The Japanese: Nuked too much or… Piranha Ramen?

by Vanderleun on August 29, 2019

“Thank you very much for reading to the end. This is an April Fool’s joke, and there is no actual plan to offer Piranha Ramen.” Despite the disclaimer, Yano says more than 500 calls poured in from Japanese and international followers inquiring about tickets. “I didn’t expect the article [to] buzz,” he says.

Given all the interest, Yano is following through with the event and will be serving what he believes to be the world’s first piranha ramen. “The joke [became] reality,” he says. Yano spent three million yen ($28,000) flying more than 2,000 whole piranha fresh-frozen from Brazil to Japan, to the puzzlement of customs agents who detained the fish for 13 hours in Narita airport.

The ramen will be served from 5 to 9 p.m. on September 20th, and 11 a.m to 9 p.m. from the 21st to the 23rd, in Yano’s recently opened Ninja Cafe and Bar. The costumed servers, who have trained for a month in Japan’s ancient ninja stronghold of Iga, not only take orders and run food but perform martial arts, from throwing shuriken to blowing darts—just in case eating piranha ramen alone is too tame… The World’s First Piranha Ramen Is No Joke – Gastro Obscura

Comments on this entry are closed.

Nori August 29, 2019, 9:32 PM

“Quite bony flesh,some people say. Like steel wool,mixed with needles.” Jeremy Wade of River Monsters adds.
That fish looks super pissed off he’s floating in a bowl of ramen.

Even dead,would’nt surprise me the little f**kers would chew thru your entire digestive system,one way or another.

Like fugu was’nt lethal enough?

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ghostsniper August 30, 2019, 4:53 AM

Where da eyeballz iz?
Dat’s da bess part!

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Jack August 30, 2019, 5:26 AM

I’ve thought of a lot of weird shit in my life but I’m pretty sure I never thought of eating cannibal fish, as Tarzan called them. Here’s a link to an article that reports a prior eating of Piranha in Japan. Nippon can produce some beautiful women and other stuff but I have to consider them lost in time when it comes to “what’s for dinner”.

https://soranews24.com/2013/04/18/we-try-fried-piranha-even-dead-and-cooked-its-a-dangerous-fish/

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James ONeil August 30, 2019, 10:37 AM

Don’t have any desire for Piranha Ramen, but I got to admit, octopus balls (Takoyaki) goes great with beer.

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mmack August 30, 2019, 5:17 PM

Gerard and other visitors,

I have not and will not eat piranha, but one of the weirdest and most delicious 😋 meals I’ve ever had was at a Sushi restaurant in Romeoville, IL (Sushi Train near Weber Rd. and 135th).

We knew JoJo the owner and they had some of THE BEST sushi I’ve ever eaten. One night my wife and I are at the sushi bar enjoying some plates of sushi when the chef asks us would we like to try Japanese Mackerel? I look at my Mrs, she’s game, so I say “Sure, why not?”

Step 1 is to clean the flesh from the fish, prepare it sushi style, and serve it with this wonderfully salty, vinegary dipping sauce. The chef presents it with a very decorative layout with the skeleton of the fish in the background. We enjoy the sushi and dipping sauce (and beer and wine).

Step 2: In Japan, we flash fry the bones, and eat them.

We
Flash
Fry
Fish
Bones
And
Eat
Them
🤢

I think “OK, these chefs have gotten me to eat raw Japanese oysters, I can do this.”
My wife and I tried it, and DAMN, it was good!

Taste buds: “Oh, this is GREAT!”
Rational part of brain: You are EATING fish BONES!”

So yes, the Japanese are strange and unique but they’re not like the Chinese, who as it has been said, will eat anything with four legs, including the table.

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Vanderleun August 31, 2019, 7:42 AM

A second vote for the deep fried fish bones. Had them once at a Seattle Sushi restaurant which, sadly, is not there any longer.

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Montefrío September 2, 2019, 8:19 AM

Caught and ate a half dozen piranha two years ago while hanging out on the Amazon and tributaries. Not a lot of meat on ’em, but the bones are so tiny they can be eaten as well. Skip the head and tail.

Not exactly big game fish, but they’re tricky to catch. One has to be quick. A quick flick of the wrist when one feels the strike, then snap it up into the pirogue, taking care not to get a hook in the face or get bitten by the li’l s.o.b. “It’s all in the wrist with a deck or a cue and Frankie Machine had the touch” I think it went. Yeah, well the same is true when fishing for piranha.

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