Live sushi?! Yuck.....
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LOS ANGELES - You order sweet shrimp at Haneda Sushi & Seafood restaurant in Koreatown and the chef nods his acknowledgment. On the television above the bar, ESPN is blasting baseball highlights. After a moment, the chef hands you your dish: two shrimp tails wrapped around two heads. You take the plate and the antennae start to wiggle. It's as if they're waving hello, or, more appropriately, goodbye.
Live seafood, available in better sushi bars for some time, is increasing in popularity. It's not uncommon to find places selling shrimp, abalone and lobster and sometimes even whole fish such as halibut and sculpin that have been killed just before the chef slices them raw onto the plate. Like those antennae, sometimes parts are still moving when it reaches the table.
And it's not something that's restricted to small restaurants in insular ethnic communities. It's at Westside sushi places such as Matsuhisa and Nishimura as well. At the entrance to the popular Santa Monica sushi bar called the Hump, there's a sign that reads, "Warning! This sushi bar does prepare live sea food in full view, at the counter."
This live seafood is somewhat different than what you may be used to. It's chewier and perhaps not quite as flavorful, and cut a little thicker. But it represents the cutting edge of the sushi fanatics' quest for the very best: fish so fresh it might even slap back. Connoisseurs appreciate the very best live abalone because of the way the slices curl against your palate as you eat them.
And while eating live food is nothing new - consider the oyster - there is a difference when that aliveness is obvious rather than theoretical.
Granted, what's available in Southern California might seem mild compared with some bars in Asia, which are built around massive pools that hold swimming fish for customers to choose for their dinner, or to the Korean delicacy of serving a bowl of tiny fish swimming in a clear broth.
Still, the trend does not sit well with everyone. In an editorial for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals newsletter, Paula Moore condemned customers at these restaurants as "bored restaurant-goers who want something truly new and exciting. Apparently, it's not enough that we eat all manner of dead animals - now we have to eat live ones, too."
Actually, aside from the most obvious cases, the presentation of this live fish isn't really that different from that of more run-of-the-mill sushi and sashimi. In fact, thrill-seekers may go away from most places disappointed.
Usually everything is handled discreetly, obscured from view by the frosted glass cases that circle the bar. The whole live food will be presented to you for inspection, then reappear moments later looking like a regular plate of sliced sushi. The point of the exercise, it seems, is freshness, not frisson.
This is not the case at the Hump, where diners have a full view of the sushi chefs' artistry. They're not kidding about that sign. At lunch one day, a chef reaches into a refrigerator behind the bar to retrieve four Santa Barbara spot prawns. He quickly slices off the heads, and begins to work peeling and de-veining the bodies. But wait. Is that an antenna moving? It is. Then a couple of them are. Then it's the front legs.
By the time the bodies are presented on their tray, firm and sweet and gleaming like carved alabaster, the severed heads are bouncing about the cutting board like so many Mexican jumping beans. (Later, these will be served as well, two of them stuffed and deep-fried, two of them in a small bowl of beautifully sea-scented miso broth.)
The whole thing may be a bit disquieting, but you have to admit it is hard to find fish any fresher than this.
"It's mainly the texture," says chef Shunji Nakao. "It's firm. It's not exactly chewy and it's not crunchy, but it's something like that."
Despite the sign at the door, Nakao says the Hump hasn't had a problem with any customers so far. "But you know, some people don't like to look at it," he says.
"Most people, though, when they come in, they ask us what is good and when we tell them 'live shrimp,' or 'live lobster,' they always order that."
Prices at the restaurants vary. At the Hump, regular shrimp are $8 per order, an order of two live shrimp (including having the heads fried, turned into soup or served raw) is $10 to $12, depending on the market price. At Kyoto, a bustling sushi bar in Koreatown at the Chapman Market, the regular shrimp are $3 an order and the live are $7 to $8. Halibut on ice is $3.50 and the live ranges from $10 to $15 a per person.
While there is a difference between freshly killed fish and that which has been on ice for even a day, it may not be what you'd expect. Animals are not vegetables and freshest is not always best. Like all animals, fish go through rigor mortis after they're killed - a tightening and then relaxing of the muscles. This process can take anywhere from one to three days to finish.
Until it does, the texture of the fish is tougher - definitely not the satiny, buttery quality normally associated with perfect seafood.
Live halibut sampled side by side with regular is chewier and the flavor doesn't seem to be as nuanced. Because of the difference in texture, sashimi from live fish is cut thicker and may be somewhat irregular in shape rather than the thin, perfectly rectangular slices you usually find.
