President Obama kicked off the first leg of his tour of Asia on Wednesday with some sushi diplomacy. He dined with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a revered and tiny temple of sushi in Tokyo called Sukiyabashi Jiro. The subterranean restaurant, with just 10 seats at the counter, was made famous by the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Obama emerged with a thumbs-up review. "That's some good sushi right there," he said. Thank you so much." 'Jiro Dreams Of Sushi': Perfection, Carefully Sliced If you've ever seen the documentary, you know why: The sushi Obama had was carefully crafted by 89-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono. "His sushi is the best in the world," says David Gelb, who directed the film. "For someone who has a taste for true, pure Japanese sushi, I mean it's a place you kind of have to go to." But for the many of us who haven't been lucky enough to grab one those 10 prized seats, Gelb joined All Things Considered's Melissa Block to talk about what it's like to dine at such an iconic place.

For starters, the restaurant is hidden in the basement of an office building and offers only one item on its menu — the omakase course, which can cost between $300 and $400 per person. It consists of 20 pieces of sushi, prepared and served one at a time. "There are no appetizers, no rolls of any kind," Gelb says. "It's purely his style of sushi, which is kind of the classic Tokyo style, which is basically just fish and rice and seasoning, maybe a soy sauce or a nikiri, which is a kind of sweetened soy sauce." And if you're fortunate enough to be one of Ono's costumers, don't even think about ordering off the menu — even if you are the president of the United States. "The Jiro that I know would not change his sushi for anyone," Gelb says, adding that "he just gives you what he feels is the best of the day." And Ono really means the best. Every day, for instance, he massages the octopus he's planning to serve for an hour. "The octopuses that he gets are trolling the seafloor, eating clams and other delicious shellfish," Gelb says.

"And so he's getting the octopus that has the best diet, and then he massages it — or has his apprentices massage it, because he's getting on in the years — to bring out the best flavors." That's because to Ono, making sushi is more than just a job; it's an art form, an obsession, even. sushi delivery dubai palmIn the film, he tells Gelb that he'd wake up in the middle of the night, and in dreams would have visions of sushi. how to get to daiwa sushi"His philosophy of work, where it's about finding a routine and mastering that craft, it applies to any kind of art," he adds. where to buy sushi grade fish san diegoSo you can imagine, eating in front of such a meticulous artist can get a bit intimidating. jiro dreams of sushi new orleans

"The first time that I ate there, I was very nervous," Gelb tells Block. "I mean the man is a living legend, and he watches, and he observes the customers very closely, and so it can be a nerve-wracking experience." But, he says, the sushi is so good that the tension melts away. buy sushi grade fish miami"The restaurant is very quiet," Gelb adds. yo sushi takeaway windsor"There's no music or anything. "best place to buy sushi grade fish in san diegoThere's just the sound of the fountain, and you kind of got into this sushi trance, and it's quite an amazing experience."Story highlightsOn Wednesday night, U.S. President Obama dined at what many consider the world's best sushi restaurantChef Jiro Ono is the first sushi chef in the world to receive three Michelin starsThe 19-piece "Chef's Recommended Special Course" costs 30,000 yen (about $292)Anyone who imagines U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed territorial disputes with China or the U.S.'s "pivot to Asia" foreign policy during their private dinner in Tokyo on Wednesday likely isn't

familiar with the restaurant where the two leaders dined. Ahead of a protocol-bound formal state visit that officially begins on Thursday, Abe took Obama to Sukiyabashi Jiro, the fabled restaurant in Tokyo's fashionable Ginza district widely regarded as the best sushi restaurant in the world.The Japanese food provided by head chef and proprietor Jiro Ono leaves little time for small talk, much less big talk. MORE: The rival empires of Japanese WhiskeyRather than simply watch the spectacular food porn that is Gelb's doc, I went a step further, traveling directly to the source to offer the following account of chef Jiro's legendary soft-handed, two-fingered technique that pairs fresh nigiri cuts from the Tsukiji fish market with warm and delicate rice.MORE: Celebrating Tokyo as 'world's greatest city'With a bit of hesitation, I forgo chopsticks, soy sauce and wasabi altogether for the traditional fingers-only approach and prepare to enjoy that first taste of perfection.MORE: Tasting Tokyo's treasures MORE: Tokyo and the world's 11 other greatest shopping citiesMORE: How to eat sushiMORE: Tokyo travel: 11 things to know before you goMORE: 5 Tokyo bars for train nerds (yes, they exist)MORE: Why Japanese bartenders are the world's best

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed President Barack Obama to Tokyo Wednesday by taking him to the greatest sushi restaurant in the world, the three Michelin star Sukiyabashi Jiro. The unassuming restaurant is located in the basement of an office building off a subway station and seats just 10 people at a time at a long bar. It is owned and operated by Jiro Ono, who turns 90 next year, who has been learning and perfecting the art of sushi since the age of nine, with Jiro’s eldest son, Yoshikazu Ono, pitching in. Their restaurant was popularized by Anthony Bourdain’s television show No Reservations, and gained mythical status after the 2011 release David Gelb’s documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi. What makes this sushi so good? First off, the ingredients. Each morning Yoshikazu bikes to the Tsukiji fish market to select fish and seafood to his and his father’s exacting standards. In the film, the restaurant’s tuna dealer (they have a prefered vendor for each seafood variety) scoffs at an array of beautiful tuna, “People say there is good quality here today—there is nothing good here today.”

Jiro has his own special rice vinegar for the sushi rice. “It has good body and is both mild and sharp,” the restaurant website explains. “Although its degree of vinegar is high, it does not have that pungent smell of vinegar. This is the perfect rice vinegar for sushi.” Next, there’s the technique. Jiro’s apprentices train for at least ten years, and don’t slice anything until they first learn how to hold the fish. In the film, Jiro explains how he came to prepare the perfect octopus, saying his apprentices used to massage it for 30 minutes before cooking it. Now, it’s massaged for 45 minutes. The seaweed is hand-toasted over charcoals. Jiro or Yoshikazu hand-form each individual dish, applying just the right amount of soy sauce or salt to bring the seafood closer to perfection. Jiro has spent decades mastering the proper temperature to serve sushi. The rice is maintained at body temperature, while the toppings are kept different ideal temperatures for the specific preparation.

The seafood itself could be marinated or aged for days depending on the specific fish to meet Jiro’s standards.While Obama and Abe were in the restaurant for 90 minutes, the average Jiro meal last little more than 20 minutes. Immediately after each bite-sized dish is consumed, the next is placed on the wiped-down plate. The sushi is eaten with your hands, and there’s no additional soy sauce or wasabi to apply. It’s perfection, as determined by Jiro. There is only one menu at Jiro’s restaurant, his. The 30,000-yen Chef’s Recommended Special Course. And the drink list is spare: beer, or Japanese sake (though tea is also served.) Moreover, getting a seat at the restaurant is notoriously difficult. Reservations are taken one month in advance beginning at the first of the previous month and are usually gone in a matter of hours. At current exchange rates, the quick meal puts a large dent in the wallet, costing nearly $300, though this is down from more than $400 when the dollar was weaker against the Yen.