Usually, when a meal has more than twenty courses, you may refrain from eating for the prior two days. Just to y’know, prepare. I would not recommend this. The performance at Sushi Oe doesn’t serve to make your belly rounder. It serves to ignite your imagination.
I didn’t count the number of dishes served, but they totalled over twenty. It included a gallery of fish, abalone, scallop, oyster, octopus and other oceanic delights that I unfortunately didn’t write down (I was distracted by the experience!). I was not familiar with any of these dishes, except ‘Otoro’, of the fatty tuna fame. But luckily, Narito Iishi, a fish selection master, was there to inform, and with this newfound knowledge, delight. I understood the freshness and variety that would soon be digesting in my stomach.
Tuna Abako, Swordfish, Basa, Imperado – Albacore tuna, Swordfish-belly, Bass Grouper and Imperado. These are but a few names of the raw morsels that Oe-san served. Carving and cutting with a selection of blades, he placed each of them delicately on our plates. Along with each round of fish serving, I was described the name and location of where the fish came from. My brain received as much education as my tastebuds.
The John Dory liver was the highlight. Not exactly for its taste, but for its unique creaminess and texture! I had never known that fish liver could even be eaten.