But for fans of live seafood, this means little compared with the sparkling freshness of the fish - taken straight from the water and as close to nature as you can get short of wading into the surf and catching it yourself. -
alright mah..i have tried that myself
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Not very common in S'pore...Originally posted by NeonTetra:alright mah..i have tried that myself -
i tried that in south korea
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Oic dude...Originally posted by NeonTetra:i tried that in south korea
How was it? -
maybe to some its gross but surely a delicacy for me. i always like raw food...be it sashimi or wat....as long as the food can be taken raw i will never cook it. thats why reunion dinner time i always made ppl stare at me cos i eat all the abalone and stuffs rawOriginally posted by PaJeRoMiNi Ver 1.0:Oic dude...
How was it? -
Wahahahaha ic icOriginally posted by NeonTetra:maybe to some its gross but surely a delicacy for me. i always like raw food...be it sashimi or wat....as long as the food can be taken raw i will never cook it. thats why reunion dinner time i always made ppl stare at me cos i eat all the abalone and stuffs raw
I've tried live prawns before...not bad...
Too bad I've got a weak stomach...if I take raw food I'll surely be paying quite a few visits to the toilet the next day.. -
not just raw leh...freshness and hygiene also very important.
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Agree on that point..Originally posted by NeonTetra:not just raw leh...freshness and hygiene also very important. -
so good... i wish i can go there...Originally posted by NeonTetra:i tried that in south korea -
yeahz!! some must be fresh then nice.. example salmon??Originally posted by NeonTetra:not just raw leh...freshness and hygiene also very important.
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yah shiny how's sch today?? homework got torn by teacher or not???
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why torn ?Originally posted by NeonTetra:yah shiny how's sch today?? homework got torn by teacher or not??? -
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seems to me a trend mah....during my days flying jotter books out of the windows are quite common......Originally posted by sh|nY_BoY:why torn ? -
mmm
i have eaten lobster sashimi
the thing still moving
quite nice
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Yummy.. nice
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tried lobster sashimi during a office mtg once, was quite shocked to see the poor things' feelers were still moving but couldnt say no cause the host was a big shot. im sorry to say i quite liked it...
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wld like to try those...seems very tasty...
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Cannot tahan raw sushi especially the raw cuttlefish. Tried to chew it and done wif but had a hard time doing so, had to resort to swallow it down. *orghhhhh*
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its nice...have ate it since i was younger......but at tat time i didn't know the fish was still alive, cos they serve us in the whole fish, but with the meat sliced and put back nicely in place n serve as the whole fish, untill we eat untill nearer to the bone, than i saw the heart still beating...then i freak out
but still, it was so fresh n the meat was sweet.....real nice feel when u bite into it... -
Wohoo... reminds me of the time I went to this resturant in Hainan Dao I managed to watch them prepare the hapless animals for the table. First the eel... They take the life eel, dump the slippery critter on the chopping board, and before it knows what is coming, give it several brutal chops with the chopper to dice it into bite size pieces... The eel of course, does not die immediately. In fact you actually see the individual severed segments of the eel still attatched by a silver of skin on the underside convulse and contract violently as the entire animal goes into spasms after having its spine severed in multiple areas...
Not too long after, it is on your plate and looking quite tasty.
I also see how they prepared the fish, this dump the relaxing-one-corner fish from the basic, and start giving it brutal blows the the head with a wooden mangle, you can actually hear the "tump!" "tump!" from quite far away as the blows fall on the animal, smashing its face and causing it to bleed from the eye and mouth. Moments later it is served as well.
Finally I saw how they made sure the crab was relly fresh. They just took the entire animal, and dumped it into the bin of boilling water. You can actually see the animal struggle and swim to the surface in a desperate attempt to escape before its struggles become weaker and it finally dies.
Chinese traditional cooking is all about speed and efficency rather then being humane... but it sure is tasty. -
Tried eating live octopus in south korea, Cheju island. The restaurant staff will pick 1 live octopus from the tank and stretch out the octopus leg and place them in between yr teeth. Then they will snip off the leg with a pair of scissors. The leg actual will curb up and stick to yr face or inside of yr mouth when u are chewing it. Pretty chewy and sweet meat though. Overall delicous!
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Originally posted by Bobster:Tried eating live octopus in south korea, Cheju island. The restaurant staff will pick 1 live octopus from the tank and stretch out the octopus leg and place them in between yr teeth. Then they will snip off the leg with a pair of scissors. The leg actual will curb up and stick to yr face or inside of yr mouth when u are chewing it. Pretty chewy and sweet meat though. Overall delicous!
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hey me too.....did i meet u there also? hahaOriginally posted by Bobster:Tried eating live octopus in south korea, Cheju island. The restaurant staff will pick 1 live octopus from the tank and stretch out the octopus leg and place them in between yr teeth. Then they will snip off the leg with a pair of scissors. The leg actual will curb up and stick to yr face or inside of yr mouth when u are chewing it. Pretty chewy and sweet meat though. Overall delicous!
^ 5!!!