Sake, Sushi, and Shenanigans in Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market

DANA: 00:00:00

So it is 11 o' clock in the morning. I think it's time for sake or a beer. Now you're speaking my language. All right, where do we find it? Back there.

cohol? I did. Okay. They were: 1030

NIKKI: 00:00:33

it's Nikki Lamberti coming to you from the South China Sea. What?

I am on a trip and if you follow me on either Facebook or Instagram, Nikki Lamberti on both, and I hope that you do, you have seen over the last week that I took a very last minute and very exciting trip to Asia. I had the opportunity to do a test cruise on a new cruise ship that is going to be debuting in the next week or so.

And I really can't tell you anything more than that because it's very top secret until the official launch. I'm sure you can guess. And this cruise departed from Tokyo and is an eight day cruise finishing in Singapore.

So I was given the opportunity literally about a week before and brought my crazy spontaneous friend Dana with me. Dana lives in Sonoma county just like me, and she also works at Pride Mountain Vineyards with me.

She's a big foodie and wine drinker, of course, and also an avid traveler like me. And we both were so excited to check Asia as a continent and then Japan and Singapore as countries off of our bucket list on this trip.

So what you're about to hear is our morning that we spent in the fish market in Tokyo. We didn't have a ton of time before the cruise. We arrived in Tokyo and we had basically two nights and two days before boarding the ship.

And of course one of the days we went to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea, which were amazing. And I'll probably do a whole nother episode just about the snacks in those parks alone.

But then the next day we had a half a day before boarding the ship and everyone told us we had to go to the Sujiki T S U J I K I Tsujiki Fish market.

And it's exactly the experience that I wanted, walking from stall to stall and just eating our way through this market with fish on ice that probably had been caught that morning and sake and wagyu beef and we just put some mics on hit record and you are along for the ride. So I hope that you enjoy the sounds around us, the people that we interact with.

This is just the highlights of our two hour excursion and I thought it would be fun to Share with you some of the delicious bites and sips that we had. You'll also hear our challenges dealing with the yen.

If you are a traveler, I'm sure you can relate that sometimes when you go to a new country for the first time, the currency looks and seems like Monopoly money.

And a lot of times, you know, if the conversion, like with the yen, is a lot of their currency to one US Dollar, all the numbers that you see when you're buying things are huge and have a lot of zeros. So Dana and I had a moment where we were a little bit confused, but got it worked out. So that was quite comical.

And then you'll also hear a funny part where Dana ordered what she thought was shrimp sushi, and it was a completely raw big prawn, and I encouraged her to try it, and it didn't go well. And that's all I'm gonna say, and I'll let you hear the rest. So here we go with our morning at the Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo.

Okay, so we're in Tsujiki in the city of Tokyo. Fish market. Cab just dropped us off. Did you ever think you'd see this wasn't really on my radar? I'm somewhere I'd love to be but not lost on my list.

Miso. A whole store of chopsticks. Wow. What are those little crawfish? Spiny lobsters. I have a feeling I'm gonna say that a lot. What is that? Tuna.

There's your tuna skewer. There's a tuna skewer. Would you like some cod sperm? Say it again. Cod sperm. I don't know. Why are you making me say that again?

Because we' recording a podcast. That's uni. Look. That's sea urchin. Wow. I don't want cod sperm, but I will eat some tuna. Let's walk and see what else we see. You wanna keep walking?

Yeah. Look at the huge scallops. I know. They're massive. Yeah. Hi. I like your hat. Go Yankees. That's good. Look at this. I want to take pictures of this.

This is all, like, pickled vegetables in packages. This is so cool. This is exactly what I want a picture of. Picture all the people. This is what's so interesting. Look. What? What? What are we looking at?

Everybody's eating here. It's amazing here. There's, like a crowd around this spot. We know why. Oh, look down there. Look. It's just, like, beautiful. That's what I want. Tuna.

Yeah. Looks like just a little sushi center. Very tight Crowded. Awesome. And Dana, you once again, you stick out like a swords out here.

