Hello! We booked an Omakase dinner at Sushi Hiroya in Ginza. We’re super excited for it… however, after reviewing a video that exists online of someone’s experience there, it seems like they frequently serve pufferfish (see 4:40 in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW5AbSmRt3M&ab\_channel=OMAKASEJAPAN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW5AbSmRt3M&ab_channel=OMAKASEJAPAN)).
We recognize that eating it at an expensive sushi restaurant should put us at ease. It’s more of a psychological thing, of course. But just want to understand… if we wanted to opt out of that and we requested to skip that course (I can put a request in the reservation) would that be a problem? Would they just skip that course for us?
Thanks in advance!
4 comments
If you’re not willing to eat what they serve you then don’t go to an omakase dinner. That would be considered rude.
1. There’s no harm in asking. It’s best to ask ASAP, don’t put it off. If they say they can’t change it, you’ll have a decision to make.
2. The chance of pufferfish poisoning is highly over dramatized. The only modern cases are of fishermen eating their catch. None occur at restaurants.
To get a puffer fish chef license in Kanagawa/Tokyo is the hardest across the entire country, with median training of 8years. It is not light to work with pufferfish and I would say the pufferfish dish is the highlight of the night. It’s like going to a steakhouse and avoiding the steak dish. Well as others mentioned, it won’t hurt to ask and it may come off as rude if you mention you’re not feeling safe with them serving the pufferfish. Just mention it’s not in your liking and ask for something else
…why would you not eat it? You’re just as likely to die from eating tainted meat in the west that was butchered by 16 year old Brad in the back who doesn’t know what he’s doing than a sushi master who spent almost 10 years learning how to skillfully butcher pufferfish so that you won’t die.
Side note: they could also use farmered pufferfish which is 100% safe to eat as the pufferfish itself is only toxic in the wild due to their diet.