Jige
I think we may have eaten every part of the fish. Down the street from where tourists rise and shine to check out huge frozen tuna on auction at Tsukiji Fish Market is Jige, an excellent fish restaurant in an area filled with fish restaurants. Its unassuming exterior on a small side-street may not proclaim that it is a special place, but seek it out, it is.
We started with tiny fish grilled on charcoal in front of us, the house service, eaten whole, and a perfect start to impress our out of town guest. Next came fresh vegetables to dip in a paste of seaweed or mayo, and a plate of cool fresh sashimi. Simple and perfectly prepared, these dishes were somewhat predictable, which made the dishes that followed a series of excellent surprises.
The sanma sashimi, slightly salty and bright pink, was wet and delicious in tiny slices. Sides of sushi rice formed into little balls arrived, as if someone had began to make sushi but never got around to adding the fish. They were a nice palate cleanser and helped those of us who were getting hungry for something more substantial. By this point, our taste buds were perfectly primed for the main event: the head (shoulders? chin? ) of the tuna. Cooked in dark sweet sauce and served with grated daikon, we pulled the dense, dark-colored meat off the foot-long, curved bone that we suspected came from somewhere below the tuna’s head.
The great size of these fish is something that goes unnoticed as we consume tuna sushi and sashimi, a staple of any sushi dinner. As we all pulled bites off of the main serving dishes we marveled at how huge the fish must’ve been, and felt lucky to have gotten the last one left. After all, while one tuna can provide for plates and plates of tuna rolls, there is only one head for each, making this a hard dish to find. More surprises were in store for our next dish, the lean, dark red tuna found by the fish’s lungs, spine, and ribs. The bones came, impossibly large again, covered by a thin layer of meat that we scraped off with the provided seashells. Although were were originally told this should be a dish for one person, ten of us shared one order and were each able to eat the equivalent of about two pieces of sashimi.
We ended the meal back with simplicity in the form of black sesame ice cream. On it’s own, Jige seems like a rather plain restaurant: uninteresting storefront, little to remark on in terms of interior decor. And yet, add the head and the lungs of a big tuna on the table, and things suddenly start looking brighter.
Tokyo, Chuo-ku, Tsukiji 2-14-3 NIT Tsukiji Biru
TEL:03-3248-6332 (1F) 03-3248-6333 (B1)
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