I won't lose you in the crowd. She's very blonde, you guys. It's. She's very blonde. Five, seven. Five, seven. Yes. That how tall you are at least. Yeah, yeah. I went left. Yeah. Wow. Yes.

India. Okay. S. This is what we need. I want that. Okay. You want to share one? Yes, please. Okay. 3,000 yen, which is like 20 bucks. Pick one. Yeah. 2,000.

Oh, thank you so much. Oh, and then there's wasabi and every such chopsticks down here. Grab. Grab a corner. There you go. Look at this. So it is a negiri over rice.

Looks like a maguro. Some roe with some roe on it. Looks like maybe some toro. Shrimp, Ebi shrimp. This is exactly what I want. Thank you. That's a really great.

All right, all right. I want some of this wasabi paste. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, that's nice. And this is salmon. Yeah. We got Dana. We're eating sushi in Tokyo.

Standing on a little street corner in a very busy, bustling market. Talk to me. What was that? Reaction. Oh, she's having a moment. You guys talk to me. Oh, look at the little spray bottle with this toy. That's very cute.

It's so fresh. When I took a bite of that, the flavors were brighter and more intense than what you get at home. But also, it's very soft. It's not super fishy.

I would agree with that. How was it? Excellent. So good. Your mouth is happy. So good. My mouth is happy. Where are you guys from? Vegas. Las Vegas. Oh, cool.

We're in Northern California. Yeah. So that was 2,000 yen for four pieces of nigiri. Incredible freshness and brightness.

I'm sure this fish was swimming yesterday, unless it's cured, but 2,000 yen is $12, so. Wow. $3 a piece. Wow, that's a lot. Or wow, that's not a lot. Wow, that's a great value for what we just got.

Well, that's because we are used to very overpriced sushi where we live, where we're like, wow, that's amazing. It's rather silly things. I could leave now. That's what I wanted. I wanted to stand in a market and eat tuna. I'm gonna cry. You're so cute.

And Nikki's crying again. Joy is falling out of her face. Joy is coming out of her eyeballs again. This is so cool. It is so cool. What a fabulous opportunity.

Let's find some more. You guys enjoy. Thank you so much. You're coming back tomorrow? No, we're getting a new cruise ship today. Thank you. Wow, that was so cool.

It's hard to find the right words to describe how unique and delicious and happy this is. I feel like we use the same words again and again, but it's yummy. Delicious. Yeah. It's so amazing. Looking at all the produce around us.

Looks like a root vegetable of some sort. They're just slicing fish right here. What is. Oh, wow. Little bits of beef. Yes. Will you eat raw meat? Yeah. Right now I'm pretty game because it's all.

Yeah, it's beautiful. It's all wagyu. Oh, they grill it. Hi. Wagyu. Yeah. Yeah. One of it's just a case of this beautiful, very marbled wagyu. Different cuts.

So Dana just picked the cut. Yes, we have. Yeah, Let me make sure I have the cash. Hold on. How much cash should I say? We were starting with 15. So three times two.

Are you getting two pieces? Yeah, I do. There you go, baller. Spend it all in one place. So 3,000 yen. Yen equals 20 bucks. Thank you.

Now listeners are going to hear my very poor Japanese. Okay, so she just picked this beautiful, marbly wagyu. I'm gonna take a picture of it, and they're gonna grill it for us right here.

So they're heating up the pan. Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful. He is beautiful. I love it. I'm like you that satisfied just walking and eating and going.

I don't like you're satisfied from a pretty pretzel or from a bucket list. From a bucket list. But also, I don't feel like now that I need to go sit down at a sushi restaurant.

Good, because we're blowing all of our meat right here. So what is this? It's all beef, just all different cuts. Oh, my God. This is going to be so delicious.

We just eat it with little toothpicks and salt and pepper. I've seen three Yankee hats in this market today. It's pretty cool. Yeah, you're not the first. All the dicks are here. Let me guess. Where are you from?

