In the states, you get very generic fish-- tuna, salmon, yellowtail, red snapper. well, not generic, but.. common. in a place like taiwan, the varieties of fish are amazing. so sometimes you go to a restaurant and they tell you that they have some fresh fish, and they can make it 2 (or 3) ways-- sashimi, grilled, and soup, you go for it. at the end of august, we tried a white fish that turned out to be quite tasty. so we didn't hesitate this time around when the yakitoriya suggested the yakara (chinese: ma-bien) fish (despite never having heard of it). the fish is quite unique, with an elongated beak, and a small mouth at the end. the body is thin and long. and it can only be line-caught, because it can break through nets. the sashimi came from the mid-section. while fresh, the meat was a bit coarse and rough. the grilled portion came from the tail. its texture became like that of swordfish. perfect when drizzled with lemon, salt, pepper. the soup can from the head. they chopped the beak into small pieces and cooked it in a ginger seaweed soup. trying to eat the meat off of the pieces of beak was very similar to eating snake meat. would i order this fish again? probably not, as it's not suited for either soup or sashimi. but it was a great experience (and not a bad deal either, at NT780 (~US$26)).
update: The fish is a fistularia, or cornetfish. (
wikipedia,
youtube)
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| Sashimi presentation (with both head and tail) |
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| Closeup of head |
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| Grilled tail |
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| Soup (with chopped pieces of beak) |
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