01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
At Fugutaro, a fugu restaurant, you can pick dishes one by one or build a meal around a hot pot and enjoy it through to the final course. Start with tessa (fugu sashimi) or blanched fugu skin, then move on to tecchiri, a fugu hot pot, if you fancy something warming. The listed hot-pot ingredients include fugu cuts, fugu skin and a vegetable platter, so you can choose what to add. Fried fugu and charcoal-grilled fugu offer other ways to enjoy the fish. Some diners say the fried fugu stood out, while others recommend the grilled version.
Some diners who ordered tecchiri stayed on for rice cooked in the pot’s broth, and later recalled its fugu flavour. If the hot pot is the centrepiece, consider whether to save room for the fugu rice to finish. The course menu lists tessa, tecchiri, fried fugu and rice among its dishes, making it an option if you would rather not choose everything separately. One diner who enjoyed a course meal said that extra shirako (soft roe), grilled fugu and fugu skin left them so full that they only just managed the rice. If you are thinking of ordering extras, it may be worth keeping the final course in mind as you choose.
Drinks include beer and sake, including hire-zake (sake served with a grilled fugu fin) and tsugi-zake, a further serving of sake. The menu also lists Hōshuku, served warm or at room temperature, and chilled Kisenju Kicchō. It is a setting for a leisurely evening centred on fugu, with drinks to consider alongside the food. The restaurant is open from the evening until 1:00 the following day and is closed on Tuesdays. Reservations are recommended for dinner, so contact the restaurant in advance if you are planning a hot-pot meal or course. It can also suit a group meal.
