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$89 “Phantasmal Sushi Roll” fancies up life with Matsusaka beef and truffle salt 【Taste Test】

Master Blaster Feb 6, 2017
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If you can afford this luxury lucky sushi roll, how much luck do you really need?

On 3 February while Mr. Sato was buying the most expensive Setsubun ehomaki covered in gold from Isetan in Shinjuku, Tokyo, he thought he would check out the second most expensive item there as well.

Although not quite as costly as the golden Tokusen Kaisen Jyuni Hitoe Maki, the Phantasmal Ehomaki Matsusaka Beef Sirloin Steak and Nita Rice from Okuizumo with White Truffle Salt has a range of sophisticated tastes and features almost as long as its name. They even made sure that the price was an elegantly symmetrical 10,001 yen (US$89).

When Mr. Sato received his Phantasmal Ehomaki, he was surprised to find it came in a wooden box – much classier than the plastic container that held the golden sushi.

After returning to the office, Mr. Sato looked at the wooden box tied with a golden rope and began contemplating how much this packaging might have affected the price.

If it would have come in a plastic case for at least 1,000 yen less, we probably would have preferred that. But this was no time for such penny-pinching thoughts. Mr. Sato was experiencing the high life, and it was time to act like it.

Inside the box he was surprised to find a little round container. The label was in English but it was enough that he could identify it as the white truffle salt with truffles gathered and dried in Italy and salt made in France.

It was just as Mr. Sato likes it… starting at that precise moment. He had never really thought about where his salt came from before but now that he was dining like a rich person, he had better start acquiring discerning tastes like one.

Because of the truffle salt, the actual sushi roll was shorter than he had expected. However, he still wasn’t disappointed with the amount of high-grade Matsusaka beef that came jutting out the end of his Phantasmal Ehomaki.

With the unboxing done it was time for Mr. Sato to dine like the elite. However, he found himself simply staring blankly at the ehomaki. There weren’t any instructions on how he should use the truffle salt, and Mr. Sato had never put truffle salt on his sushi roll before….

This is probably something a person of wealth would just know off-hand, but for Mr. Sato this was uncharted territory. He decided to cut the sushi roll into slices and then gingerly apply the salt with a teaspoon bit by bit until he got a desired result.

This, of course, was not the intended way to eat an ehomaki. According to custom, the eater should take a bite of the roll in its entirety while it is pointing in the predetermined lucky direction to acquire good fortune.

But Mr. Sato thought, “Screw it. I’m dining on a 10,000-yen piece of the finest beef in Japan. Do I really need more luck?”

The Matsusaka beef did not disappoint either. Its succulent juices and savory flavor spread through his mouth after biting into its firm but yielding texture, just as great beef should. The truffle salt was also flavorful, but Mr. Sato couldn’t help but wonder if it was really necessary.

Again, his price-conscious common-folk thinking kicked in and he tried to estimate how much he could have saved had there not been European truffle salt included in this ehomaki.

The whole experience made Mr. Sato realize that he was simply out of his element. For some people truffle salts are an indispensable part of a satisfying meal…

▼ …for others, like Mr. Sato, smoking your own meat with cigarettes
while standing outside of a Family Mart does just as well.