I'm from la. Yeah. Okay. But I do mine for the Brooklyn Gardens. Okay. For Yogi Berra. All right. Very cool. Thanks for rocking the Yankees hat. Have a great day.

Oh, let me see, let me see. I just. Making friends. Yeah. Thank you. That's our table. Thank you. Talk to me, Dana. You just.

So we have these little thinly sliced pieces of wagyu that this man just grilled on a hot plate for us. Now, you're standing here eating it with a tiny little toothpick. And it is extremely soft, melty, buttery, cooked.

More than I thought that I would like, but it's still so incredibly soft. They make a little picnic table. Making, like a little table on their storefront with a tablecloth.

So we can stand here and eat this because I think it's bad form here culturally to walk and eat. They like you to stay put. And so delicious. Perfect. Thank you. Are you happy? I am blissful. Legato. Thank you. So good. Limited cash left, Dana.

So we need to plan accordingly because these places are all cash only. Let me tell you how much we have. Here's your budget, ma'. Am. This is the yen that I have in my wallet. All right, Dana, you have 12,000, maybe 13.

13,000 yen. Okay. Okay. Can I gift it to this adorable doggie that's right here? Dana found a dog in the market. Dana found a dog in the market. Yeah. Take a picture.

It's your first Japanese dog, Dana. So beautiful. Oh, there's dumplings. I love a dumpling. Every moment is in excitement. Eating and drinking while walking is prohibited.

So please eat here. Oh, this is a little chopstick rat that you set your thing down on. Yeah, that's cool. What if I brought those with me to sushi at home?

They brought my own little chopstick breast. We'd call you amazingly pretentious. You'd call me douchey.

I'd be like, this is my crane chopstick that I got from Tokyo when I was in Japan that time I was in Japan. Like a bunch of fried stuff. Fish cakes, seafood fish, deep fried squid tentacles. Fish cakes. Doesn't bother me. Squid, yes. No, no. We eat that at home.

Corn. Corn grows corn. And then there's just like a. This, like, temple. It's just like a temple here in the middle of the city market. You've had udi before?

Yes. Tastes like the ocean. Yes. I had to think about it. But no, I've had it before.

Sometime in the 90s, I started eating sushi and tried a little bit of everything to find out what I liked and what I did not like. Okay. It's quite a cultural mashup here in this market because it's a big tourist area, so it's definitely Americans.

This guy's got a little hibachi grill out here, and he's grilling up these skewers. Yum. What is this? I saw that. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry, I don't want. I don't care if it's from a fish or not.

I don't want sperm in myself, so I'm gonna pass on that. It's a hard. No pun intended. Hey, look what I did there. It's in hard.

We might have to use the explicit rating on this podcast episode just because of that comment. Didn't think we were going there, but there we are. This guy's like, leaving a food tour. This is like a food tour.

I'm like, can we just cover and plum. Which is supply to be a funny Will and Grace episode.

When Grace joins the gym, but she doesn't want to pay for the personal trainer, so she just follows one around. And so then she knows their names. And one day she's, oh, hey, John. Hey, Sally. And they're like, how do you know our names?

Because she's, like, following them, doing whatever they're doing in the background. So you want to do that with the foodie guy? Yeah. Listen to what he's saying. Oh, this is omelette. Dana. Tamagoyaki. Is the omelette soft? Oh, yes.

I was just reading that. Sweet omelet bite size, Sharon. Easy to eat with a Shoro 500 yen or a tamakoyaki skewer. You want to try that? Just a little bite.

This market, an entire market for omelets? How much can I get with those? That's how I feel with these coins. How much for this? Okay. Those are quarters. I know. Not much. 480. It's 50 cents.

50, whatever. So not enough for this. Oh, you can do this. Do that. Right? Okay. This is so fun.

It's like you're at the fair and you have the tokens, and you're like, what? Oh, we don't have enough for the bumper cards. All right, we have 2:30 left. Tamagoyaki skewer. Yeah. Again, apologies to how badly my pronunciation.

