Aichi

Sushi Hanakuruma

鮨　花車

Sushi Hanaguruma is the talk of Nagoya because it signals the arrival of authentic Edomae sushi in this central Japanese city. It challenges the perception that all the best sushi is in Tokyo and delights guests more familiar with the sumptuous creations of the restaurant owner described as a “master of meat” with his empire of over twenty meat-centric restaurants. Brimming with vitality, Hanaguruma is a dream come true for its owner and sushi lovers in Nagoya.

The characters for Hanaguruma stand bold on a white draped curtain just a three-minute walk from Nagoya Station on the ground floor of a commercial building. It was opened in November 2022 by sushi lover Satoru Tanaka, the group owner of Tanaka Food Service, founded in Gifu Prefecture in 1996 with the opening of Setsugekka. This was followed by Nikuya Tanaka, Nikuya Setsugekka, Yoshoku Tsubaki, Kodawari no Tonkatsu Tanakaya, and about twenty others, primarily in the Nagoya area, serving dishes using premium Japanese beef and pork.

Tanaka’s dream of bringing Tokyo-style sushi to Nagoya began with an encounter with renowned Ginza Sushi Arai owner Yuichi Arai. A sushi artisan who went independent at age 33 after training at Ginza Kyubey and Sushi Sho in Yotsuya, Arai is the producer of Sushi Hanaguruma. And before its opening, he welcomed the head chef Hiroyoshi Yokota and other staff to the Ginza restaurant to share his highly polished sushi techniques and hospitality. Yokota is a seasoned chef with many years of experience and the master personally selected him to unleash a new genre onto the Nagoya food scene—the elegant flavors of Sushi Arai.

The talk of Nagoya

Crucial to the restaurant’s model is the procurement of seafood from the same Tsukiji wholesalers that supply Sushi Arai, including the highest quality whole fish Oma maguro via Yamayuki — usually impossible to acquire for a new entrant. Add to this fresh local seafood from Ise and Mikawa bays, and you can appreciate Hanaguruma’s unique offering.

The lunchtime chef’s degustation is a generous course of five appetizers and eleven nigiri, which expands to six or seven appetizers and twelve to thirteen at night-time. In winter, guests might enjoy savory crab custard after a welcome small dish and then two or three types of sashimi. One specialty is sashimi of buri yellowtail with only the skin side charred, served with lashings of grated daikon and a sprinkling of pretty perilla blossoms. Delicious accompaniments to alcoholic drinks include monkfish liver with watermelon pickles and ebi-imo taro in a velvety sauce.

A parade of delectable nigiri follows appetizers. A gunkan submarine-shaped sushi of Murasaki uni sea urchin from Aomori has a luscious flavor perfectly complemented by briny roasted seaweed. Next, the chef’s incredible knife skills are displayed with the kohada gizzard shad, carefully removing bones before salting and pickling in a vinegar blend. Other morsels include yellowtail nigiri and tuna maki sushi. And, of course, the chef’s pride and joy – maguro akami, chutoro, and otoro. It all comes to a close with tamago egg so sweet and luscious it tastes like castella cake.

INGREDIENTS
Maguro and uni are only the best from Tsukiji, but Yokota prioritizes the freshest varieties from the closest possible ports with other seafood. The rice he uses is a varietal with small grains and delicate texture, flavored with akazu red vinegar. The seasoned rice begins warm, but as the temperature slowly falls, the chef selects the toppings to suit the temperature and shape the perfect morsel at that moment. The drinks list includes a selection of beer, wine, shochu, sake, and whisky.

CHEF

Hiroyoshi Yokota

Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Hiroyoshi Yokota joined Tanaka Food Service after working at an Osaka sushi restaurant and traditional Japanese eatery. His cooking skills and sushi experience were specially recognized by restaurant producer Yuichi Arai, making him the top selection for the head chef role at Hanaguruma. Yokota’s preparation for the role included four months of training at Ginza's Sushi Arai, where he was wowed from start to finish by the sourcing process, seafood handling and preparation, and service, saying he felt he witnessed the pure essence of sushi.

VISION
No effort will be spared to delight local Nagoya people and guests from further afield to open their eyes to how good Nagoya sushi can be. The local food scene tends to have richer offerings based on the strong traditional miso culture. However, Yokota wishes to share the sheer joy of elegant nigiri and the natural umami of all kinds of seafood.

MAGURO

Yokota seeks smaller maguro weighing in at around 100 kilograms. This size maguro has a wonderful aroma, the perfect amount of fat, and very little sinew. And Yokota can use the whole animal fast enough that almost nothing goes to waste. It arrives not frozen but in icy water and is stored in a refrigerator set to two degrees. After the blood vessels and sheath are removed, the whole fish is broken into blocks of akami, chutoro, and otoro. Another incredible part of the tuna’s underbelly is jabara, with even more fat than otoro. In between lines of marbling, the flesh melts the moment it hits your tongue. With so little on each fish, this is a truly precious part. The balance of flavor, volume, temperature, and texture with the rice is crucial in every nigiri, especially for maguro, given the varying fat volume—the chef’s skilled assessment results in perfect, memorable mouthfuls.