Salmon Tells the Tale of True Quality

【107th Rice Ball】Ohitsu-zen Tanbo (Omotesando) - Grilled Salmon

“Could you tell me how to spot a delicious restaurant?”
I’ve been asked this a lot lately. There are many factors that make a restaurant great: a focus on the rice, delicious nori seaweed, and the perfect way of forming the rice ball.
However, having reported on over 100 rice balls so far, I’ve realized there is one ingredient that clearly reveals the difference in quality between shops.
That ingredient is “salmon.”

For salmon, some places use grilled salmon as is, some flake it for you, and others use pre-made flakes. Sometimes it’s even mixed with smoked salmon or mayonnaise.
Ingredients like plum, spicy cod roe, or kelp are somewhat predictable, and it’s harder for the true skill of the shop to show through.
In any case, shops that make delicious rice balls often have delicious salmon.

Ohitsu-zen Tanbo in Omotesando is one such place.
It is a popular restaurant where you are guaranteed to find a line during meal times.

As the name “Ohitsu-zen” (rice-tub set meal) suggests, their dedication to rice is evident everywhere.

Most people eating at the restaurant during lunch order the Ohitsu-zen. Among them, many were ordering the grilled salmon Ohitsu-zen.

This rice ball uses that popular grilled salmon in a luxurious way.

The rice on this day was new-harvest Koshihikari from Nagaoka.
The fact that the rice used changes weekly is another pleasure. It makes me want to come back again to eat rice balls made with different rice.

And then, there is the grilled salmon.
They grill a salmon that is well-marbled with fat and carefully flake it.

The saltiness is also perfectly balanced to bring out the umami of the salmon!
It pairs perfectly with the rice.

This grilled salmon rice ball is quite perfected.
As I thought, a salmon rice ball really does tell the tale of a shop’s true quality.

Thank you for the meal!

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