Yes, fugu can kill you with its poison, but this one might kill us with cuteness.
Feline lovers in Japan are getting set to celebrate the quasi-holiday of Cat Day later this month, but that’s not the only February day for animal lovers to circle on their calendars, as February 9 is a day to salute blowfish, or fugu, as they’re called in Japanese.
Because the numbers 2 and 9 can be pronounced as “fu” and “gu” in Japanese, February 9 (2-9) is “Fugu Day.” Fugu, famously, is poisonous if not properly prepared, but it’s also a delicious delicacy, and so we were looking to treat ourselves to a fugu bento to celebrate Fugu Day this year. After looking over our options, we decided to place an order with Kobe-based bento maker Awajiya, which we picked for three reasons:
1. Awajiya has a reputation for using high-quality seafood in their bento.
2. Their fugu bento was produced in cooperation with Genpin, a popular fugu restaurant chain.
3. After getting one look at the bento container, we knew we had to have it.
Bento gets translated most commonly as “boxed lunch,” and that’s usually an accurate description, seeing as how nine times out of 10, the containers are square or rectangular. Awajiya, though, is famous for their flagship tako bento, which come in ceramic pots with an octopus motif.
▼ Awajiya’s tako bento
And yes, their fugu bento also come in ceramic pots, which were carefully swaddled in bubble wrap when delivered to us.
But instead of being an earthenware container with a little fugu relief…
…the whole container itself is shaped like a blowfish!
As fugu fans will tell you, they’re not just delicious and potentially deadly, but also pretty cute, with their rounded physiques, eyes, and lips giving them a disarming charm.
All of that is conveyed in the adorable ceramic fugu bento container, which is big enough to have a sense of presence but still fits nicely in the palm of your hand. Even the ceramic glaze is nicely balanced, smooth without being slippery to hold.
In addition to the standard gray fugu bento, priced at 1,680 yen (US$11), we’d seen that there was also a gold-colored fugu bento for 300 yen more, so we added one of those to our order too.
As cute as the fugu bento is on the outside, it’s just as mouthwatering on the inside, where it’s packed with fugu cooked in various ways, vegetables, egg, and rice.
We started with the fugu karaage (fried fugu), which had an enticing touch of firmness to the texture and the refreshingly clean yet pleasantly lingering flavor that fugu is known for.
▼ The gold fugu bento comes with an extra piece of fried fugu, which is why it’s priced higher than the gray version.
We then moved on to the moromi shoyu-yaki fugu, grilled blowfish seasoned with semi-fermented soy sauce, which was richly flavorful with an elegantly gentle aroma. The stewed shiitake mushrooms, green onions, and carrots were all excellent as well, and as we made our way through the rice, we came across tsumire (fish cake) with fugu in it too.
▼ The fugu bento’s tsumire
There’s really only one thing about Awajiya’s fugu bento that didn’t put a smile on our face, and that’s that it was a limited-quantity release that’s now sold out. Considering how unique the container is (and yes, we’re hanging on to both of ours to use as decorations and trinket boxes), it’s probably going to be a while until they’re available again, and they might even end up as a one-time-only deal. However, with Awajiya showing that they’re dedicated to giving both our taste buds and our eyes awesome bento dining experiences, we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Related: Awajiya
Photos ©Soranews24
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