How to Eat Sushi Properly

There is no wrong way to enjoy a meal, but a few simple gestures change everything. Eating sushi well is not about rigid ceremony: it is about respecting the chef's work and tasting each piece the way it was intended. These are the things we explain most often to first-time guests at the Aji counter.

Fingers or Chopsticks?

Both are completely acceptable. Nigiri, the hand-pressed mound of rice topped with fish, is traditionally eaten with the fingers. The rice is pressed just firmly enough to hold together, not to resist chopsticks. Sashimi, which is fish without rice, is picked up with chopsticks.

One small note: if your chopsticks are raw wood, avoid rubbing them together. The gesture implies they are low quality, and at a serious counter they are not. Rest them on the chopstick holder between bites, and never plant them upright in a bowl of rice.

Dipping Without Drowning

Soy sauce accompanies the fish, not the rice. Turn the nigiri gently upside down and dip only the fish side, barely. The rice is already seasoned with vinegar: soaked in soy, it breaks apart and the salt overwhelms the fish beneath it.

Some pieces arrive already brushed by the chef with nikiri, a reduced and softened soy sauce. Those pieces are meant to be eaten as they are. When in doubt, look: if the fish already glistens, skip the soy dish entirely.

The Order of Pieces

When ordering à la carte, move from the most delicate to the richest. Start with lean white-fleshed fish such as sea bream or flounder, then move to fattier fish, then tuna, and save otoro, uni, or eel for the end. This progression keeps a powerful flavour from erasing the subtler ones that follow.

At an omakase counter the question is moot: the chef composes the sequence for you, piece by piece, in a considered crescendo. That is precisely the pleasure of letting yourself be guided.

Ginger and Wasabi

Pickled ginger, gari, is not a garnish or a condiment. Eat a thin slice on its own between two different pieces to clean your palate. Placing it on top of the sushi misses its purpose entirely.

Wasabi is already dosed by the chef, tucked between rice and fish in exactly the right amount. There is no need to dissolve it in soy sauce: that green slurry is a North American habit that muffles everything. If you love heat, ask the chef for a little more wasabi on your next piece.

At the Counter, Trust the Chef

A nigiri is meant to be eaten within the minute after it is placed in front of you. The chef pressed it so it would be at its best right now: warm rice, fish at the right temperature, nori still crisp if present. Leaving it to sit is leaving it to decline.

The counter is also a place for conversation. A question about a piece, about the provenance of a fish, about the season: the chef is there for exactly that. At Aji, the counter has fourteen seats, and that proximity is precisely what guests come for.

In the end, eating sushi well comes down to one idea: trust the chef and taste what was prepared, without covering it up. Everything else comes with the visits.