Skewer. Skewer. Yes, please. Hi. Hi. How do you get the. Okay, we're gonna go over there and sit down. Yeah. Because we don't eat oolong. Bad form.

We think it's egg skewer. Is it warm? It's very warm. It's sweet. It almost reminds me of sweet corn and egg. It's very good. Unlike anything else I've had. Good.

Cause you've never been here before. I've been here. I don't know if there's corn in there, but the texture is slippery, firmer.

It says our Tamagayaki keeps the original taste even as time passes. That is the spirit of the real tradition of Japanese food. The secret of its taste is to keep it overnight before serving. Its firmness is interesting.

Excuse me again. We're gonna have to use the R rated on this episode. Fit your mind out of the gutter. So it is 11 o' clock in the morning.

I think it's time for sake or a beer. Now you're speaking my language. All right, where do we find it? Back there. There was a whole bunch of people at a little place. Did you see alcohol?

I did. Okay. They were 10, 30 drinkers. We waited till 11. Let's go to the bar. Yes, let's do that. Find us some sake. On the hunt for some sake.

I love the vibe of everybody just hanging out. Now we're like inside another market within the market. Yeah. Oh, what's this? Sake. Sake? Yeah. Junmai dai jinjo. That's what I like. Say that again.

Junmai dai ginjo. It's a category of sake that has to to do with the polishing of the rice and how it's made. And there's dai ginjo. Then there's junmai daijinko.

And I don't know enough about it, but I know what I like, which is that. Good to know. These are not chilled, though. These seem like wholesale. Like you would take this home.

Let me go back out to where the people were standing and looking over the street. That more vibrant and fun. Okay. Still on the hunt for some sake. What I haven't seen in here is popcorn. More popcorn.

In Tokyo Disneyland yesterday, the big thing was all the popcorn carts. Popcorn was a very big item in the Disney Park. Lines up these carts and all different flavors. So we saw garlic shrimp, 20, 30 minutes of lines.

But then everybody had their themed Disney popcorn lunchbox. Almost lunch refillable. What were the flavors that we saw yesterday? Shrimp and garlic shrimp, popcorn, roast beef curry, soy and butter.

Yeah, it was very cool. Cool. But also you were dying to eat it and you didn't want any. So I wanted to try them all.

I wanted, like, a sampler with all of that roast beef popcorn. Yeah. The listeners can't see my face as I make a face. That's what you have to do on the audio podcast.

You have to describe the face that you're making right now. Your brow is furrowed, your mouth is open, and your head is tilted 45 degrees to the right. That's about roast beef popcorn.

Roast beef popcorn, lady, you have to tell them what you're doing. I'm desperately trying to be open, but what the heck. Roast beef popcorn's weird these cute little tables here. Yes, I do.

I like these little tight side streaks. Okay. And then you see a couple curtain, and they open the curtain and you go back into their stall and it's a little happy ending. Oh, bored.

You and your innuendos today. It was a little bar. Like a little bar. These guys got music, they got craft beer. And I bet they have. See, that's what we want. Okay.

That's what we want. Here's our spot. That's what we want. You know how much we have, right? Yeah, 10. We have 12,000. We're counting like we're four year olds. I have 12,000.

Hi. I don't know if we have enough for two. It had 800. What do you have? We only have enough for one. Let's get one and we'll share something cold.

go. Yeah, yeah. We don't have: 1500

I have the worst time. I cannot say that. All right. This is our sake. He's like making like a whole pouring ritual. Yes. Oh, thank you. You're the money lady. Okay, so tell me.

800. 8,000. Sorry? 8,000. Okay. No, 800. Thank you. All right. We're pretty. We had more than we thought. It was 800, not 8,000. We had 17,000. God, we're pretty.

It's just like Monopoly money. It is Monopoly money. What do you think? Does not taste like alcohol. It's just clean. It's clean and soft and clear. No burn, no over brightness.

Just the drinking sake and the chicken. Tokyo before noon. And Nikki's dancing. I'm dancing. I'm just so happy to be here. There's wagyu soup. Why would you ruin wagyu and put it in soup?

