Straw grilled bonito at Tako Grill 藁焼きカツオ

On  a recent visit to Tako Grill, the owner Mr. Terry Segawa 瀬川哲紀さん told us that he was going to get some fresh bonito 鰹 from Japan and cook it in the traditional Japanese way of searing and smoking it over a straw fueled fire 藁焼き. Since Mr. Segawa is originally from Kochi 高知 in Shikoku 四国 which is famous for this dish, this was clearly something we couldn't miss and we are glad we didn't.  Firstly, the cooking of the bonito as shown in the pictures below was quite a breath-taking display.

Mr. Segawa placed a small shiny brand-new metal garbage can and filled straw under the restaurant's industrial strength exhaust hood. He told me that he got the straw from a near-by farm. When he lit the straw, the flame flared up bright and strong. As you can see, it made a pretty impressive fire. (From deep inside the restaurant I heard a child's voice pipe up "Daddy, is that a real fire?") I suspect other customers were also taken by the impressive display.

Mr. Segawa skillfully seared the outside of the bonito leaving the inside still raw, i.e. Katsuo tataki カツオのたたき. Not only was the outside seared but it was also washed in the fragrant straw smoke. The result was the dish shown below. It was served with grated ginger, thinly sliced garlic and red onion. Needless to say, the bonito was melt-in-your-mouth tender with a contrasting seared bark texture on the surface and a wonderful straw-grilled flavor. Compared to our usual pre-packaged frozen bonito tataki, this is in a totally different class. This was a wonderful experience without having to go to Kochi ourselves. Thanks, Segawa-san.

I also took some video.