Guests enjoyed “Vietnamese sashimi” and commented: “It’s really delicious, so delicious!”
Every early summer, the dish dubbed “Vietnamese sashimi” is hunted by many gourmets. Vietnamese cuisine is
Sashimi dishes include ingredients from Vietnam and Japan such as Nha Trang cotton lobster, ocean bluefin tuna belly, abalone…
“The taste is sweet and fat, melts in the mouth like butter” is the comment of a customer when enjoying a piece of tuna in a $1,000 sashimi boat (about 23 million VND) at a Japanese restaurant in Hanoi. Eating a slice of pickled ginger or drinking sake to erase the previous taste, guests continue to enjoy abalone, yellow halibut, scallops… with Japanese perilla flowers, fresh mustard root, and soy sauce.
This sashimi boat has been in service since March, so far about 50 people have enjoyed it. The restaurant’s chef, Mr. Nemoto Hide Aki, said that the dish was conceived by him and chef Kyo Nguyen after welcoming former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in 2021.
“At that time, we prepared for Mr. Hatoyama a sashimi dish called “Friendship.” He enjoyed it and said that Vietnam and Japan have many similarities in culture and cuisine, so we thought we needed Making a dish is a bridge between the two countries,” said Mr. Nemoto.
That’s why sashimi with the name of the former president was born. The dish consists of 88 pieces, symbolizing prosperity and luck. Carefully selected ingredients such as abalone, whale, yellow flounder, fresh sea urchin, scallops, kinki… Among them are expensive ingredients such as Nha Trang’s cotton lobster, which requires the above type. 1.5 kg each, selling price of 10 million VND per kg. The second is the belly of ocean bluefin tuna with the price of 15 million VND per kg. This fish needs to be auctioned, then monitored and transported by air to Vietnam. The third is Japanese abalone 300 gr, priced at more than 3 million VND each.
Japanese cuisine is characterized by freshness and sophistication, so the ingredients must be refrigerated and shipped within 24 hours to Vietnam. Even without a ruler, each piece of sashimi is cut by the chef to the right length, thin or inclined like a scale.
Mr. Kyo Nguyen likens the chefs who make sashimi to a biologist. When cutting shrimp, you need to find the secretion, choose the right and skillfully cut it with a knife, avoid letting the secretions seep into the shrimp, then use super-cold temperature to help the meat shrink, crispy and keep the pure flavor. As for Japanese tuna, you must grasp the texture, use a specialized knife to cut 4.5 cm, 1.2 cm thick. Each knife line is brought down definitively, the rectangular piece of fish is neat and smooth. If the fish is thinner, it will be difficult to taste the sweetness, and if it is thicker, it will be tough.
“Our chef’s knife as well as the sword, is forged by Sakai city workers, so it ensures the thinness and smoothness of the ingredients,” said Mr. Kyo Nguyen.
While the head chefs prepare the ingredients, the rest of the cooks cut ice with seaweed inside and put it in a large bowl or small wooden boat. Ice is both to decorate the dish and for each piece of sashimi to keep the necessary freshness when brought to the table. To feel the full flavor of the dish, the first piece should be lobster. To remove the first taste, guests can sip Sake or a slice of pickled ginger. The next dishes are yellow halibut, scallops, kinki fish, whale, abalone, porcupine eggs, and finally tuna.
As one of the first diners to enjoy the dish, Ms. Truong Vu Hoa Mi, Deputy BTC Organizer of the Miss Universe Vietnam 2022 contest commented: “Each piece is fresh and creamy, the cut is just right, the presentation is impressive. “. She also appreciates the cozy space, meticulous service and hygienic eating utensils. For her, besides many nutritional values, the dish is also suitable to choose when receiving guests, and having meetings with relatives and friends.
