Fugu five ways

Fugu, otherwise better known as blowfish or pufferfish, are species in the Tetraodontidae family. Their bodies contain lethal amounts of tetrodotoxin, which is about 1200 times deadlier than cyanide. Fugu are not only lethally poisonus, they are also to die for! (pun intended)

Kyle and I visited Torafugu Tei, a franchised fugu restaurant in the Tokyo Metro, with our guide Masako. We decided to go Torafugu Tei's Shibuya branch since we had finished our tour at the Shibuya station earlier that evening. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, we were hungry and ready to eat.

We decided to order two 7-course fugu dinner and shared the dishes between us. Each of the fugu dinner were 4980 yen, about $49.80 each USD.

Fugu dinner

Fugu skin sashi

Our dinner includes:
- fugu skin sashi appetizer
- fugu sashimi
- fugu nabe (hotpot)
- fried fugu
- fugu porridge
- sweet cream ice cream for dessert
- grilled fugu fin in hot sake

Our first course was the fugu skin sashi. Thinly sliced fugu skin mixed with finely chopped green onions, spiced grated daikon and ponzu. I loved the texture of fugu skin, it reminds me of jellyfish. Next was the fugu sashimi. Fugu is a very mild white fish that does not have a whole lot of flavor when compared to Hamachi or Escolar, but it has a very crunchy texture. I would say the texture is very similar to Kona Kampachi. The fried fugu has a breading that tasted a lot like KFC's breading, I kid you not (KFF anyone?).

Fugu sashimi

Fried fugu

After our sashimi plate comes the fugu nabe ensemble, with large pieces of fresh fugu, mashrooms, napa cabbage, shungiku (chrysanthemum greens), Shirataki (yam/potato noodles), and tofu. The fugu pieces are so fresh, they are still twitching!!


Fugu pieces for nabe

Masako helped us cooked the nabe, and when we finished the hotpot, our server used the nabe broth to make a porridge. We ended our dinner with a nice scope of sweet cream ice cream! Yummy.

I have to say my favorite way of eating fugu would be in a nabe. I love the tofu and various vegetable (shungiku is my favorite) cooked in the hot broth with huge pieces of fresh fugu. The cooked fugu is so much more flavorful and the fish retains the 'crunchy' texture even when cooked.

What can I say? I am hooked! If I could have fugu in the U.S., I would eat it at least once a week.

Torafugu Tei has many Tokyo locations, be sure to visit one of them if you ever want to try fugu.

Torafugu Tei - www.torafugu.co.jp They do not have an english website, however you can click on the different links to see the pictures.