Fugu?

Konichiwa!

Did I ever mention that I'm an ardent fan of Japanese food? I love everything Japanese that's edible. Sushi, Sashimi, hand rolls, tariyaki, wasabi, tempura, ramen (EXCEPT THOSE FROM AJISEN!!!!) etc etc. You catch my drift. So it wasn't much surprise that Nicole and I ended up at raku over at greenwood for Japanese before she left. As usual, the food there was good. Fresh and delectable.

One thing that stood out that night though, was the Fugu. Now Fugu is Japanese for pufferfish or blowfish and it is a Japanese delicacy.


Most of you will know that this species of fish is poisonous and can be lethal if mishandled. It is the only dish that the emperor of Japan is banned from consuming and only select chefs with proper training and certification can prepare it. Well, I spied "Fugu" in the menu and immediately I was on the case! Wow! Another fear factor moment! A brush with death maybe? Anyone recall my food adventure involving the sea urchin? Sweeeet.

So I ordered and it took a while for it to come and when it finally did, I was perplexed. You see, in my mind I was expecting a soft, fleshy white dish a-la-sashimi. However what was served were thin brown strips of meat. It looked almost like jerky. Nicole was stumped as well but she prayed for safety anyway. So what happened next? We ate it of course. And this was the weird part, almost immediately an intense pain shot up my throat and up into my head! Everything was turning white and I started foaming and seizing!! I WAS DYING!!!! And then Nicole's voice totally pierced through my imagination and brought me back to reality. "It tastes weird huh? Like meat..." I was chewing on it too and you know what? It did taste like meat. In fact it tasted exactly like Bak Kwa! Bak Kwa is roasted slices of marinated pork, usually eaten as a snack.


How disappointing! They could've cut up a slice of bak kwa into strips and served it to me saying it was fugu and I wouldn't even have known! How come its brown and meaty anyway? How did the fish get that way? Nicole reckons its dried or preserved and all they did was heat it up and serve it with Japanese mayo. Sheesh, what a letdown. I guess I gotta go to Japan if I wanna try the real thing. So my fugu experience wasn't much of a "living-on-the-edge" one but at least I enjoyed dinner. I wonder if there are other places that serve fugu? And the REAL thing. Not some preserved jerky bak kwa wannabe.....