How to eat sashimi at an izakaya: wasabi, ginger, salt and ponzu

A plate of sashimi (刺身) is one of the best things you can order at an izakaya — often the fish came in that morning. But it arrives with little piles of green paste, grated ginger, leaves and shredded radish, and nobody tells you what each one is for. Here’s how Japanese people eat it.

Photo coming soonA sashimi platter at an izakaya with tuna, white fish and squid, shredded daikon, a shiso leaf and a mound of wasabi

Ordering sashimi

Most izakaya have a sashimi platter — 刺身盛り合わせ (sashimi moriawase), sometimes called お造り (otsukuri). It’s often sold by the number of kinds: 三点盛り (3 kinds) or 五点盛り (5 kinds). The kitchen picks the best fish of the day, which makes it the easiest first order.

You can also order single fish. Look at the board of the day’s specials, 本日のおすすめ (honjitsu no osusume) — that’s where the fresh fish is. If a price says 時価 (jika), it changes with the market, so ask before you order.

Soy sauce and wasabi

Pour a little soy sauce into the small dish — you can always add more. Then:

1. Put a small dab of wasabi on the fish.
2. Dip the fish lightly in the soy sauce, fish side down.
3. Eat it in one bite.

Putting wasabi on the fish keeps its sharp, fresh smell. Mixing it into the soy sauce (わさび醤油) is what many Japanese people do too at a casual izakaya, so nobody will mind — but on the fish is the way chefs like it.

Don’t soak the fish. A quick dip is enough; too much soy sauce hides the taste of the fish.

If you can’t handle wasabi, you can simply not use it. It’s served on the side, not hidden under the fish like on sushi.

Fish that come with ginger

Some fish arrive with a small mound of grated fresh ginger (おろし生姜) instead of, or as well as, wasabi. This is usual for the “shiny” silver-skinned fish (光り物, hikarimono), which have a stronger flavour:

• aji (horse mackerel) — see aji-zukuri
• iwashi (sardine)
• saba (mackerel), often served cured in vinegar as shime-saba
• katsuo (bonito), often with ginger, garlic slices and green onion

Put a little ginger on the fish and dip it in soy sauce, just like wasabi. The ginger cuts the oiliness and the fishy smell.

The pink pickled ginger (ガリ, gari) is a different thing. It comes with sushi and is eaten between pieces to clean your palate — not put on the fish.

Salt, and ponzu

At some places, the chef will tell you to try a fish with salt (塩, shio), sometimes with a squeeze of citrus. This is common for delicate white fish such as sea bream (tai) or flounder, and for squid. Salt lets the sweetness of the fish come through. If there’s a small pile of salt on the plate, that’s the sign.

Ponzu (ポン酢, ponzu) is citrus soy sauce. It’s used for seared bonito (katsuo no tataki) and for very thinly sliced white fish, usually with green onion and momiji-oroshi — grated daikon with red chilli. When a dish comes with ponzu, use the ponzu instead of soy sauce.

Raw horse meat, basashi, is eaten the same way: with ginger or garlic and a sweet soy sauce.

What about the garnish?

Many Japanese people leave the garnish on the plate, and that’s fine. But it is all edible, and some people love it:

• Shredded daikon (ツマ, tsuma): some people eat it between kinds of fish to refresh their mouth.
• Shiso leaf (大葉, ōba): some wrap a slice of fish in it. It has a fresh, minty taste.
• Small yellow chrysanthemum (食用菊): some pull off the petals and drop them into their soy sauce.
• Seaweed: edible too.

Eat it or leave it — whichever you like. The only thing never to eat is a plastic green divider, if there is one.

A few more tips

• Eat from light to rich. Start with white fish and squid, then move to tuna and oily fish. The light ones taste of nothing after fatty tuna.
• Eat it soon. Sashimi is best cold, right when it arrives.
• Sharing. Ask for small plates (取り皿, torizara) so everyone can take some.

Sashimi goes well with cold sake or a glass of shōchū — see Shochu explained.