noraleah:

On Friday night we brought two out-of-town friends to Wasan, an excellent Japanese place that just happens to be on my block. We had the uni-on-uni “uni lover” dish (one of our faves from our first visit) and several unusual fish preparations, but the final course was the grand slam: “live” lobster hot pot with rice porridge, a special of the evening that was like three courses in one. 

First the waiter brings a burner and sets on top of it a pot of fragrant seafood broth in which the lobster’s top-half simmers. She presents a platter with vegetables and the lobster tail, hollowed out and filled with morsels of raw — live? — meat.

You let the lobster cook for a couple minutes, adding a few vegetables for good measure. Your friend fishes the lobster out and begins picking at a claw, another friend munches thoughtfully on a cooked coin of carrot, while you, greedy girl, head straight for the good stuff. You pinch a piece of quivering lobster tail between two chopsticks and dunk it in the broth. You count out loud, one-onethousand, two-onethousand. Aaaaaand done! 

You pop it in your mouth. The flesh is so sweetly tender, so gently cooked, you swear it’s among the most delicious lobster you’ve ever had.

On to the rice porridge bit.

When you have finished the lobster and vegetables, the waiter takes the pot, adds more broth, and brings bowls of steamed rice, a raw egg, and seaweed. Your friend cooks the rice for a couple minutes until the grains are plump with broth. He quickly swirls in the egg, adds a smattering of seaweed, and doles out four portions of soul-soothing porridge into four waiting bowls, while you look around at four contented faces and thank the great foodie in the sky. Another one of the park.