Eating (Raw) Oysters

Ever since I made that list of goals I mentioned a few posts back, I’ve been knocking off some of the simpler ones rather quickly. I haven’t watched anime this much since I was a junior high school student! I’m excited to say that I checked off another goal last weekend: Eating Japanese oysters, particularly raw ones.

Hello Mr. Oyster!

Japanese oysters, kaki, are a big thing here. When kaki are in season (like now), people go nuts for them. I know we have oysters in America, and we even eat them raw, but it’s simply something I never got around doing. When living in America, perhaps I ate a cooked oyster in a pasta or something before without realizing what it was, and that most likely has happened since I’ve lived in Japan. However, this is the first time I knowingly went to eat oysters in a large quantity, and it was definitely my first time to eat raw ones.

It just so happens that one of my best friends, Ken, is the manager at a kaki restaurant called “Kaki Koya Fever” in Nakazakicho, north Osaka. Apparently there are a few branches. He always told me I should come, so I invited Shinya and finally made a reservation. Good thing I did because it was packed! According to Ken, it was the busiest night of the season so far. Koya means “shack” or “shed,” and that’s basically how it was.  Kind of run down, cramped, and cluttered with plastic drapes to keep out the cold rather than a real wall and door. However, it was extremely warm inside because the place is small and there is a grill burning on every table. Some of the tables were actually metal drums out on the pavement of the street. They were still contained within the plastic drapes though and had personal space heaters. Anyway, I’m not trying to give this place a bad image, in fact, it’s quite the opposite! It was very authentic and a very fun atmosphere! Club music was playing loudly, and people were chatting rowdily over their drinks. You always know that the food is gona be good at places like this.

かき小屋フィーバー中崎町

So about the setup, basically, there were two courses, both all-you-can-eat for ninety minutes. One had raw oysters, and one didn’t. The one with the all-you-can-eat raw oysters was about 1000 yen more. Aside from the raw oysters, both courses had all the same things. Basically just oysters prepared several ways: steamed, grilled, deep-fried with potato wedges, and over rice. There was also an assortment of sauces like lemon juice, soy sauce, ponzu (which I thought was the best), yuzu ponzu, and sweet chili sauce. The fried ones came with tartar sauce. They bring out some of everything at first, and then you can ask for more of whatever you want. You could also pay for all-you-can-drink booze, too…which we did of course!

First they brought out our drinks and a huge bucket of oysters to be dumped in a pile on the grill. While those are cooking, they bring you out some steamed ones followed by the raw. After several minutes, the staff comes over and takes the lid off your personal grill. They give you a glove for handling the hot oysters and scissors to cut open the ones that didn’t open on their own. Later, the deep-fried ones come out, and at last, a bowl of seasoned rice in which you can add oysters to the top of by using the ones on the grill.

Steamed ones.

Grilled ones!

Since I had never eaten raw oysters, I was nervous about whether or not I’d like them. I wasn’t at all concerned about whether or not I’d like the cooked ones though because I’ve had cooked clams, scallops, mussels, etc. which I thought were good. Also, people often get sick from eating raw oysters, although Ken claims that they do something at the restaurant to the oysters that prevent them from making people sick. Like they somehow remove the sickness or something…I don’t know haha. Anyway, Shinya absolutely loves raw oysters, so I was excited to try them. In the end, I didn’t think that much of them really. They weren’t bad, but they mostly just tasted like sea water to me with lemon. I had heard stories like they are slimy, make you gag, or you shouldn’t chew them, just swallow them, but they were totally fine in that respect. I asked Shinya if I should chew them, and he was like, “Um yeah, you should,” like why are you asking that haha?! I think raw oysters are probably an acquired taste like how I was with uni (sea urchin) and natto (fermented soy beans). At first, you aren’t used to the flavor because you’ve never experienced them, but the second or third time, you know what to expect and can appreciate the flavor more.

Raw ones.

My favorite oysters were the grilled ones and the deep fried ones. The deep friend ones were delicious but heavy, so they made you feel really full if you are too many. I could only manage four which is what they gave per person anyway. The grilled ones were fun because you got to open them yourself and dump whatever sauce you wanted on them. They were also really good plain though! The only thing we got refills on were the raw ones and the grilled ones. I think Shinya ate 12 raw ones! We were stuffed by the end.

Shinya cutting open an oyster.

Damage done.

It was so nice knowing the manager because first, he purposely put on my favorite EDM music, Skrillex, for my enjoyment. I was literally dancing in my chair for a good part of the time. Next, he gave us no time limit on drinks. Shinya and I drank so much haha! I had a plum wine, a lime chu-hi, a white wine, and two bottles of hot sake hahaha! We both got pretty buzzed. Ken always told me that since he’s the manager, he can do whatever and often drinks on the job, so I kept feeding him shots of hot sake. By the end, he said he felt a little drunk haha! When we paid our bill, Ken didn’t charge us for our drinks at all, just the food. It was so awesome and nice of him! The whole experience was a ton of fun! I definitely want to take people who visit me there in the future.

Having a little too much fun. Lol!

Thank you so much Ken!