fishy business
If I had known earlier that the bluefin tuna is severely endangered, I wouldn't quite have eaten as much of it as I did. Considering the fish is about the size of a small tree trunk and I ate oh, maybe 6 sashimi slices off it, perhaps I haven't done that much damage. The tuna I ate is NOTHING like what I've had here in Singapore. Perhaps it's a different type of tuna. I always feel the tuna here tastes too much of iron (read: blood) and prefer swordfish sashimi over all other fish. But the otoro that I tasted in Tokyo was like a tongue-asm: creamy, flavourful, melt-in-your-mouth, and not a hint of blood at all.
We got up early (7am! on holiday!) to head to Tsujiki market, which is the largest fish market in Japan. The one thing to keep in mind when you're there is: don't get run over. The lanes and alleys of the market are filled with fishmongers and various other workers driving noisy, smelly diesel mini-trucks that often come just too close to you. The other thing to remember is: use a map. The market is overwhelming enough without you getting lost in it, which is what we were until finally we turned a corner and rows and rows of fish were laid out in front of us.
Then there's actually eating the fish. There are a number of famous sushi shops in a section of the market, and two in particular feature long, snaking queues. So guess which shops we Singaporeans decided to go for? These shops are hole-in-the-wall restaurants, so small they seat an average of 12 patrons at any one time, with only a narrow corridor for one server ferrying hot tea and bowls of miso soup. Everyone sits shoulder to shoulder, elbows stretched just enough to hold a pair of chopsticks, and everyone tends to eat with their eyes closed in pleasure, justifiable since the average wait for a seat ranges from 20mins to 1.5hours (yes, we went back twice).
Of course, there are better sushi places elsewhere in the city, but the experience of eating at Sushi Daiwa or Sushi Dai (practically side-by-side in the alleyway where they're located) is immeasurable - trying to communicate in a combination of broken English and broken Japanese, smiling at other happy patrons, all squashed together in that tiny tiny shop.
For the record: sea urchin roe is the best. Eaten raw. It's better than ice-cream, it is.
We got up early (7am! on holiday!) to head to Tsujiki market, which is the largest fish market in Japan. The one thing to keep in mind when you're there is: don't get run over. The lanes and alleys of the market are filled with fishmongers and various other workers driving noisy, smelly diesel mini-trucks that often come just too close to you. The other thing to remember is: use a map. The market is overwhelming enough without you getting lost in it, which is what we were until finally we turned a corner and rows and rows of fish were laid out in front of us.
Then there's actually eating the fish. There are a number of famous sushi shops in a section of the market, and two in particular feature long, snaking queues. So guess which shops we Singaporeans decided to go for? These shops are hole-in-the-wall restaurants, so small they seat an average of 12 patrons at any one time, with only a narrow corridor for one server ferrying hot tea and bowls of miso soup. Everyone sits shoulder to shoulder, elbows stretched just enough to hold a pair of chopsticks, and everyone tends to eat with their eyes closed in pleasure, justifiable since the average wait for a seat ranges from 20mins to 1.5hours (yes, we went back twice).
Of course, there are better sushi places elsewhere in the city, but the experience of eating at Sushi Daiwa or Sushi Dai (practically side-by-side in the alleyway where they're located) is immeasurable - trying to communicate in a combination of broken English and broken Japanese, smiling at other happy patrons, all squashed together in that tiny tiny shop.
For the record: sea urchin roe is the best. Eaten raw. It's better than ice-cream, it is.