SF)
• Katsu (excellent scallops!  Matsuhisa Restaurant, Beverly Hills)
• James (Arai Restaurant, Greenwich Village)
• Kato (great fugu; Chikubu Restaurant, 12 E. 44th Street at Madison Ave., Manhattan)
• Sizuko (Japanese court at the Slavyanka Radisson Hotel, Moscow)
• blogdex.com and foodsiteoftheday.com for featuring this HOWTO for their readers.
• Technorati tag = sushi!