Best toro rolls outside Japan

Noteworthy for: "Omakase" – you tell the chef what you like to eat and what you don't and he'll prepare in front of you exactly what you want.

Word to the wise: It's reservation-only, so call before you come. If you like the food, have a drink (sake) with the chef, Takeo, to show gratitude.

This 14-seat, pocket-sized restaurant doesn't look like much, but the food is extremely fresh and melts in your mouth. If you order sake, you get to choose your own cup.

The multi-course custom menu changes nightly. All of the restaurant's seafood is imported directly from Tokyo and Nagasaki, and so the menu changes with what's in season.

Attentive waitresses in kimonos serve you like an emperor; care for a smoke but have no cigarettes? They'll run and get you a pack. (You'll have to smoke in the lounge; the restaurant is strictly cigarette-free.)

Whet your whistle with twelve varieties of sake starting from RMB 90, along with a good selection of Shochu, plum wine, and beer, including Yebis.