Unagi and me!!

My client has been very supportive. He encourages me to try out Authentic Japanese food and takes me to some real neat Japanese restaurants. He took me for dinner yesday. The menu dint mention anything vegetarian. He encouraged me to try the different types of fish available. Fish is something i completely avoid coz i really could never digest the smell. My client was very supportive in that he told me its completely OK not to finish the food if i did not like it. I could just taste some dishes and be fine :) i liked the idea and he ordered 2 sets of dinner.

The dinner contains the following
1) Sea weed
2) Raw Unagi (a fish) wrapped in Egg
3) Tempura (Fried shrimp accompanied with Fried Vegetables)
4) Cooked Unagi (again) made in Soy sauce
5) Raw Maguro fish (Red coloured) accompanied with Wasabi/Soy Sauce ad some raw vegetable
6) A cup of egg white/yellow mixed with a lil sea weed (looks like yellow custard)
7) Rice
8) Miso Soup
9) Kharbuja (whats the engish word, some melon!!!)
10) Coffee (latte' kinds)

I was pretty much nervous trying out the fish. I started off with the sea weed and it tasted good. Very difficult to describe it, but it was a very different flavour. Had problems is swallowing, coz it was getting stuck in the throat.

With a lot of apprehension, i took a complete rolled unagi and hey! it was good. It did not taste like fish, it did not taste 'non-vegetarian' as well. It was rather soft, waterish kind and jus melted in your mouth. I dipped it in soya sauce mixed with spicy wasabi just in case i got the smell, but believe me it was good! Hurrah!! my first piece of raw fish and i've come out with flying colours. Now with a lot of confidence and the poise of a seasoned fish eater, i gobbled up the other raw unagi too!!:))

Then came along the rice and cooked unagi. There was also a small bowl of raw maguro fish. Ah! i was on my way to create an all-time record of eating exotic non vegetarian food.:)) Meanwhile, used the hashi (chop sticks) and gobbled up some rice to get a "normal feeling" taste on my tongue before i ventured out into unexplored territory again. My client, meanwhile, was gobbling up at an amazing pace, he definitely loved the food. We had a lot of disccusion on the food habits and the cultural differences in general.

I wasnt too sure about the Maguro coz the client warned me about the smell. I hesitatingly took a piece of maguro and soaked it in the soy and wasabi mixed sauce to remove the smell (if any). But the piece i had was also good. i was pleasently surprised that it tasted so good. Again soft but this time a little bit of the chewy kind. A lot of chewing will definitely get the fish smell into your head, so i just swallowed after i chewed a little. Ate more rice and in between the fried vegetables and the egg based dish. The cooked unagi was another surprise. I was sure about this being smelly coz it looked smelly. It was cooked in soya sauce and it looked ominous. There were 3 portions and i took a little of it and again it had a distinct flavour. It was cooked really well (meaning i dint get the smell) and also the quality of fishes served was good, hence i managed to eat. The cooked unagi will definitely suit the indian tongue. It has some masala like taste (coz of the masala it was cooked in) and it also has a definite spicy kind of flavour. i finished one portion along with rice.

Finished the bowl of rice. Had forgotten the miso soup. So drank it up without problems. its made from some kinda bean and is mixed with sea weed and some vegetables. A real good experience and it ended with a coffee. I Thanked my client profusely (Thank you Oikawa-san!!) for the delicious dinner and the oppurtunity he gave me to try out Japanese food.

A great day coz my project was succesful. It went beyond what my client expected and personally it left me satisfied to see something to conclusion. Yes the feling was having eaten raw fish without hassles was great too!!!:)))