Takoyaki Party

Mrs Game Fugu gave a Takoyaki pan to me for Christmas, which we recently unpacked and used when some friends joined us. Takoyaki is originally from Osaka, and is made by grilling chopped octopus in batter with green onion. When the octopus balls are cooked, they taste great covered in okonomiyaki sauce.

They are the perfect party food, because everyone is involved in making them. We all gathered around the table and used a gas stove to heat the pan. Then, each of us had a different responsibility:

• Pouring the batter;




• Adding the chopped octopus;




• Adding the green onion;




• Adding the tempura scraps;




• Rolling the ball of batter as it cooks to stop it burning;




• Keeping everybody's beer glasses full!

One other thing that helped us have a great time was the star of the evening. Mrs Game Fugu ordered a whole fresh octopus, and it was huge!

Nobu Restaurant

To celebrate a friend's birthday, I went to Nobu in Mayfair for lunch. The food was excellent - the best Japanese I have had outside of Japan, and the portion size was generous as well. Even better, there was no fugu on the menu!

I chose the Nobu Bento Box, which included the famous Black Cod with Miso. I had tried this before at a Teppanyaki restaurant nearby, but this was much better.

Shin-Sekai Fugu

Whilst I really enjoyed the kushikatsu in Shin-Sekai, I must admit not all the food was good. After we finished lunch I spotted the other famous food for the area - fugu!

Please stick with kushikatsu and don't eat Fugu!

Osaka Food

After the long flight and arrival in Osaka, I was really looking forward to eating some real Japanese food. Fortunately, the old friends I was visiting knew some good places to go. As soon as I dropped off my bags at their apartment we went to a local Okonomiyaki restaurant. We were greeted by some friendly locals and each ordered Kansai-fu Okonomiyaki. I prefer Hiroshima-fu myself (with noodles!), but it was still delicious. Maybe I am biased after living in Hiroshima-ken for two years...

The next day we went to Shin-Sekai, an old part of Osaka famous for restaurants and entertainment. We were visiting an Onsen in the area I had been to before, but before that we needed some energy. After walking around the streets for a few minutes, we quickly picked the restaurant with the longest queue. It was an old kushikatsu place that advertised all of the famous people who had eaten there in the past. This was my first time eating kushikatsu, and I absolutely loved it! I'm glad I could find another Japanese dish I like to eat, but wish it was a bit healthier.

Cooking With Fugu

Please note the title of this post - cooking with Fugu, not cooking Fugu! I am poisonous (and not tasty!)

Today I became a true Englishman by cooking my first ever Sunday Roast, following this recipe from Waitrose. The roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings were provided by Aunt Bessie, so I cheated a little bit. Next time I will make my own crispy potatoes.

After eating all that food I'm stuffed! Time to take a nap.

zzzzzz

Mrs Game Fugu

Had a delicious portobello mushroom stuffed with bacon, broccoli, pepper and cheese for dinner tonight, courtesy of Mrs Game Fugu.

Puts my regular curry/bolognese/risotto to shame, and I reckon it's down to one key advantage. Londonnana can taste as she cooks and understand what needs to be added to make the meal tastier - be it more salt or half a cube of chicken stock. When I taste my cooking and think it's not so good, I just keep adding pepper until I'm happy.