The .Plan

From Leigh Lambert’s Washington Post article, “For Dinner Out, the Best Sushi Begins With the Experience“:

Call ahead to finer sushi restaurants if you would like omakase-style (chef’s choice) dining at the bar. That allows time to plan the more labor-intensive preparations.

When you split apart your wooden chopsticks, it is impolite to rub them together to remove splinters.

Some sushi, such as nigiri, doesn’t require chopsticks at all. It is perfectly acceptable, and easier, to eat those with your fingers.

Place only a little soy sauce in your dish, and replenish it as needed. (It is considered wasteful to fill it.)

Do not stir wasabi into your soy sauce. It can easily overpower more delicate fish. The chef will flavor each piece with wasabi individually if he intends that to be part of the flavor.

Pickled ginger is meant as a palate cleanser between pieces of sushi. It will drown out the other flavors and make everything taste the same if you top every piece with it.

If you want a little soy on your nigiri, barely dip it in, fish side down. If you dip it in rice side down, it will soak up too much soy sauce and cause the rice to fall apart.

The chef will tell you which pieces might need a light soy sauce dip once served and which ones are meant to be eaten on their own.

It is okay to give a budget to the chef or just let him or her know when you’ve had enough.