Eating poisonous fugu puffer fish at Kuromon Market in Osaka
Japanese cuisine may have spread to major cities all over the world but there's one dish that remains tightly guarded within the home of the samurais. That deadly fish dish is called fugu, a Japanese delicacy that both warns and warms the palate of any daredevil gastronome.
Fugu is the Japanese name for pufferfish (a.k.a. blowfish, globefish, balloonfish, and swellfish) and has its roots in a local term that means "swell up". In Chinese, pufferfish is called 鰒鱼 fù yú and is often nicknamed 河豚 hé tún (meaning "river piglet"), so it is common to see these Chinese characters used in restaurant signages and menus in Japan. If I have my way, I would nickname it "durian fish", but "river piglet" befits the adorable and comical way the fish looks when it puffs up with water (in sea) or air (on land) when threatened. And I have a soft spot for piglets, but that's another story.
I was hoping to get a taste of fugu during this Japan trip, not because I have a death wish, but I was curious to find out why, when there is no lack of safe for consumption fish species in the oceans, the Japanese would risk poisoning by biting into this forbidden fruit.
Although Tokyo has the highest number of fugu restaurants numbering around 3,000 throughout the city, we didn't come across any. Neither did we see the giant pufferfish lanterns, a sure sign that advertises fugu restaurants, in Kyoto or Nara so you can imagine the fireworks that went off in my gut when I sighted the ballooned fish hanging on a shop's facade in Osaka's glittering Dotonbori street!
Dotonbori has a range of fugu dishes to choose from its ala carte menu as well as meal sets for 2 to 8 people. Typically, a fugu feast doesn't come cheap. If the poison doesn't kill you, the bill would. A meal course consisting of 6 dishes could range anything from S$100 - S$250 per person depending on the origin of the fish, chef's reputation and complementing ingredients.
We had a very pleasant experience at Zuboraya although sitting on the floor to dine in authentic Japanese tatami style (with shoes off) made me wish I did more yoga. So now that I've salivate all over death, what did it taste like? Was it memorable like a deep and passionate love affair, or a forgettable pleasure easily replaced by another?
In order to serve fugu, chefs must go through a 2-year licensing course where they study and practice disarming the poisons from fugu for human consumption. The most poisonous parts of a pufferfish are the liver, ovaries, testicles, entrails and eyes, which the chefs must skillfully remove without contaminating the flesh of the fish.
The preparation protocol is that all the poisonous organs that are removed must be deposited inside a plastic bag which is then sealed and placed into an air-tight container so that they don't mix with other wastes.
At the end of the licensing programme, the apprentices have to go through a stringent certification exam which qualifies them as safe hands to eat fugu from.
