For the first time since arriving here, I went to a real sushi place. I.e., not kaiten-zushi, and not convenience store sushi. I went with a friend of my advisor's and his family. We sat at the counter in front of the two sushi chefs and all the raw fish (and a tank). It was...indescribable. We ordered, they made, and then we ate it. Everything was super clean. When they finished making something, they would just put it on the counter in front of us (i.e., straight on the wooden counter, no plates or anything). I was kind of surprised by that. The best things I had tonight were sea urchin (uni) which was sooo good and negitoro temaki (fatty tuna and green onions in a hand roll). Freshly made sushi has nori that is crispy! I can't remember the last time the nori that my sushi was wrapped in was crispy. Usually it's refrigerated and soggy. I also had, for the first time, a variety of shellfish annnd....FUGU! Yes, the poisonous puffer fish. The fish itself tasted fairly normal, but the sauce was really amazing. And no, my lips and tongue did not go numb. I suppose the poison was quite thoroughly removed.
And a funny moment. There was one shellfish--I think abalone--stuck to the side of the tank. We ordered it, and it appeared in front of us, beautifully presented and prepared. No longer in tank. I dunno...it just...makes me feel funny, eating a raw abalone that was alive just a few minutes ago. Can't get fresher than that...
The meal was quite a treat, and not just for me either. Their daughter, ~11 years old, had also never been to such a sushi restaurant in her life. And the mom pondered for several minutes before deciding that maybe she's been to this kind of place once before. Wow. I suppose because Japanese food in the US is synonymous with sushi and sashimi, I naively assumed that Japanese people eat sushi and sashimi when they go out to eat too. Apparently, it's even more rare and special here than it is in the US! Probably it doesn't help that the meal probably cost a fortune...easily could have spent more than $60 per person. Of course, though...their family is super-rich.
It was so amazing that I'm posting pictures on facebook.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment