The film starts out meeting the world known restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro’s owner Jiro Ono who is 85 years old which was shot during the film.

Jiro Dreams of sushi

He serves only sushi to his customers where reservations must be taken in a month in advance which costs roughly around $300 US dollars or $30,000 YEN for about 20-30 pieces of fish.  The Michelin rated restaurant in Ginza metro only fits around 10 people and can taken each person to eat there around 15 minutes perhaps the most expensive per-minute restaurant in the world.  It is probably the hardest place in the world to get reservations based on this year’s New Yorker article called the Perfect Sushi.

There’s a food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto who states in the documentary that there are 5 attributes to being a great chef:

1. Take your work seriously

2. Aspire to improve

3. Maintain cleanliness

4. Be a better leader than a collaborator

5. Be passionate about your work

This quote stuck to me when I saw the film  “Ultimate simplicity leads to purity,” is Yamamoto’s verdict and Ono’s establishment epitomizes that. 

Here’s a trailer of the documentary which recently got placed on NetFlix

After watching this documentary, the lesson learned is that no matter what you are doing, you should always try to improve daily because everything is limitless and life is quite short.

Plot:
In the basement of a Tokyo office building, 85 year old sushi master Jiro Ono works tirelessly in his world renowned restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro. As his son Yoshikazu faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes and taking over the legendary restaurant, Jiro relentlessly pursues his lifelong quest to create the perfect piece of sushi.

Release Date: 9 March 2012
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Jiro Ono, Sukiyabashi Ono
Directors: David Gelb
Studio: Magnolia Pictures