Shizuoka shop serves up some of the best bonito we’ve ever had, and lets you be part of making it.

Bonito, or katsuo, as it’s called in Japanese, is one of Japan’s favorite types of sashimi. But whereas most sashimi is completely raw, there’s a unique type of katsuo sashimi called katsuo tataki, in which the sashimi is seared.

Katsuo tataki originated in Kochi Prefecture, but it’s grown to nationwide popularity. So on a recent Japan Railways press tour in Shizuoka, which just so happens to be the number-one prefecture in Japan in terms of how much bonito is caught there, we weren’t about to miss out on not only a chance to taste katsuo tataki, but also to see how it’s made, and to try our hand at making it ourselves.

Kawanao (whose entrance banner is pictured above), is a fish processer that’s been in business for six generations in the Shizuoka town of Yaizu. They offer a variety of marine products, and also a katsuo tataki-making experience with prices starting at 2,300 yen (US$15).

▼ Takahiro Yamaguchi, Kawanao’s owner

The katsuo tataki session starts with Kawanao’s staff selecting a bonito and cleaning it.

Working with swift, precise movements, Yamaguchi only took five minutes to produce three absolutely gorgeous filets, doing the entire process without the help of any machinery.

The searing process is similarly old-school. The bonito filets are placed on a grill, and that grill is placed on a pitchfork, which you hold in your hands during the searing process.

In keeping with these traditional methods, there are no gas burners or blowtorches involved. Instead, the bonito is seared in the flames of a straw-burning fire!

We’re guessing that way back in the day, straw was a pretty ordinary fuel to use for cooking fires, but we can’t recall ever seeing it used for a meal we were going to eat. Honestly, we weren’t sure how strong of a flame would you could even get from straw…

…oh…

…WOW…

Okay, so it turns out you can get some very intense heat from straw. At its biggest flares, the fire was taller then we were!

After watching the Kawanao staff demonstrate, it was time for us to give it a go. The pitchfork/grill/fish combo is surprisingly heavy, but the staff is standing by to help support participants if they start to have trouble handling the weight.

Once the staff determines that the fillet is seared just right, it gets taken out of the flames.

We were overcome with a nearly irresistible desire to grab hold of the fillet and chomp into it, but calmer, classier heads prevailed, and so it was sliced as sashimi…

…elegantly plated…

…and only then was it time to taste it.

It was fantastic, bursting with flavor and a tantalizing mix of flavors and textures, with the center moist and retaining the sweetness of the fish’s fat, and the outer edge with a sophisticated char-grilled touch. Though this wasn’t our first time eating katsuo tataki, it was on a whole other level than examples of the dish we’ve had elsewhere, with a gap so wide that it felt like this was the first time we’d really experienced the full wonders of seared bonito, and if you’d like to take part in a session at Kawanao too, reservations can be made through the JR Central website here.

Related: Kawanao
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