Take-out Sashimi 刺身テイクアウト

Our long time go-to Izakaya/sushi bar “Tako Grill” quietly closed in December 2025 after nearly 40 years of operation. Since COVID, Tako Grill had been an only take-out restaurant. Take-out suited us just fine since it was relaxing to eat our favorite sushi at home without worrying about driving home in the dark after having some sake. Nonetheless while it was an eat-in restaurant we really enjoyed stopping by after work.

In the absence of Tako Grill we had been getting frozen sashimi items from several places but one problems was that we could not get a wide variety of sashimi grade fish and whatever sashimi grade fish we could get came in large portions. Once a large block of tuna sashimi is thawed, you have to finish it quickly. Under those conditions thawing other large blocks of sashimi items is not practical unless you are having a party.  More recently, we found a Japanese restaurant called “Rakugaki” located very close to us. It is part of a small chain of restaurants and the quality and variety of the food it sells is quite good. Although we occasionally eat at the restaurant, we kinda got spoiled doing take-out during covid so we have continued doing that with Rakugaki. Our favorite take out is ”Tokujo Sashimi 特上刺身盛り”. As shown in the picture it is a large assortment of sashimi including tuna 鮪 (akami 赤身 and chutoro 中トロ), salmon 鮭, hamachi はまち, “tai” 鯛 red snapper, “kinme-dai” 金目鯛 golden eye snapper, as well as some other white fish. It also includes  “uni” 雲丹 sea urchin and “ikura” いくら salmon roe, “ama-ebi 甘エビ” sweet shrimp, “tako” 蛸 ocutopus and scallopsホタテ. We like this assortment because we can enjoy reasonably sized portions of so many different items at once and the quality is extremely good. 

As shown in the next picture, I usually re-plate the take-out order once we get it home. I slice each piece of sashimi into two pieces so we can prolong the flavor enjoyment by eating two slices instead of just one. (I know; silly but we like it that way.) I also serve the ikura in a cucumber cup and the uni on a cucumber boat (shown in the picture on either side of perilla in the 8 and 12 o’clock positions.) Since the octopus can be fairly chewy I shallow score the pieces and add some “perilla miso 大葉味噌” (shown in the 7 o’clock position).

Since the amount of sashimi included in this order is very generous we have the additional benefit of setting aside some of the tuna, salmon and white fish to eat the next day. I usually marinate the fish I set aside and then make it into a small appetizer dish. Any remaining sashimi, I re-plate in two servings. We usually include an order of California roll (made from real crab) which we share as a perfect ending of the meal.