Sushi Jidai Review

Sushi Jidai is a small Japanese restaurant located in the 14th district of Paris. I was first introduced by a good friend of my husband, Bona, who is quite an expert on restaurants since he’s been working in this domain for decades in the Capital.

My husband and his friends used to go there to enjoy some good rolls since Sushi Jidai is quite a nice and original place for Japanese food.

The location

Located in the 14th District of Paris in rue Didot, Sushi Jidai doesn’t benefit from being in the most interesting area of Paris. The restaurant is actually surrounded by hospitals and social buildings, which are not synonymous with safety.

At least it’s not too far away from Alesia, which starts to be a more interesting area, and it’s close to the périphérique, which means it’s not too long of a drive to get there. It’s also close to the tramway if you are not driving in the Capital.

The location is not very big; it’s perhaps around 10–15 tables. The decoration is nice without being overwhelming. There is a huge and beautiful Japanese-style painting of a whale on the wall, which brings some color to the atmosphere.

The Menu

Sushi Jidai‘s menu is composed of two main sections. The first section is dedicated to the house specialties. In this section, you’ll find original recipes composed of marinated, half-cooked sashimi and half-cooked rolls.

Half cooked marinated Sashimi in Sushi Jidai

For us, this is simply the most interesting section of the menu; it’s the reason you should come to this restaurant in the first place. This section being important, they have huge, dedicated pictures that will make you understand with ease what the dishes are all about.

The second part of the menu is the classic dishes you would find in any Japanese sushi restaurant in France. Basically, maki, sushi, temaki, miso soup, etc.

If we sometimes love to get some simple and qualitative sushi, when we drive to Paris, we want to try something different and more interesting. We have a Sushi King in Bay 2 near our home; it’s already good enough for these types of sushi.

One thing I like about ordering at Sushi Jidai is the fact that the menus are coded. For example, SP1, SP2, SP3, etc. It makes ordering quite a bit easier.

The taste and the experience

My husband and I tried sushi many times in Vietnam with mixed reviews. They say it takes 10 years to know how to make sushi rice, and we believe this statement from Jiro Dreams of Sushi to be true.

In Vietnam, the rice was way unbalanced, either too salty or too acidic. Sushi will make you thirsty real quick. So be ready and order some bottles of water.

So ordering was quite an easy process with the codes; we started with the marinated, half-cooked sashimi called Carpaccio. Usually, carpaccio is an Italian dish made out of marinated, thin-sliced raw beef and lemon juice.

I have to be honest. In my husband’s memory, these sashimi were bigger. The sashimis that arrived were smaller than a leaf. My husband was shocked by the portion. We know that this restaurant is supposed to be a bit gastronomic, but these looked like Michelin-starred portions.

Who knows? Maybe that particular day, the cut was not generous or the crisis made the portion go down, but wow. We were more shocked by the size than by the thickness.

When it came to taste, it was delicious. A bit acidic and salty—a beautiful combination. It’s always so satisfying to eat something good and healthy at the same time.

We were relieved that the Rolls came in the regular size. We ordered two grilled eggplants as well; they were sweet and salty with an umami taste. Everyone liked it.

The rolls were delicious as well. The fish was fresh, and the taste was much richer than a regular California roll while staying well balanced.

It’s almost like a zest of lemon, with some marinated carpaccio, some salt, crispy bits, and just a bit of soy sauce and chives. It’s a complex and strong taste, but so well balanced that it’s definitely not your regular sushi. It’s not too far away from a real carpaccio, actually, when I think about it. It’s just not chewy or meaty.

My husband’s friend being on a diet, we ordered sparkling water, and of course San Pellegrino, which is for me the best sparkling water, was our choice.

Oddly enough, most of the marinated rolls tasted quite similar, except for the fish. But the Avocado with Fried Shrimp recipe, one of the best sellers here, even though it was delicious and perfectly executed, was a tad classic, or boring, should I say, compared to the other ones.

We ended up ordering a second round of rolls—the spicy ones and the one we loved. Honestly, the spicy ones were so good. It’s not spicy in the sense that it’s burning your tongue. It was more like a slightly stronger seasoning of spices, which was perfectly fitting with the rest of the dish.

We’ve tried this kind of roll in Isushi in Vietnam, and the difference is night and day. This is like a real recipe executed by a real chef, whereas the one in Isushi was just the idea of it with the wrong ingredient and some random people to roll it, if this makes sense.

After this, we were more than full or satiated, so we didn’t feel the need to order a dessert. The bill was high enough already.

Verdict

8.0 out of 10

Sushi Jidai is one of my husband’s favorite Japanese restaurants for sushi. That’s why he brought me there to try it, and I have to say that these sushi or rolls don’t taste like anything I’ve tried before in other sushi restaurants.

The cuisine is much more refined here, with real work on the recipes and real execution by a chef who learned from or at least from a Japanese chef. Not a cook or an employee.

My husband and his friend in front of the restaurant

It’s without a doubt the best rolls I’ve tried yet, even if they don’t really follow the original or classic recipes.

I still love normal sushi, which, by the way, is more about the quality of the ingredients and the cooking of the rice than anything else. But when we want to spoil ourselves with some “gastronomic” or “revisited” rolls at a relatively low price, this is the place to go.

Note that we paid 129 euros for all of this, and with a 20% discount from the fork, sushi, which is already an expensive option, almost becomes a premium one. It’s not the kind of restaurant you will go to and eat at every day unless you are loaded, but once in a while, this is refreshing.