I think wagyu is so readily available here because it's where they're raised that they would dream more with it. Whereas when we can get it back in the States, we're like, wow, they have what it. I was like, we don't have enough.

The Japanese have been so very gracious and polite. Have a nice day. Thank you. You have a nice day. You have a magical day. This looks like hidden sushi bar in a doorway in a tiny street of a market.

Oh, now we're in the kitchen. Now we're in the kitchen. Do you want to sit? Let's sit. I hear you. Okay. You've want a couple of these.

But this is my moment that we're literally sitting at a sushi bar on a tiny street which is a market. And we went through a little door down a hallway and sitting at a sushi bar where they're making it very happy right now. This is very cool.

There's a little tutorial card, I think, depending on what you order, and it will point to it. It's how to eat. So one option is first, please eat as is. Then it says please eat with soy sauce and wasabi.

And there's one that says break the egg and pour it over the sea urchin. So I think for chance until that last one. Oh, and see, I'm like this. I want a mag over searchin. Nope. I like these little spoon bites.

This is sea urchin. I might have to do that. You want a drink? Sake. You know sake or a beer? Yes. One glass? Yeah, I want 1. 1. 1.

And then I just have this beautiful combo bowl. Yes. Okay. And then we got a beer and a sake and we're good? Yes. Okay. Then we need a nap. Everyone's so patient with us. It's very nice.

Again, the kindness and the elegance of the people here is unmatched to anywhere. I've been very kind. I love this little spot. It's very cozy. Walking. It's very cozy. I love this. And I cannot wait for the rest of the day to unfold.

I'm having a wonderful time and I also am so excited about what is to come. Oh, I love it in the box. So it can overflow. Yeah. For good luck. Always overflowing. Thank you. Because it should always be overflowing. For good fortune.

I did not know that. Yeah. It makes for a beautiful presentation. Yeah, it does. I love gristle. I just realized that we are speaking in our American.

That we're the loudest ones here. Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much. You're very kind. Thank you. Thank you for taking our picture. Please enjoy Japan. We are loving it. It's.

Everyone is so nice here. What's your name? Annie. Annie. Nikki. Dana. Dana. Yeah. Annie is not my official name, but in the United States, everybody call me Annie.

But your birth name is your given name. It's mouthful. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Yeah. Mouthful, right? It's nice to say nice. Easy. Atsuko. Nice to meet you. Thank you so much.

You like this place? You come here every time? Every time I come into Tsukiji, yes. I came here. Okay. It's a good place. Then I just took a sip of your sake.

You're pairing it with your. Well I wanted to compare it to the last. Last time we had. And so this one has more of an earthy rice taste.

Okay, well, that's good because it's made of that. Well, the last one was so very soft. This is like a stone that it's on, which is really cool. Well, the black stone and the bright red crab.

That's the crab. This is the crab? Yes. I'm gonna savor it one bite at a time. Mmm. Mmm. That's fun. It has a bit of horseradish in the. The rice.

The wasabi is the glue that holds the fish to the rice. A lot of times it just puts a tiny dollop, but it gives you a little zing of flavor in there. This may be wasabi, but it tastes more like hors.

Oh, no, look, there's the green. Yeah, it is wasabi. Well, they're in the same family. You didn't see that part. I'm glad our listeners see me drop all that. Reason. This is not a video.

Yes. Taking 85 pictures just sitting here alone. You're number two. I need to stop taking pictures and just enjoy. Yes, you can. Thank you. Yes.

Tell me about miso. What is it? Definition of ubami, which is like salty and savory flavor at the same time. Miso is a perfect example of that, as is parmigiano. Reggiano.

I have this beautiful bowl. It's an elevated stone bowl. It's a rice bowl, but then there's a big pile of tobiko, which is salmon roe, and then the urchin.

It looks very much like tuna tartare. And then some seaweed, some ginger. And it's just over rice with scallions scattered. It looks like. Yeah. Green onions on there.

