The World's Smallest Sushi Comes From A Restaurant In Tokyo

With its rich flavor and equally rich history, sushi has become one of the most revered and loved cuisines in the entire world. Its popularity began centuries ago, with the oldest sushi restaurant in Japan celebrating over 800 years in business. Today, sushi is made in all kinds of fun rolls and fusion dishes as well as served traditionally. It can even be shaped differently based on location.

Tokyo has no shortage of amazing sushi restaurants, each making meals with great care and reverence, regardless of whether they are the tiniest of à la carte eateries or the world famous omakase Michelin starred Sukiyabashi Jiro. However, one Tokyo joint has a sushi dish that is truly unlike any other. Made with a single grain of rice, these plates of sushi are the tiniest in the world.

Proudly served at Tokyo's Sushiya no Nohachi, this special dish has attracted tourists from far and wide. The owner's son and sushi chef, Hironori, told Play Tokyo that a woman even cried upon seeing the tiny meal. Although miniature sushi is what the restaurant is most famous for, there is definitely much more than meets the eye.

The word "sushi" is pretty commonly known outside of Japan, but it is actually used to describe many types of dishes that include fish and sushi rice. At Sushiya no Nohachi, sushi specifically means nigiri, not to be confused with onigiri, which is essentially slices of fish on top of small balls of rice. It also serves sashimi style dishes, which focus solely on fish and do not include any rice, plus chirashi rice bowls, which are bowls of rice topped with slices of fish.

Although the menu is, thankfully, bigger than a single grain of rice, the miniature sushi is still the star of the show. According to Hironori, there are seven different types of tiny sushi: tuna, sea bream, medium fatty tuna, surf clam, sea urchin, octopus, and egg. It also comes with an additional piece of pickled ginger.

According to the restaurant owner and his son, the small sushi was created when a customer challenged Hironori to make the smallest piece of sushi he possibly could. This seemingly playful request has since bloomed into a phenomenon. The small sushi plate cannot be ordered from the restaurant's à la carte menu but is actually free upon request with any normal sized sushi meal that costs 5,000 yen or more, which is about 50 dollars.