Famed for its catch of tuna, Misaki Port is located in Miura City of Kanagawa Prefecture. While there are, of course, numerous tuna specialty stores in Miura itself, “Maguro Basara Ueno-ten” serves fresh tuna obtained directly from Misaki Port!

There are multiple meal courses to choose from at Maguro Basara that will allow you to have your fill of tuna. But if you are thinking of getting some sushi, we recommend the “Tabehōdai Nomihōdai Sanjuppin” (3,278 yen; tax-inclusive), which includes thirty dishes, all-you-can-eat! Because the restaurant has to stock up on fresh tuna for the day, a reservation is required for this dining course for two or more customers. Do take note that the reservation has to be booked by 10:00 p.m. the day before.

When you first take your seat, you will be served an assortment of sushi, an assortment of ingredients for your shabu-shabu hotpot, a set of “black” and “red” tuna, pork shabu salad and edamame (pictured is the serving for two). You can then proceed to order what you like from among the thirty dishes available.

Besides the classic options of the fatty tuna “Ōtoro” and medium fatty tuna “Chūtoro,” the minced tuna “Negitoro” is also popular with foreign customers. Drizzled with a specially made sauce, the “Negitoro” can be enjoyed even without dipping it into shōyu sauce. The tuna melts in your mouth – making this a dish perfect for savoring the umami of tuna to your heart’s content!

Let’s take a look at the assortment of meat sushi, which has been rapidly rising in popularity as of late. The assortment includes four kinds of meat sushi, namely cow’s tongue, seared chicken, roast beef and horse sashimi.

Highly recommended by the restaurant manager, the store specialties “Kuro (black) Basara” and “Aka (red) Basara” are a set of deep-fried tuna fish seasoned with sauces and spices. The “Kuro Basara” is seasoned with black pepper, while the “Aka Basara” is seasoned with not only black pepper but chili powder as well, so they go extremely well with beer!

Magura Basara Ueno-ten only has private dining rooms which seat from two to 34 customers. With these Japanese-style rooms, you will get to enjoy your dining experience in comfort. It gets very crowded on the weekends, so be sure to input your reservations beforehand. Foreign customers need not worry as there are English menus prepared and free Wi-Fi available.

“Ueno Niku Sushi” is a restaurant famous for its meat sushi. It serves original sushi that mainly uses horse meat as well as beef, pork, chicken, duck and offal as toppings.

Here, on the 2nd, 9th and 29th (the number ‘29’ can be pronounced as ‘niku’ which means ‘meat’) day of every month, there is a special all-you-can-eat course that includes not only nine kinds of meat sushi but also eight popular side dishes! In addition, an all-you-can-eat course that includes seven types of meat sushi is available exclusively from Monday to Thursday.

The special meal course “Niku-no-Hi Gentei Tabehōdai” is available at 2,728 yen (tax-inclusive) and limited to two hours. This all-you-can-eat option includes eight side dishes and the following meat sushi.

・Horse Meat: Lean meat / Pickled lean meat / “Engawa,” a combination of lean and fatty meat / Horse meat with deep-fried tofu pockets
・Beef: Roast beef
・Chicken/Duck: Smoked chicken / Smoked duck
・Wrapped Sushi: Minced meat / Raw meat

Exclusively available only from Mondays to Thursdays, “Niku Sushi Nanashu Tabehōdai” is available at 2,178 yen (tax-inclusive) and limited to an hour. It includes the following sushi:

・Horse Meat: Lean meat / Pickled lean meat / Minced meat
・Beef: Roast Beef
・Chicken/Duck/Foie Gras: Smoked chicken / Smoked duck / Foie gras gunkan

This is an assortment of lean horse meat, medium fatty horse meat, pork jowl and foie gras gunkan sushi. If you are worried about the high-calorie count of meat, you will be assured to know that Ueno Niku Sushi serves horse meat that is low in calories, cholesterol, and fats.