And then your egg and my egg yolk. Thank you, love. Which has now run all over everything, which is what I love. Seriously. I could go home today and think this was the most amazing trip.

Yes, I agree. And this was all just the precursor to very special cruise that we're doing. There she goes, sucking on the head. Here it goes.

It's gonna change your life. No. Move in, Right? Really taste it when you're there. You ordered it, you picked it. Is it because you saw the head? Nope.

Because the texture is very slimy. It's a texture thing. You almost lost it.

Oh, I'm gonna say it to the listeners so they know that you've held it in because you about lost your lunch on this wooden bar. I'm not knocking to not tell people what just almost happens. I might Edit that out and I might not. You'll never know until you listen.

It was a mouthful for sure. I'll give you that. I couldn't tell if you were like, oh, my God, this is so good. Your reaction or the opposite. But it was the opposite.

It was a texture thing. How are we doing on time? I didn't even looked at the time. It's 12. Okay.

We probably have another hour to walk around and then go, yeah, spend our remaining 18 million yen that we have. 18. We don't have enough. And he's looking at us. So we've got bills everywhere. Again, the politeness and the gentleness of the people here.

He was not going to tell us how ridiculously wrong we were. And if you were in New York City, they would be like, yo, dude, you got plenty. Have three. Yeah.

But he was just going to let us slowly figure it out, that we were counting wrong. 800, not 8,000. Yeah. He sent me because the numbers are so big, everything has zeros after it. Right.

When you're talking about a item that's $4, there's a lot of zeros. So it throws off your reception. Yeah, it's 40,000 yen. You can't end it on that note. I know. I got to have something else. Have some rice and tuna.

All right. Some rice and tuna. I picked up ginger by accident, but with the tuna and the scallions, super yummy.

The ginger's pickled, so you're getting juxtaposition of the fattiness of the. I love that. I search for words to even describe what I'm eating. And you're like, oh, it's acid and salt and fat.

And I'm like, yeah, this one was yummy, and that one was less yummy. That's the scripters. And that's okay, too. We know what wasn't yummy. Shrimp and I are not friends right now.

I'm going to eat this piece of seaweed right here. If I lived here, I would be here all the time. I love this spot. I love the sounds around us. She just had enough wasabi and her nose is on fire.

She can't even speak right now. Why do I keep doing that? I love it so much. Because I need to cry more than I already do. I have no idea how much this was.

There's a lot of food, by the way. I'm still eating. Are you leaving, Ms. Annie? Yes. Did you have a nice lunch? Good, good, good. It was nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to love.

Enjoy everything. Thank You. Great to meet you. Have a good day. This was exactly what you wanted, the experience and what we've had at the market.

But then sitting here, this what I chose and chose correctly, gave me exactly the flavors that I want. Let's wrap this up with a toast to eating fish in the fish market in Tokyo with you, Sushi. Cheers. Thanks for being a good sport and recording.

Left every minute of it. Me too. Arigato. Whatever you said. Insane abigato. Whatever. Arigato. Whatever you said. We never could quite get the second part of Arigato gozaimos.

But wow, what a perfect experience just for the short amount of time that we had to immerse ourselves in that setting, in that culture. The people, the sounds, the flavors, the sake. My God, we had so much fun with the guys pouring sake for us.

And it was like I said, exactly what we were hoping to do. I cannot wait to return to Tokyo and spend more time there. But in the meantime, this was a great taste. Literally, figuratively, all of it.

Check out my Instagram. I will make a highlight bubble that has a lot of our bites from the market, as well as.

You can look back to my Facebook post from around February 22 to see both Tokyo Disneyland as well as the market. And be sure to follow me on both platforms as well as the podcast, because as soon as I can share more about this amazing cruise ship, I will.

And let's just say that it has been quite an adventure being where we are. As always, if you're enjoying the podcast, you can be an angel and support the podcast. Buy me a glass of wine by Dana. Some more shrimp?

No, we won't do that to her. But we are always forever grateful for your support. And whatever you do between now and our next episode, I hope that you sip well.

Don't, don't, don't.

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