Ueda: six-seat omakase sushi counter in an old house

Ueda (右江田) is a six-seat sushi counter in an old wooden house in a residential part of Nakagawa-ku, Nagoya. It held three Michelin stars in the 2019 Tōkai guide and won a Tabelog Award Bronze every year from 2022 to 2026. The second-generation chef replaced his father's soft, sweet Nagoya-style rice with an unsweetened shari seasoned with red and rice vinegars. He breaks with convention by serving chūtoro as the first piece, often chiai-gishi, the cut beside the blood line. His signature is wild kuruma ebi from Mikawa Bay. Only the head is cooked and the body is left near-raw, sometimes cured in kombu.

Nearly every review praises the tuna sequence: four or five pieces followed by a negitoro hand roll. Many single out the prawn, and several diners ordered it a second time. Other recurring favourites are kohada, steamed abalone with its liver sauce mixed into rice, Hokkaido sea urchin and a castella-like tamagoyaki. Diners also note the chef's calm precision and the okami's sake pairings.

Criticism of the food is sparse. One experienced diner found the halfbeak muddied by ginger and the cuttlefish too soft. A 2025 reviewer thought the flavours merely ordinary. Summer tuna is leaner, the prawn is not always available, and one guest found the rice portions large enough to leave her uncomfortably full. The more serious complaint concerns access: a party of Spanish visitors was turned away on arrival despite a booking made five months earlier.

There is no menu. The omakase is charged at market price, and reviews quote no prices for individual dishes. The listed bands are ¥10,000–15,000 for lunch and ¥20,000–30,000 for dinner, but reviewers in 2025–2026 paid more. Recorded bills include about ¥39,000 for dinner and ¥41,000 for a course including service and tax. Another came to ¥42,700 for a course with one extra piece and five half-servings of sake. Plan on ¥40,000 or more for dinner. Several reviewers still call it reasonable against its peers, and cost-performance ratings stay high.

• Booking: reservation only, no walk-ins. New reservations are taken by phone (052-353-6005) only once or twice a year; otherwise seats go to regulars. Confirm your booking directly before the day.
• Getting there: 947 m from Sanno Station, about 15–18 minutes on foot from Sanno or Owari-bashi. By taxi it is about 10 minutes from Kanayama Station and 15 minutes from Nagoya Station.
• Payment: cash only. Credit cards, electronic money and QR code payments are not accepted.
• Dress code: counter seating only, so no perfume or other strong scents.
• Seats: six counter seats. No private rooms, but the restaurant can be booked for private use.
• Smoking: non-smoking.
• Parking: three spaces next to the restaurant.
• Hours note: closed Monday. There is no lunch on Tuesday or Saturday.