As our previous article explained, there are many kinds of fish for sushi around the globe. Extensive knowledge of them is essential for a professional sushi chef. While acquiring knowledge of handling fish is crucial, knowing how to plate sushi is also vital in making a sushi chef stand out. As some people say that God is in the details, the art of sushi cherishes the idea.
Here, we will show you how professional sushi chefs plate sushi to enhance the presentation of their sushi.
How to Offer Sushi
Chefs must know how to best help their guests get the most out of their dining experience with sushi. This means they should know what to serve in which order at sushi restaurants, where they serve sushi one by one over the counter. Usually, they carefully plan an order.
The basic order is to serve light-flavored fish (e.g., shiromi fish), strong-flavored fish (e.g., akami fish), rich-flavored fish (e.g., sea urchin and salmon roe), and rolls in that order. This is because you may not taste the light-flavored fish if you eat it right after you eat strong-flavored fish. Also, please note that chefs often serve hikarimono (silver-skinned fish) and shellfish in between.
The important part is to serve the fish in an order that respects each flavor. Also, guests may want to eat gari ginger, often served with sushi, to refresh their palate after eating one with strong or rich flavors.
It would be an asset if every staff member could have some knowledge to share with their guests when necessary. This is because some guests might have questions regarding an order. So, all the in-house staff should be able to provide the intel above to their guests.
However, please remember that the above is just a general concept. The important part is that guests enjoy the sushi, after all. You could keep it only as a suggestion and be sure to make them feel comfortable with their dining experience.
How to Plate Sushi (Omakase Plate or Set Menu)
So, how should chefs arrange sushi when serving it all on one plate at a time? The basic idea is the same as the one-by-one serving style. Following the above order, you can arrange sushi from left to right on a rectangular plate.
When serving sushi, suggest that guests eat them from left to right. Also, providing some extra information can be helpful. For example, commenting on which sushi goes well with soy sauce might help your guests.
Sample Menu of Plate Sushi Set
Here, we will show you an example menu of a plate sushi set. As we learned above, the basic formation is to have sushi in order of light-flavored sushi, strong-flavored sushi, rich-flavored sushi, and rolls.
For light-flavored sushi, we can recommend shiromi fish, such as sea bream and sea bass, and squid. As for strong-flavored fish, fish like shrimp, tuna, and shellfish are ideal to follow the light-flavored fish. Rich-flavored fish include toro (the fatty part of tuna belly), sea urchin, and salmon roe. To finish up the whole course, cucumber thin rolls and dried gourd thin rolls are great examples of rolls.
After you serve fish with a strong or rich taste, you can serve hikarimono right after. Then, guests can refresh their mouths and start the process again with light-flavored fish.
Frequently Asked Questions from Customers
Even local people occasionally ask questions regarding manners and etiquette. Below are some examples of FAQs.
Soy Sauce or No Soy Sauce?
People often wonder whether they should put soy sauce on all kinds of sushi. The answer is that not all sushi needs soy sauce. Some pieces already have a special sauce on them. For example, a conger eel called anago often has a thick, sweet sauce made from ingredients such as eel broth, soy sauce, and sugar. In such cases, you do not need to use soy sauce.
Speaking of soy sauce, many people are curious about how to put soy sauce on sushi the right way. For example, in the case of regular nigiri, the typical way to apply soy sauce is to lay the sushi on its side and put it on the fish side. The sushi would lose its shape if you dip the sushi in the soy sauce from the rice ball side.
Hand or Chopsticks?
Some people wonder if they should eat sushi with their hands or chopsticks. While eating with hands is a traditional way, there is no problem that you use chopsticks. However, you want to use chopsticks to eat gari as an etiquette. As explained earlier, gari is pickled ginger served with sushi. People eat it between sushi to cleanse the palate and enhance flavors.
To learn more about soy sauce, gari, and other ingredients essential for sushi, you can learn the details in our Sushi Masterclass- Foundation- course. It teaches you extensive information, such as what role each ingredient plays in the art of sushi.
Last But Not Least, Green Tea
Most sushi restaurants offer hot tea. There are solid reasons for this. One of them is that hot tea allows you to wash the taste of fish left in your mouth before savoring the next piece of sushi. Another reason is that, as with gari, the antibacterial effect of the catechins in green tea helps prevent food poisoning from raw fish. However, if the tea is too strong, it also affects the taste of sushi. Therefore, you need to be careful with how you prepare the tea.
Learn More about Sushi with MJCA!
Knowing how to plate sushi enhances your guest’ engagement with your sushi and improves their dining experience.
Chefs are required to train themselves and acquire superior skills and techniques. However, knowledge of presentation is also essential in Japanese cuisine, which is known for its impeccable presentation and meticulous attention to detail.
With our Sushi Masterclass –Foundation– and –Advanced– courses, you can achieve to become an even more sophisticated sushi chef. These courses are also available in our Grand Membership Plus (a certificate or live sessions with a master chef are not included in the plan).
You are welcome to ask any questions about MJCA courses. We are one message away!
