Checking out the nice buildings in Roppongi as we make our way to Seryna for dinner, we pass by this building.
Gen-pin-fu-gu….. FUGU!!!!! Ayiah! How can we be in Tokyo and not challenge our bravery by going eyeball to eyeball with this evil, evil, lethally poisonous, evil puffer fish?? Well, more like eyeball to sliced fish flesh, but still, if the chef isn’t careful, this monster can be the death of us, you know! A famous Japanese poet once wrote:
I cannot see her tonight.
I have to give her up
So I will eat fugu.
Fueled not by heartbreak but by our thrill-seeking and self-destructive nature, we roll up our sleeves and march up the fugu house to face The Enemy.
The Enemy in the aquarium, looking bored and uninterested
Genpin Fugu offers a variety of set meals with the puffer as the superstar. The fish is served in every way imaginable - sashimi, deep fried, stewed, shabu shabu, pickled, etc. etc., guaranteeing you a fugu OD by the end of the meal if you’re lucky, multiple deaths if not.
Since this is just to be a pre-dinner snack, we behave and order fugu sashi only.
The Enemy on a plate, boring and uninteresting
I’ve had fugu on several occasions in Taipei and Manila, all forgettable experiences. Fugu in Tokyo, just as forgettable. The meat is tasteless, dull and rubbery albeit sliced onionskin thin. Why this delicacy is such a hit, I refuse to attribute to its taste, or non-taste for that matter. It is the lust for playing with fire, the passion for flirting with danger, the risk of ending up as dead as the fish, the morbidity… it is all part of the thrill we crazy, brainsick human beings thirst for.
In the end, we did not die, which is a good thing methinks, or the reservations agent at Seryna will be bloody pissed.
Fish of death, I survive you yet again.
Genpin Fugu 玄品ふぐ : 4-12-12 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
東京都港区六本木4-12-12. +813-5775-5029
