Japanese Fish That Taste Like WATERMELON | Fishing in Japan's CLEANEST River

Hey guys, my last day here in Gifu. And what I'm eating today also has a lot to do with the local famous Nagata River. What I'm about to have is known as one of the most precious, expensive, delicious fish in Japan, the Ayu. The Ayu fish is also known as the sweet fish because many people say it has a sweet taste and a sweet fragrance, almost like a watermelon. I've never had this before, I'm so excited to try it. But before we get to that fish, we're going fishing for another fish. And today we're actually not fishing for the Ayu fish, we're fishing for the Dojo fish, which is also a really popular fish in this region. This is Kentaro, he's the youngest fisherman in this very famous river. So all the fishermen here are really well known, he's the youngest one. You must be good. Alright, we're going to change into the fishing suit. So no machines allowed, only manual fish traps. The fish size? Yeah, fish size. Okay. It's this big? Yeah. So we're mainly going after the Dojo fish, which are small, kind of like mini little Unagi's. So the fish, what they're trying to do is try to reach warmer water, so they're trying to swim upstream. So this is his trap, look at this. So it's a 2x4 basically, and he made a little dam, so he made his own little current. Oh, wow, okay. So here's how it works. He made this little man-made string, the fish is trying to swim up this tiny bitty waterfall, but they can't. So they come to the side, and he put a little brick here, so the fish can basically swim on top of these rocks, into that little trap, and it's right there. So let's see what we have. Alright, there's tiny little fish in here. This is all handmade. Oh, there's about a dozen in here. Okay, there's some Dojo, there's some other types of fish in here. Hajika? Hajika. So all the fish in this river, and you can see the bottom of this river, so all the fish, they're feasting on like, usually algae or moss that's in this river. It's so clean, and that's why the fish here taste incredible. Oh, that's the adult. Okay, so those fish, it's not like they're baby fish. That's how big they get. They get to be like, looking like a little warm-sized fish. That's as big as they get. Okay, well I mean, this is definitely a very interesting experience. Like, I guess this is the first time I'm ever in a river that's this clean before. Can you drink the water? Yeah? Tastes like water from a bottle. Wow, that's extremely clean. Can I just come and bottle this and sell it? It'd be like, Japan river water. I'll put it in a nice bottle and charge it like 10 bucks a bottle. Oh, this is refreshingly beautiful. Mmm, wow, borderline sweet. Can't wait to taste the fish from this. Oh, arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. Very educational, thank you. After a little fishing, we're back here at Kawaramachi, and the eating begins. Oishii, look at this. One of them is just fried in a little bit of salt and batter, and one of them is fried in salt, batter, and vinegar. These are actually the normal size for these fish. They don't get much bigger, this is just the size they come in. And they're a very big part of the diet, contribute to the nutrition of the people who lives in these mountains and by these rivers. And there's three different types of fish we have in here. We have the dojo, which, again, looks like a smaller unagi. We have the kajika, which is the bigger one with the fins all spread open. And then we have the orori. Alright, let's start off with the hajime dojo. This is probably the most expensive and supposed to be the best tasting of the bunch. That's great. Really, really soft. It's almost like you can't taste a single bone in here. This is cooked perfectly. Slight crunch on the outside, and a little bit of salt and pepper. It's just a clean, good tasting fish. This is the kajika. This one, you can definitely taste, there's like little bones in here. For sure has like a mellower taste to it. There's a better overall mouth feel to it. But I like the crunch and the crunchy texture of the bones. And this is the orori. This is a tiny little minnow looking fish. Wow. Fish aside, I love this way of cooking it. Wow. There's a little bit of soy, brings out the sweetness. Tiny bit of vinegar. Oh, this is absolutely delicious. That's yummy. I would eat that over rice. This would be a really good rice dish. This, I think is perfect on its own. Like, just eat this and nothing else. But this is a saucy dish. I think these two types of cooking, this way is definitely my favorite. I can see why this ingredient is so treasured by the people here. And you can also taste how clean, really you can. Taste how clean the water is by eating this fish. Every single bite I've taken, nothing grimy, nothing like sandy about it. I mean, these fish literally taste like when I drink that water from the river. Pure, good, clean meat. That's all it is. After this, let's go eat some sweet fish. Alright, the moment I've been waiting for. I went fishing, I tried some of the other fish, which are all delicious. Now, we're on to a full Ayu course dinner. Let's go. I'm in a restaurant called Izumiya. And my chef, Izumi-san, nice to meet you. Konnichiwa. We're going to be cooking one of the best quality Ayu fish here. And this is one of the best ways in Japan you can get this fish done. Arigatou gozaimasu. Grab a seat. Okay, so I'm beginning my Ayu feast. This is so exciting. Let me tell you what we got. We got a little tiny fish from the river. We got Ayu sushi. And this is the traditional