Without a doubt the worst-named restaurant of the year is London's "Sexy Fish." But, the name — the audacity and stupidity of it — did set me thinking about fish seafood and sexiness (as opposed to fish and sex). Can a fish be sexy? Certainly not. When thinking about fish, "sexy" is one of those words that should be jettisoned into space. A better question: Can a fish be sublime? Most definitely. Especially when it comes in its purest, least adulterated form: sushi.

Take the saba (mackerel). There's nothing delicate or meek about this fishy tasting fish. And at Kurosugi, a sushi restaurant in Kitashinchi, the chef didn't try to hide or dispute this fact, which may explain why I never tasted any wasabi. I suspect that the mackerel had, at other times in its life, other purposes, but at that moment — as it waited on the hand-painted tile accompanied only by pickled ginger — I wanted to believe its (higher) purpose was to have a diner bear witness to the extent of its intense flavors. Sublime? Check

Then there was the oyster, and while I'm aware of its alleged sexiness, I believe it's more a case of its physical resemblance than anything else. It arrived midway through lunch and it was little, but lovely — even to look at. The sushi chef had folded the mantle in on itself, covering the delicate organs, to make the creature look as if it were floating along on a pillow of rice. It was glazed in the light soy sauce that is painted on nearly every sushi serving, which gave it a uniform light brown aura. The result? It's about the closest thing you'll get to the experience of eating velvet.