ふぐ (Fugu)

Fugu is the Japanese name of blowfish, whose skin and some internal organs are highly toxic to human. Fugu's meat has a very incredible taste, but it could be very poisonous if served incorrectly. Therefore only specially licensed chefs are allowed to prepare and sell Fugu to public. This makes Fugu one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine. The best time to eat Fugu is during winter, when Fugu has lots of fat all over its body. It's when Fugu's price becomes very expensive. (Information taken from Wikipedia)

Last Saturday we had fugu as dinner at Ginza with friends. The homepage of the restaurant is here. Photos and menu could be seen there as well. I had my camera repaired at that time, so I couldn't take any pictures of my own. (_ _!)

The restaurant is not big, run by an old couple, but it gave us a very friendly environment. After we ordered drinks, came squid sashimi and sweet potato meal in small saucers as appetizers. It tasted really really good and we cleaned them up in a second. Then came thin sliced Fugu sashimi as the main food, with ponzu as a dipping sauce (citrus tasted soy sauce). The meat was really tasty and tender, melted in my mouth. Too bad I couldn't eat this much because Iki loved it and didn't allow me to eat much (T_T). And then came spicy deep fried fugu, the only menu I could eat for myself because it's too spicy for Iki hahaha. Again the taste wasn't disappointing. And at last the Obaachan brought a nabe pan with boiled water inside and put it on the gas stove in the middle of our table. Then she brought a big plate of Fugu head, cut in bite sizes with many kinds of vegetables. First of all the fugu was put into the pan and boiled together. After everyone finished eating it, then the vegetables were boiled too. When everything was finished, white rice were put inside the pan and boiled together with the nabe left broth. It's like having fugu and veggies taste porridge. Tasty though a bit too thin for me :p

It was really a satisfying dinner. Typing this made my drooling again, too bad (really really TOO bad), I don't have my own photos :(