Engawa
When I visit a sushi restaurant and see hirame on the menu, my first question to the itamai is often: “Do you have engawa tonight?” Engawa (縁側) is the thin muscle of the dorsil fin in hirame. It has a higer fat content than the rest of the fish, and consequently is a little chewy. Even though it’s fatty, it has a light and delicate flavor and is a great fish to start of with, before you dive into heavier fish.
I was tipped off that Aoi was doing a photo shoot for an advertisement, and was there when all of these dishes were prepared. The owner of Aoi, Watanabe-san was very generous in offering me pretty much all of them to eat after the shoot. I was already full, but I could not turn him down.
Featured below, left to right, top to bottom we have: Omakase sushi, ramen, saba nigiri, tempura udon, uni gunkan, and yakitori.
I love engawa too. So did you finish the food
that you were offered?
PS. I think Hirame is usually translated to “flounder”
Halibut is “O-Hyoh” and I heard that it can
get big as the size of bed or more.
@Tata-san: Thanks for the heads up, changing it now. I honestly did not know how to call it in english. I just googled it. Thats what I get for trusting the internet.
Thank you very much for showing our dishes.
I have been calling “Karei” flounder, and “Hirame” fluke.
By the way, John, I made Takoyaki on Monday night as employees’ snack, wishing you would come.
We ate it in the basic way that you did in this BLOG, and we did “Akashi-yaki style” too. I’ll let you try someday.
@ Tashin-san: I see it as so many different names when I search online :/ Thank you for your input. I think I will remove the English name entirely though.
英語が面倒くさい!
@Tata-san: I forgot to full answer you before; I ate everything of course!
I love engawa too! that was a massive feast you had there.
Engawa is awesome. I believe they always serve it now. well every time i go to a sushiya i am able to order it. if you have not tried aburi engawa, which is engawa seared with a blow torch. its just amazing. i really recommend it.
@Juju: We sometimes make aburi engawa at my house. I recently got a blow torch. We top it with ume paste and a shiffanade of shiso.
[...] engawa is so delicious [...]
[...] !!!!!!!engawa!!!!!!! [...]