Sweet Eats :: The sweetest sushi

I'm always amazed at how travelling has opened my eyes, ears & tastebuds to so many wonderful experiences. Sometimes I feel like my memory is a library of little stories that hit me as flashbacks when I least expect them. I could be standing in the shower not really thinking about anything, when I'll remember the hot crispy wafers from a street stand on a cold autumn night in Prague, the satisfaction of standing on top of a Scottish mountain after a 4-hour hike or the refreshing summer dip in a Swiss lake. Experiences not even a photo can capture.

So our recent trip to Tokyo once again added to my memory bank of stories....this place was such a feast for the senses. And no trip to Tokyo would be complete without sampling the local goodies....sushi & sashimi. On my last trip to Japan when I was nine, I ate my way around the country with spaghetti bolognese, such was my disgust at the local raw delicacies. But I wasn't gonna miss out this time!

I met up for dinner with some family friends currently working in Tokyo, and they took me through the dimly lit back lanes of Tokyo's famous fish markets, the Tsukiji Markets to a restaurant called Aozora. It was one of those places that tourists probably wouldn't venture, since there wasn't an English menu in sight, nor did anyone speak English! Luckily I was with native speakers so this wasn't an issue! It had a real authentic feel, full of Japanese business people (almost all men!) eating, drinking, talking loudly & smoking a lot!

The pic at the top is a free appetiser of a sesame jelly topped with raw sea urchin...sounds kinda disgusting but I quite enjoyed the textures. And here's what else we ate:

A starter of seared tuna with wasabi - I think this was the house specialty - it just melted in the mouth...

A selection of sashimi - I had no idea what fish they all were, but it was all so fresh and delicious...

A mixed sushi platter, including some seafood you wouldn't find in Australia...

And finally, the most tender chargrilled tuna and vegetables with a delicious sweet sauce:

As you can see, we ate quite a bit of tuna. It's funny, I'm normally not a huge fan of tuna sashimi, but this meal was an absolute revelation - the tuna here was so sweet, especially the paler cut which was marbled with fat. Unbelievable. I can taste it now. All I can say is thank goodness for that memory bank. N