I went to Kitazawa Club (Kitazawa Kurabu), a conveyor-belt sushi place that’s been famous in Shinjuku for years. “Club” is pronounced “kurabu” in Japanese, and the kanji written for it, 倶楽部, are read “gurakbu” in Korean. It’s a thoroughly Japanese-style kanji word. Personally I think “gurakbu” is a leftover from the Japanese colonial era that Korean ought to get rid of. Doesn’t it sound really awkward?
It was drizzling, so I couldn’t get a shot of the storefront. The entrance is small and easy to miss, but it’s easy to reach from the West Exit. That said, the streets around the West Exit are a maze, so I’d suggest coming from the South Exit side..
Looks like kanpachi
Hmm.. well.. not bad, but not moving either.. This isn’t the season when fish is at its best, so there’s not much you can do. The rice is just so-so too.
Take a good look at the plates
The guy is glaring at me, but just ignore that.. Each plate has a price. Up to 420 yen is fine, but anything above that, the 735, 1,050, 1,260 and 1,470 yen plates, is a bit scary to go for. It’s a tasty place for a conveyor-belt sushi shop, but I’m not sure you really need to eat 1,470-yen sushi here of all places. So I only picked plates at 420 yen or less.
Kani-jiru (crab miso soup)
Pretty disappointing for the price. I guess it’s because crab isn’t in season right now.. Should have ordered something cheaper.
Unagi
For 315 yen this is pretty good. If you’ve never had it, I strongly recommend trying the melt-in-your-mouth taste of eel at least once.
Saba – mackerel
Why is it so ordinary? The rice itself seems good, but it’s cooked a bit hard.
Octopus
Good value for the price
Sayori (halfbeak)
A bit lacking.
Buri (yellowtail)
No fat on it, sadly. And why is the fish sliced so thin..
I ate quite a bit more than this, but forgot to take pictures. The salmon, which isn’t seasonal, was pretty good. Sticking to plates of 420 yen or less, I ate well and it came to about 2,000 yen a person. Decent value in its own way. Overall, what really bothered me was how thin a lot of the neta were. Not enough to bite into. I think it might taste better if I came back around winter, when the fish have fattened up, rather than in spring, but with this level of taste at this price, there’s no reason to go out of your way to find it. That said, if you’re a foreigner who doesn’t feel confident ordering anything other than omakase at a regular sushi shop (plenty of Japanese people seem to be the same way), conveyor-belt sushi is very convenient, so I’d recommend this place over most sushi shops. I can also recommend it to anyone who absolutely has to have sushi in Shinjuku.