Squid fishing is a whole new ball game. You need to go deeper (300 meters down), go further out....we need a bigger boat! This is the 'Watanabe Maru', named after its Captain Hideo Watanabe... a 14 tonne & 18 meters beauty.
You begin to wonder why people put themselves through a Saturday night of no sleep, rollicking waves with slippery floorboards, freezing winter temperatures... and then the sun starts to come up.
Those of you living in Japan will be familiar with how popular these are (to be found in EVERY convenience store). Those who aren't, it's a bit like a seafoody potato chip
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| Post adventure eats! |
Next was a melt in the mouth home made gnocchi with mixed shellfish in a light saffron tomato sauce. The secret to this sauce is a white wine base simmered with the head of the shrimp, hence a rich hearty flavor.
A trio of delights after were small but memorable. Fish tartar; diced yellowtail, tomato and black olive over paper thin cucumber slices. Sliced roasted wild duck with dried fig and orange sauce served over a chestnut puree. Last but not least, a humble looking but deceptively delicious eggplant ball with tomato and parmesan.
Signaling the end was an old favorite .... pecorino calabreze with blood orange and grapefuit jam.Last was a freshly baked chocolate souffle with a serving of zuppa inglese. Didn't think we had room for it...then we saw it.
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Reporter Naomi Borg ready to ship out of Sagara Sakai Port in Shizuoka, Japan. |
Reporting by Naomi Borg
What do you say when you're invited to go fishing with one of your favorite people from one of your favorite restaurants?
'Uhm, yeAH! What time, where? What do I bring?'
And this is how our 'Bait to Plate' mini adventure begins. The invitee is the oh-so-charming Yasuhiro Mikata, general manager plus resident wine and fish expert of ( www.elio.co.jp/en) Elios Locanda in Hanzomon, Tokyo. Elio's, a bustling Italian eatery in Hanzomon, busy every night (and I believe has been so for the last 16 years) has become a favorite dinner place of ours for a while now. Every dish always feels like a small revelation. The floor staff, though couldn't be any busier, couldn't be any more attentive to you either.
'Uhm, yeAH! What time, where? What do I bring?'
And this is how our 'Bait to Plate' mini adventure begins. The invitee is the oh-so-charming Yasuhiro Mikata, general manager plus resident wine and fish expert of ( www.elio.co.jp/en) Elios Locanda in Hanzomon, Tokyo. Elio's, a bustling Italian eatery in Hanzomon, busy every night (and I believe has been so for the last 16 years) has become a favorite dinner place of ours for a while now. Every dish always feels like a small revelation. The floor staff, though couldn't be any busier, couldn't be any more attentive to you either.
Meeting at the restaurant on Saturday at midnight, just after the restaurant has closed, we drive in a loaded up van for 3 and a half hours, jump on a boat and drive out to the open sea. By 3:30am, we are pulling out of the port.
It was an inky black the night. There's nothing to the left of you, the right of you or above....you can't see a-n-y-thing. From the wind on your face and the vibration of the boat you know you must be moving and at quite the click, but it's just an act of faith on your behalf that the captain must know where he's going. Then, you see maybe a light far away, maybe, no its definitely a light, then it gets a bit closer and a bit closer and lo and behold, you're not the only one out here at this time of morning. In fact, there's a little flotilla of craft out here.
It wasn't 5 minutes before Mikata had the first wriggling and squirming fish on the boat. A ribbon of bright silver with impressive razor sharp teeth at the end of Mikata's line was the Tachiuo fish (otherwise known as the Beltfish or Largehead hairtail).
For most of the 7 hours we were out on the water, Mikata had his elbows out and high as he dipped and raised, and dipped and raised the fishing rod all night and all through the morning. You truly see something of a balletic (and athletic) quality to this repetitve motion in all the fishermen as they were working through the night.
Total catch for the day:
Tachiuo: 19
Mackerel: 4
Yellowtail:1
Redsnapper: 1
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Back in Elio Locanda (and on dry land), Mikata and the chefs prepare the catch. |
At our table, our welcoming glasses of prosecco are swiftly replaced by the recommended Anfisia Bianco from Cantine Lavorata - a traditional Calabrian fresh, light and spicy white wine which is complemented by t he freshest of fresh carpaccio. Paper thin slices of yellowtail served with Calabrian olive oil, Sicilian sea salt, pepper, Italian flat leaf parsley and fresh lemon juice.
The tachiuo is just lightly pan fried in olive oil till the skin is crispy on the outside but the flesh still soft, tender and sweet. Plated with a small serving of polenta and lentils, well it's just lovely.
Our multi-course meal continues....
Honestly, I've never been a fan of mussels. In fact I can't recall ordering them myself in the last decade or so. Over the years, I would sample dinner companions' mussel dishes merely to confirm my indifference to them. But the joy of the maitre'd not letting you look at the menu and deciding your edible journey for the night - is trying new things. And these were a revelation.
These are sourced locally by a fisherman friend of Mikata's who specializes in these clams. Hopefully you can see just how ample and fleshy these were, and wouldn't it be lovely if you could inhale the fresh and briny smell mixed with the broth of white wine, garlic, celery, olive oil, pepper and flat leaf parsley. A true highlight of the evening.
These are sourced locally by a fisherman friend of Mikata's who specializes in these clams. Hopefully you can see just how ample and fleshy these were, and wouldn't it be lovely if you could inhale the fresh and briny smell mixed with the broth of white wine, garlic, celery, olive oil, pepper and flat leaf parsley. A true highlight of the evening.
An evening of Italian food is not complete without pasta. Home made pasta tossed in a neopolitan sauce with young lightly grilled shrimp.
I also rarely order pork, (bacon with eggs for brunch doesn't count) so this was a pleasant surprise too. Wild boar from Yamagata prefecture, crumbed and lightly pan friend in olive oil with pecorino cheese, Italian flat leaf parsley and served with roasted baby potatoes.
In fact there were more dishes in the evening, but I believe our camera (or Joy) finally ran out of battery. The espresso with sambucca, surprisingly and wickedly delightful, the pecorino cheesecake was divine yet somehow without the guilt of the average cheesecake, the tiramisu - transcendental. Dessert was most enjoyable, but perhaps my favorite was the Calabrian pecorino cheese, made apparently of 100% goats milk (but did not taste at all of goats cheese) cut fresh off the wheel and served with made-on-the-premises strawberry grape jam (thats not strawberry and grape, but rather the 'strawberry grape').
And so we found ourselves, wind burned in the urbanity of Tokyo, amazed that we had just eaten seafood caught by the very fisherman who drove hours from the city, caught with just a pole and a line (though electric), who was running on no more than 5 hours of sleep since.
