I remember that Manten Sushi (まんてん鮨) served an excellent sushi course at Marunouchi, and I had been wanting to visit again for a long time. However, the Marunouchi branch near Tokyo Station isn’t convenient for me, so I never had the chance. Recently, a new branch opened in Hibiya, so I decided to visit. While Marunouchi and Hibiya are geographically close, Hibiya is much easier for me to access, and honestly, I’m not a fan of Tokyo Station :p The Hibiya branch has a cube-like design.
A chef told me that the Hibiya branch is more comfortable than the Marunouchi and Nihonbashi branches because the seating intervals are wider. They offer both counter and table seating.
The Hibiya branch is located in Hibiya OKUROJI, a shopping complex under the railway between JR Yurakucho Station and Shimbashi Station. I remember the area used to look rundown, but now it’s a beautiful and modern complex.
Manten Sushi offers only Omakase (chef’s choice) courses:
・Full course (dinner, weekends, and national holidays’ lunch): 6,300 yen
・Weekday lunch: 3,500 yen
The weekday lunch course cannot be reserved in advance. If you’d like to make a reservation, only the full course is available. Keep in mind that even if you arrive early for the weekday lunch, the seats might already be fully reserved. Full-course reservations can be made through their Official Website.
I arrived 10 minutes before the opening time on a weekday and was lucky to secure a seat without any trouble. That said, if you’re a foodie, I highly recommend going for the full course. While the lunch course is excellent and great value, I noticed many premium seafood items, like oysters and blackthroat seaperch, being served exclusively in the full course.
Anyway, I ordered a draft beer to start.
The first dish was Shijimi clam soup. This clear white soup was full of rich clam flavor. Manten Sushi always starts with this dish. It’s simply amazing.
Next was the Matsumae-zuke bowl which included herring roe, squid, kombu seaweed, salmon roe, and vinegared rice. It was delicious.
Between the seafood dishes, they served sesame tofu as a refreshing palate cleanser.
I ate Meji maguro (young tuna) next. Its flavor was light and delicate.
There was a mekabu seaweed, which was refreshing and flavorful.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Marinated enoki mushrooms with konbu. The enoki mushrooms had a crunchy texture, and the kombu added a nice depth of flavor. It’s a unique ingredient for sushi, and I loved it.
The course also featured abalone (awabi) served with its innards! It was incredibly soft and flavorful.
Greater amberjack (kanpachi) was served next. It had a wonderfully springy texture.
The Spanish mackerel (Sawara) had lightly grilled skin, which made it incredibly flavorful.
To accompany the meal, they also served Pickles, which were refreshing and balanced the flavors.
Finally the Lean meat of tuna was served. It had a fatty texture like toro but retained the rich taste of lean tuna.
Toro is fatty as expected.
Chawanmushi with plum-vinegared sauce. The chawanmushi itself was lightly seasoned. The sour sauce complemented the light flavor of the chawanmushi.
Sea urchin (Uni) on spoon. Gorgeous.
Negitoro-maki. This sushi roll is made with the leftover meat from fresh tuna spines. Manten Sushi’s negitoro-maki includes diced onion, which adds a refreshing flavor to the fatty tuna. I really like it.
Conger eel (Anago). It was lightly grilled, and the sauce was sweet.
Tamagoyaki
Miso soup. It had so many shijimi clams! They serve this every time, too. I think the shijimi clams are used to make the soup stock, but they’re tasteless. So, I don’t eat them. :p
Last, dessert was served. Strawberry that time.
In total, 19 dishes were served. I think it’s really valuable, and everything was delicious!
About
Name Manten Sushi Hibiya Okuroji (まんてん鮨 日比谷OKUROJI店)
Open Lunch, Dinner
Reservation Available for full course only
Credit card Available
URL Website / Instagram
Google Map
