GONE FISHIN’: Asian Shrimp Trip

My much anticipated and tightly scheduled Asian shrimp trip started off with a major airport delay which disrupted our entire itinerary from the start. We made it to Chicago on Sunday in plenty of time to catch our connection to Narita International in Tokyo for the 6:00 am Tuesday morning arrival in Bangkok. However a 5 hour “maintenance delay” put us in Tokyo at 9:00 pm Monday night with no other option Bangkok but a 5:30 Pm Tuesday flight getting us to Thailand at 11:00pm Tuesday. Two members of our party were already in Bangkok and we had flights booked to Champhon Tuesday afternoon which were now going to be forfeited.

After exhausting all possibilities of getting an earlier flight to Bangkok (which there weren’t any) I contacted my friend Yamada from Uoriki Fresh and a major player in the largest, most famous seafood market in the world, The Tsukiji market in downtown Tokyo. Yamada was shocked to discover I was in Japan and jumped through hoops to rearrange his schedule to give us a tour of Tsukiji the same day.

So finally after an 11 hour flight we checked into our hotel provided by the airline, The Narita Excel right outside the airport, at 12:00am. We had to get up at 4:00am for the hour long cab ride to get to the Tsukiji market by 5:00am. It wasn’t too hard even though none of us had really slept yet. Still on East Coast time it was 3:00 pm in the afternoon to us. There was much confusion trying to arrange a taxi to take us from the airport all the way to downtown Tokyo with the language barrier. Finally I had to have Yamada speak directly with the driver or we would have never gotten there.

We -arrived at Tsukiji right at 5:00 at the main gate near a temple. Yamada was there before I even paid the ridiculous $230 cab fare and hustled us into the market saying that it was almost over for the day. There was still a major bustling of trucks, automated power jacks and hand carts zipping along the streets and aisles in semi controlled frenzy. More than a couple of times we had to jump out of the way while we were gawking at the freshest seafood we’ve ever seen or would’ve been run over.

Yamada moved through the market with purpose and speed darting through the aisle and maze of fresh seafood, many the likes I’ve never seen and there was no English name for. I learned for example that squid when it is fresh is a dark brown inquiring why an open show case appeared as such. Only when it dies does it lose its color and become white and opaque. There were the most amazing shellfish, Alfonsino – Bright red and amazingly fresh, yellow tail, tuna and thousands more.

We turned another corner and found ourselves in a closed room which had about 40 participants in the morning Sea Urchin (Uni) auction. This was something to see, but it was nothing compared to a half hour later when we walked into yet another closed room and saw the famous tuna auction. There were literally hundreds of tunas spread out on pallets along the floor of a room the size of 2 basketball courts. All of them had the tails sliced off so you could see the color of the flesh and the blood lines, indicators of freshness and fat content and thus quality and price it would command. Hundreds of buyers milled throughout, examining the fish with flashlights and making their notes on what they would bid on and would be willing to pay.

When proceedings began the auctioneer rang a bell and looked at us and shook his head as to say “move out of the way” which we did. There was a fish sold literally every 20 seconds in a manner that was hard to understand and keep up with. Every time the auctioneer would move away from a fish, someone came in instantly with a hand cart to gaf the tuna up onto it and deliver it to the stall that won somewhere in the depths of the market.

The prize today was 6 large Bluefin tunas, all well over $300 lbs each which were auctioned off first The largest and most expensive specimen was won by Yamada’s close friend who owns the best sushi wholesale company in Japan, Ishimuya. As the tuna was being carted away we were informed that the owner would be performing a maguro no kaitei show for us at his stall, the breaking down of the whole tuna with traditional Japanese swords.

What a treat and work of art this was to witness. The 2 cutters, both at least in their late 60s, made short work of the 30+ lb beast, taking only 20 minutes to break down the entire fish into 4 loins and then separating the Toro, Chu Toro and regular meat. We were offered a generous portion of OToro and Chu Toro for comparison, and even though it was barrely 6:00 am it was quite a treat. Both were delicious and had such fat content that they literally melted in our mouths.

After the Tuna show it was time for breakfast. Yamada got us into the best sushi restaurant in the Tsukiji market, Sushi- Dai. Only 6:00 am and the line was over 70 people long to get into this 11 seat counter restaurant. We by-passed the line and came in through the kitchen which was only as big as a broom closet. All the sushi is prepared fresh in front of you on the counter. You don’t even order, the menu is fixed based on what they have and it was amazing! Tuna, yellowtail, amberjack, eel, squid, shrimp, uni, scallops, salmon, and sweet egg all served nigiri style on a rice bed. The whole time with waiting customers peering eagerly through the window waiting for their chance.