- Bring each customer to
the era of Korea with entertainment of mobility
using Posukjong as above picture.
- Satisfy the customers
with proven Japanese top quality of healthy and
tasty sushi.
It is hard to imagine nowadays, but about 200
years ago in the Edo-period (1603-1868 Japan)
sushi was served not in restaurants but at outdoor
stalls. Customers at these stalls would stand
and eat snacks of freshly hand-shaped sushi and
inari zushi (deep-fried tofu pouch stuffed with
rice).
Sushi is not the only dish that was served outside
during the Edo-period but is now considered a
mainstay of Japanese restaurant cuisine. Other
examples include tempura and soba (buckwheat noodles),
which were available from stalls for people on
the go. Edo period tempura was made with seafood
and vegetables like burdock and lotus root. The
dish, which requires the use of large volumes
of cooking oil, was hard to make with the limited
kitchen facilities most households had at the
time, so it was generally reserved for eating
out either in restaurants or at stalls.
Every district had at least one soba eatery, and
there also were many stalls serving both soba
and udon (wheat noodles). But as fire was a constant
hazard in Edo, the stallholders who traveled the
city with their wares - and with the fires that
were needed to cook the food they served - were
subject to restrictions imposed by the shogunate.
Yet this very ability to move around at will was
the secret of the stalls' success, especially
in Edo, which was home to large numbers of solitary
men. In addition to the stalls, all manner of
ready-prepared dishes were available from salespeople
who roamed the city streets. This, coupled with
a booming restaurant industry, gave Edo a reputation
as a gourmet's paradise where people could get
by without cooking any of the day's three meals
themselves. Although the costs of such a lifestyle
would of course soon mount up, the ready availability
of such a variety of eating-out options must have
been reassuring for busy Edo residents or people
coming to the city from provincial areas.
The productivity of surrounding farming villages
and the rich variety of seafood found in Edo Bay
(now Tokyo Bay) were key factors in the development
of the city's food service industry. Foods first
eaten in the Edo period remain standards of Japanese
- and more particularly Tokyo - cuisine today.
Examples include the vegetables Nerima daikon
(Nerima radish) and komatsuna (Japanese mustard
spinach), which were first cultivated in the Edo
period and used to prepare such dishes as pickled
radish and zoni (New Year's soup with rice cakes).
The market for buckwheat noodles was already competitive
in the Edo period, with restaurants stressing
the place of origin of their noodles in order
to attract diners. Among these regional "brands,"
noodles produced near the Jindaiji temple had
an especially good reputation, and this district
remains famous for its soba outlets to this day.
The word Edo-mae, literally meaning "front
of Edo," was originally coined to describe
Edo Bay and the seafood taken from it, but it
eventually came to be used in reference to Edo-style
food, which generally means food prepared with
fresh, high-quality seafood - and particularly
to sushi prepared with such ingredients. I always
find it strange to see signs saying "Edo-mae"
at provincial sushi restaurants.
Prawns, flounder, eel, and mackerel were just
some of the abundant marine resources found in
Edo Bay, into which several rivers flowed. This
bounty may have been what sustained so many sushi
and tempura stalls, as both foods involve a lot
of seafood. Another vital ingredient in sushi
is dried laver, and laver harvested from the bay
and sold in the district of Asakusa had a particularly
good reputation. Light yet with a substantial
appearance, Asakusa laver was a popular souvenir
among visitors to the city.
In the modern world, where sushi restaurants have
become commonplace in many parts of the world
and where a multitude of cuisines are mingled
together, it is interesting to reflect on the
story of how traditional dishes became popular.
3 in 1 at Quick Sushi
QuickSushi strives to be a top sushi restaurant
accessible to everyone with a comfortable
and friendly atmosphere. We want our customers
to not only come and eat but experience
the oriental express sushi. Due to our successful
concept, QuickSushi is now serving to our
customers in 3 locations.
(Sold Belle River and Amherstburg stores)
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A model shows a stall selling
candy at the west end of Ryogokubashi bridge
in the Edo period. (©Edo-Tokyo Museum)
A fruit vendor at the west
end of Ryogokubashi bridge.
(©Edo-Tokyo Museum)
Concept #1 Entertainment from Korean Posukjong
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Concept #2 Health from Japanese Sushi
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Concept #3 Variety from Chinese Dimsum
Display various
dishes in the ways of Chinese Dimsum. 
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