type of sushi back when sushi wasn't on rice. This is not like the two Twix in a package. We got a female Ayu on the left. You see the little egg sac right here. And then we have the male Ayu on the right. And we also have a breast stick stuffed with Ayu cream. And then we have just the salad. Not everything has to be Ayu. Itadakimasu. Little big fish. You need a little fish jerky. Here we go. First taste of Ayu. Start with the female. And it's recommended that I don't eat this whole thing in one bite. Which is hard because it's so tiny. But just to nibble on it a little bit. Wow. The Ayu fish, the fish itself, it has almost like a floral accent to it. Perfect with a little fermented miso. It's not just delicious, it's beautiful. Wow. Oishii desu ne. This is the male piece. And the Ayu definitely has a difference between if it was farmed or wild. And I'm eating wild Ayu today. Mmm. The texture is just, it's almost like butter. You could definitely spread this thing on a piece of bread. I feel like the male piece is tiny bit less creamy than the female. This is a lovely outlook on what's to come. Next dish we have is the Sasamote Sushi and it is Ayu Sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf. I'm so used to things wrapped in a banana leaf. This might be one of my first times eating something wrapped in a bamboo leaf. Wow. It smells like I'm walking in a bamboo forest. Why don't things come wrapped in a bamboo leaf more often? I mean, pandas love them and they're chubby and jolly. They may be onto something. Here is the Ayu. Wow. Look how pretty this is. It looks like a little onigiri with just the most perfectly charred, grilled piece of fish on top. Texture of the fish, white, very flaky, sitting on a bed of rice, a little bit of sesame. Perfect contrast and color. You can smell the fermentation a little bit. That just like made my mouth water big time. I haven't given the green light to one bite this baby. First of all, this rice is just incredibly fermented and it's got great vinegary flavor to it and the fish is just all sorts of gentle and delicate and the texture is flaky and it blends with the rice ever so lovely. The fish just kind of falls apart and just like I don't know, mingles and dances with every single grain of rice and there's like little bits of herbs in here. Just adds to that graceful aroma. It's almost like the perfect food tango. Alright, next is the main course. This is the grilled ayu. Although it looks simple, this is one of the hardest thing to make perfectly because it's such a delicate fish. It can easily get overcooked or it can be undercooked. You really do need a master chef to make this. Alright, I'm gonna just give it a tiny, I'm gonna give you a big lemon wedge here because you're not supposed to add that much. Couple drops of citrus and you're supposed to eat it from the head of the fish. How you doing? How you doing? I like your face. First of all, great smoky flavor and again that hint of floral fragrance just kind of emits itself from the fish. As soon as you put the meat in your mouth you just get a nice subtle whiff of that. I've had many a fish in my day, never something like this before. This is by far the cleanest fish I've ever had. Not even close. The competition would be like Michael Phelps and me swimming in a lap together. It is just no contest. Such delicate meat and I'm crunching through the bones here. I'm crunching through the little middle bone and it tastes like it's not even there. It tastes like it doesn't exist. It tastes like the fish shouldn't even be horizontal. It should just be droopy and warm like. I've never tasted fish this sweet before. No wonder it's called sweet fish. Tastes like I'm eating a fresh king crab or snow crab. No wonder in the land of fish, that is Japan, this is the top prize. Next course Ayu tempura. Little bright Ayu fish. You want to see tempura perfection? When you can just like take any piece on the outside and it just snaps off quickly with just a beautiful subtle crunch. You know you got a good tempura. They give you a little salt and pepper dipping seasoning right here. Textures aside, again the soft floral sweet flavor from the meat of the fish when I crunched into the batter almost seemed like there was nothing inside. That just goes to show you how amazing that texture of the fish is. Wow, that is so soft. Again, I've had clean fish before. Now you compare the cleanness of the fish like when after I had Ayu it tastes like the sweet clean water from the God of River compared to like sewage slime. Wow, what a flavor combo. One of the most delicate tender fish ever. Ever. Okay, next we have the grilled Ayu. This is really interesting because the sauce on the outside of this Ayu looks like a little bit of soy sauce glaze but it's soy sauce made from Ayu fish. So the chef actually took fish and made soy sauce out of it. I don't know how this happens. This should be on an episode of Weird Science or something. And it's just caramelized on the outside of the fish. And you can eat it the same way and dip it in a little seasoning. Oh! I love this. This thing is pregnant. There's the eggs right here. And I feel kind of bad because I love this fish so much. I wish these eggs all grew up so I could eat them all together after they become adults. There's definitely more texture in this particular fish because of all the eggs. And the soy sauce on the outside, it tastes like a teriyaki sauce and a soy sauce had a baby. It's sweet but not overly sweet with just so much umami flavor. I can't believe it's made from fish. I don't know