Sushi: Kawahagi-Filefish Sashimi & Sushi at Sushi Ko in Shizuoka City!

Service: Very friendly and always accommodating
Facilities: Great overall cleanliness. Superb washroom
Prices: Reasonable
Strong points: Great use of local seafood. Will try hard to accommodate any requests!

Kawahagi, or Filefish or Leather jacket in the Land of Oz, must be one of the most underrated fish in the World!
Some people go as far as to say that penny for penny it is worth more than overpriced globefish/fugu!

As we sat at Sushi Ko, our favorite Sushi Restaurant in Shizuoka City we noticed “Kawahagi Tsukuri”/カワハギ造り/Filefish sashimi Plate written on the small board featuring the “specials” of the day!

The live filefish taken out of the tank by the chef!
The fish had been caught off Sagara in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Sushi Ko has a great list of local sake, but I had to order one from Masu Ichi Brewery in Shizuoka City as this might well be the last bottle as the brewery closed down following the untimely death of its owner/master brewer. An incredible loss for the Shizuoka Sake World!

Tuna Tartare as the snack for the first drink!

The filefish sashimi plate!

You roll the fine slices of filefish around some thin leeks before dipping it in its sauce!

The dip sauce!
It was made with the fresh raw liver of the filefish finely chopped and mixed with ponzu!
A true delicacy!

The chef had kept apart a little sashimi and liver for two more morsels!

A nigiri with chopped thin leeks under the fish topped with its liver!

A gunkan/”mother ship” with the sashimi topped with its liver and chopped thin leeks!

And the deep-fried jowls of the fish you eat with your fingers (that you lick later!) to cap it all!
Have I convinced you to look for that fish next time you see it on a market?

“Pon kara maguro”/deep-fried tuna cubes with grated daikon seasoned with chili pepper!

Of course the filefish was only the beginning of our dinner.
So for the record here we go including the above picture!

Maguro Zuke/Marinated lean part of tuna!

Hotate/Scallops!

Amaebi/Sweet shrimps!
(sorry for the fuzzy pic, as my mind was getting a bit fuzzy with all the sake!)

Geso karaage/Deep-fried squid tentacles!

The same, to eat with your fingers!

Ankimo/Frogfish liver or “Japanese foie gras”!

Anago to kyuri maki/Broiled Conger eel and cucumber roll!

Ika shiso to mentaiko maki/Squid, perilla leaf and cod roe pickled in chili pepper roll!

Shirako yaki/Baked cod sperm sacs!

Rainbow California Roll!

Containing: avocado, tamagoyaki/Japanese omelet, salmon, salmon roe, prawn, cucumber and akami/lean tuna! Seven of them of course!

Kanpyou maki, the roll for the vegetarians and vegans!
Kanpyou is made with the shavings of a gourd, first dried and then marinated in sweet sauce!

Asari miso shiru/Miso soup with cockles!

To be continued…

SUSHI KO
Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Ryogae-cho. 2-3-1 (Aoba Koen)
Tel.: 054-2512898
Business Hours: 17:00~25:00. 17:00~23:00 (Sundays)
Closed on Wednesdays
Reservations recommended
Credit cards OK
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London
Pierre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, 47 Japanese Farms Through The Eyes of Its Rural Communities, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento,Adventures in Bento Making, American Bent, Beanbento, Bento No, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box,
Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Cooking Cute, Timeless Gourmet, Bento Bug, Ideal Meal, Bentosaurus, Mr. Foodie (London/UK), Ohayo Bento,

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

8 thoughts on “Sushi: Kawahagi-Filefish Sashimi & Sushi at Sushi Ko in Shizuoka City!”

  1. 49! Much too young; there is a shop here in Kyoto that has (had) a few bottles, will go and investigate this week. What a shame……

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    1. It is a real shame!
      Actually I tried to interview him two years ago and I couldn’t understand why he refused at the time…
      Then he spent the last year in hospital…
      No sake was produced last year…
      His son is only 10 years old and the land they own is very valuable…
      I’m pretty sure that someone already wants to buy their valuable tanks and vats…
      Blimey, it is becoming a sorry year…
      BUT I will order all the grades available from my reliable saketen tomorrow, will try to keep some in the fridge for as long as possible to enjoy later with friends and write plenty of articles about them…

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  2. I had Masu Ichi in Kyoto the other night, was so happy to find a place with Shizuoka sake! Terrible news, might the kura find a way to carry on?

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    1. Unfortunately the news are the worse for the kura will totally disappear unless somone buys the license and continues it with a different name.
      All Masu Ichi bottles still on the market will be the last. I’m planning to get as many and write tasting reprts for posterity!
      No sake was produced last year although I suspect ther is stil some left inside the tanks and botles. The owner-masterbrewer had been in hospital for a year before succumbing to cancer at the age of 49!

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  3. That filefish sashimi and the dip sauce for it looks really good. Fresh liver with ponzu…mmmm I can imagine how good it will taste 🙂 Wish I could be there one day to savor it. We can’t find all these in the Japanese restaurants here 😦

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