The lean horse meat is best enjoyed with a minimal amount of shoyu sauce due to the strong umami from the meat. But do not worry about the flavor being overwhelming – the wasabi and spring onions topped on the sushi deliver such a refreshing flavor that you might even forget that you are having meat! Don’t hesitate to ask the shop staff for more recommendations on how to best enjoy the various meat sushi.

The manager Mr. Yokoyama introduced this dish, “Sashitoro,” to us as a store specialty that is extremely popular with foreign customers. While this is not included in any of the all-you-can-eat options, an entire piece of domestically produced beef rib roast laid atop sushi rice getting seared is truly a sight to behold! This way of enjoying hot, sizzling meat with sushi rice certainly looks novel.

The last dish we wish to introduce is also a recommendation by the restaurant manager. “Onikutachi-no-En Goshuniku-no-Moriawase” is available at 2,178 yen (tax-inclusive) and allows you to enjoy the umami of meat to your heart’s content. This is an assortment of lean horse meat, fillet, gyūtan (cow’s tongue), pork jowl and smoked chicken that comes with a sauce specially made from pickling fermented rice and green peppers in shōyu for two weeks. Although this is not on the all-you-can-eat menu, it is a great option if you want to try enjoying meat sashimi that same way you would typically enjoy fish sashimi!

Ueno Niku Sushi provides menus in English, Mandarin Chinese and Korean so there is no need to worry if you do not understand Japanese.

“Daichi-no-Okurimono Ueno-ten” offers a buffet of approximately 80 kinds of natural foods, using the freshest vegetables sourced from all over Japan. The 80-minute lunch option is available at 1,925 yen (tax-inclusive) on weekdays and 2,035 yen (tax-inclusive) on weekends and public holidays. Meanwhile, the 120-minute dinner option is available at 3,058 yen (tax-inclusive) and includes all-you-can-eat sushi.

There are three kinds of sushi available, namely squid, salmon and shrimp. They are so popular that they disappear almost as soon as they are served on the table so make sure you don’t miss the timing to try them!

The small size of the sushi makes it easy to overeat but be careful to not fill your tummy with just sushi! There are lots of other appetizing dishes at Daichi-no-Okurimono so look out for those too.

An example would be the “Gyūsuji Daikon” pictured here. According to the restaurant manager, this dish is always highly ranked by customers in polls. The light taste of the soup, as well as the boiled radish and beef tendon, makes a soothing combination. It is no surprise that this is popular with customers of a wide age range.

Just what is Daichi-no-Okurimono’s secret to popularity? This lies in the way customers are able to enjoy their fill of the freshest vegetables sourced from all over Japan. These are not limited to your everyday veggies but also include uncommon ones like the Okinawa-grown yellow carrot as well as pumpkin.

There are ten different kinds of salad dressings and three types of miso soup available. It’s no wonder the restaurant manager shared that girls often have their get-togethers here.

Since there are so many vegetables and natural foods, you might think that male customers will find it difficult to satisfy their tummies here. But fret not! The store has a plentiful menu prepared for this reason.

The interior is cozy and uses many wood furniture, in line with the ‘natural’ style of food it serves. Plus, the warm lighting the restaurant is fitted with makes a comfortable atmosphere for dining at your own pace. This is Daichi-no-Okurimono, which aims at getting customers to enjoy the traditional taste of Japan. The menu includes English and Mandarin Chinese translations, so even foreign customers can enjoy their fill of Japanese cuisine here.

Sushi is ranked highly among Japanese dishes popular with foreign tourists. Besides the high-end option of traditionally ordering sushi by the counter, wouldn’t it be great to consider other restaurants that can allow you to enjoy different Japanese food along with sushi, given the limited time you have in Japan? With their all-you-can-eat options, the restaurants we have introduced today will let you do just that, to your heart’s content!

Written by: Kotakashi Nagata

*The above article is based on information from April 2020