what I'm more impressed by. The fish with the sauce and just having them both together. Next we have daikon plum sauce. This is really interesting. On top of the little pieces of bread, this is the Ayu that goes on Ayu sushi. So kind of like what I had in the beginning, spread on top of this bread. And this particular one has all that nice miso in the guts the guts, the innards of the fish spread on top as well mixed in with the meat. If you spread this thing on anything I'll eat it. If you spread this thing on a telephone pole I'll take a big bite out of that sucker. Mmm It'd be amazing on a New York bagel. Just saying. Amazing. The richness of this flavor combined with the absolute sweet creamy flavor I'm so impressed by that. You know what this tastes like? It's really interesting. It tastes almost like a cream cheese fish spread. You get that little fermentous, little sourness. Then it's just a whole creaminess. I don't know which one I like more. I think I might need to move here eat this every day and slowly make my decision. Ooh. Black pepper. Oh, arigatou gozaimasu. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Ayu ramen. And it comes with a little bit of white pepper, a little shrimp, a little fish, pickles on the side. Look at this. This fish is split in half with the main bone taken out as I feel like more of a textural component here. Being all nice and crunchy. It's almost like the fish just swimming in the Nagata River. God, this fish is good. And I know they didn't add any sugar to this fish but you for sure taste that sweetness. If this fish ever came to my house I would never ask it to take its shoes off or if it ever used my bathroom I would never even ask it to wash its hands cause that's how clean it is. This might be my favorite dish. I'm just saying. I love this thing roasted natural but wow, this is just so good. Oh, you won't believe what's coming out next. I don't believe what's coming out next. Michelangelo will not like what's coming out next. It's an ayu tobi pizza. What? This guy is just a master of everything. Soy sauce, ramen, pizza, fish. What can't you do? Um, um, excuse me. Sorry, sorry. I'm gonna... There's a little bit of ayu on here. Let's not waste this. You don't want me to go licking on this pizza cutter cause I will and that'd just be very uncivilized. Oh, look at this. So many ayu tobis. And look at the pizza itself. It's toasted, charred in just the right places. Little thin crust. I'm a New Yorker. I love pizza. I'm really picky about what kind of pizza goes in my mouth. Wow. First of all, mountain of the ayu fish sitting on top. Soft. It brings its own sweetness. We've already covered that. But then the sauce that's on this pizza there's a little bit of parmesan cheese and a little tiny bit of mozzarella. But what's insane about this pizza is that, remember that white cream I wanted to spread over a bagel and my entire body, you know? He put that on this pizza. Now it's a concert. Like it was a party with just the ayu fish and there's a ton of it on this pizza. But with the ayu cream we're jamming right now. We are. Since I left New York, I haven't had a good slice of pizza. I'm not saying this is anything like a New York slice, but man it gave me that New York piece of mind. You know what I mean? It was for sure a flavor and texture rollercoaster ride in the last hour. Man, I am so happy to be able to come to this region of Japan. Come to Gifu. Go into the Nagata River. Go fishing. Have that entire experience and then coming back and be able to try the most famous, the most precious food ingredients in this region right here. But anyway, I'm gonna share this and then maybe go sanbuing, you know? Take a walk. Savor the final moments of this day. You know why I love sanbuing? After a short stroll I feel like it's time to eat again. And my last final food item on this trip little tea ice cream. Pepper ice cream and chase it all down with a cup of hot tea. Tea ice cream is probably one of my favorite things. And pepper ice cream. Spicy and sweet. Reminds me of someone I used to know. Not gonna get into that. Let's talk about happy things and good food. Anyway, the trip I've been on in the past week is something I've been looking forward to for so many months. We've been planning this for almost a year now. We've been planning this trip because I really wanted to get out of the typical tourist cities like Tokyo and Kyoto. Even though I love those cities so so much. I wanted to really explore the local cuisine, local culture local food, meet the locals. And I definitely did that on this trip. Like I mentioned in the beginning of this video I was invited by ByFood. They brought me here. Took me all around. It's a great company. Sirkaz, the head of this company really really amazing guy. Thank you so much man for taking me around. And if you guys want to come to Japan, you want to do anything from booking restaurants to cooking classes to going around on different tours and especially food tours. They're very focused on the food aspect of this country which is something I love and that's why we're able to partner together. And it's also such a compassionate organization like I mentioned before. A portion of their proceeds all go to children charities around the world. So really nice group. Really amazing organization. So if you want to come to Japan and want to experience some of the same things I've done or do some other stuff, I'll put the information down below for you. Definitely check it out. As always guys, thank you all so much for watching. Until we meet again. Bye-bye.