My Trip To Japan: Puffer Fish Meal

One of the things that I wanted to eat in Japan was fugu. This is otherwise known as puffer fish or blow fish. The puffer fish has poison in its liver and other organs. You must be trained and licensed to serve puffer fish in Japan. On the outside menu there is an English translation that says "License holder has cooked." I assumed that was a good thing.

There are puffer fish restaurants all over Japan. Osaka has a particularly high concentration of these restaurants. If you are going to Osaka, it is probably cheaper to eat there. There are two kinds of puffer fish that you can order. You can order live puffer fish fresh out of the tank or you can order previously processed, probably frozen. I went with the fresh puffer fish. It is about 2 to 3 times more expensive than the frozen fish.

I ordered a set meal that consisted of a sashimi salad, skin sashimi, fried puffer fish, puffer fish hot pot, an egg rice porridge with puffer fish, and ice cream. I don't remember if I ordered the puffer fish ice cream or not. It was available. I also got a plain cold sake. There was also puffer fish infused sake available.

I would say that the fried fish was my favorite. The flesh is very white and course. It is a little like cod but much more delicate. The puffer fish has massive, sharp bones. You need to be very careful eating it. I guess my second favorite would be the skin sashimi. To me, it is the most traditional. However, the skin is very, very chewy. It doesn't have a lot of taste but they made up some special dipping sauce that really complimented it.

The total cost was around $100 US. This includes the sake. I would definitely do it again for the novelty. However, you can eat a lot of very good meals in Japan for $100. While I would still go for the fresh fish, I don't think most people could tell the difference.

Puffer Fish Sashimi Salad

Mixed Puffer Fish Sashimi Salad

Puffer Fish Skin Sashimi

Sashimi Dipping Sauce

Fried Puffer Fish And Vegetables

Hot Pot With Puffer Fish

Porridge With Puffer Fish

 Ice Cream

This was a free gift that I was to take home and eat later. I think it was some type of desert with puffer fish in it. Unfortunately, I forgot it at the restaurant. So, I have no idea what was inside.

Cold Sake. I thought it was smooth but I only drank sake three times in Japan. One of the other ones was also good but the other tasted what I guess that gasoline tastes like. It may or not have been sake. I don't know.