Whale meat dinner at Kujira @ Shibuya, Tokyo

This is my second time visit to this restaurant serving whale meat. It was back in year 2011, that I have tasted whale meat for first time. This time around, I brought my friends who eagerly wanted to try out whale meat at Kujira in Shibuya Tokyo. This time round we ordered many types of whale meat with different cooking method. Kujira is one of the few restaurant in the world which still serving whale meat. Whale meat is very unique as the meat is quite succulent. Japanese believes that eating whale meat can prolong age and looks young. I not sure how true is the claim.

After your dinner, you may take a pamphlet which give justification about eating whale meat. According to the pamphlet, the world is in balance when whale is around as whale consume a lot of fish in the ocean. As a result, the source of fish will be reduced when whale is around. So a controlled whale hunting must be carry on and human should consume whale to control the fish resources in the ocean.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. We ordered sashimi, lightly roasted, teriyaki, fried and tempura whale meat. From all the 5 cooking method, tempura whale meat is the best as the meat is tender and blend well with the batter which gives crispy texture when eaten. The meat structure is tender and succulent when raw and smooth meat without smell when cooked).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. We ordered ala-carte portion of whale meat and choose which type we want to try. The dinner set is not worth it as the menu is fixed and you can't choose what you like to have. We have ordered whale meat in fried 842 Yen, sashimi 950 Yen, tempura 842 Yen, lightly roasted 950 Yen and teriyaki (Japanese sauce) 1058 Yen. Rice at 324 Yen per bowl. The whole dinner cost around 5,300 Yen for two persons).



Sashimi whale meat. This dish is eaten raw. Without smell with some blood taste. The texture is succulent. The white colour tendon is very chewy.


Lightly roasted whale meat. Almost the same as sashimi but slightly cooked.

Fried whale meat.

Teriyaki whale meat. Cooked in Japanese sauce.

Tempura whale meat.

Comparing each type of whale meat. From left: fried, teriyaki, sashimi, tempura and lightly roasted.

Pamphlet about justification of eating whale meat.

They have lunch set which is reasonable priced.

Coordinate/GPS: 35.659785,139.698586
Address: Dogenzaka 2-29-22, Shibuya. If you are from Tokyo Metro Shibuya station on Hachiko exit, just walk towards Shibuya 109. It is located on your left before reaching Shibuya 109.

Wangfujing shopping street @ Beijing, China

Wangfujing is a famous shopping street in Beijing, China. There are many luxury shops located on this street. I enjoyed looking at some high-end shops together with some souvenir shops.


Beijing taxi at Wangfujing street.

Church on Wangfujing street.

Wangfujing is centre of tourist attraction in Beijing.

Beijing Apple Store.

Famous Wangfujing bookstore.

Long street with endless shops.

Selfie at Wangfujing street.

More visitors at night.

Hazy night at Wangfujing.

One of the high end department stores.

Dongan department store.

Wangfujing street market.


Walking into the night market. Beware of pick pocket here.

Baby scorpion sold as snack in Wangfujing street market.

Fried black scorpion.

Fried grasshopper.

Escargot.

Mussels.

However not all food sold here is exotic. Here you can have the tasty grilled squid as well.


Pig's stomach soup.


Goat's drumstick.

Preserved & sweetened small apples.

GPS/Coordinate: 39.908086, 116.411545
Public transport:Wangfujing station Beijing subway line 1.

Exotic food @ Donghuamen Night Market, Beijing

The food is on display at both markets and they are very popular for tourists and locals. The place seems made specially for attracting tourists. Most of it is raw food which is grilled, fried, or tossed in a wok upon order. With over a billion people to feed and a country that is not wealthy until recently, people had to learn to eat everything. Does it make sense? The food isn’t “weird”, but just different and unusual to a North American or Western culture.


Donghuamen night market.

Centipede.

Spider.

Not sure what is this. Starfish?

Squid tentacle.

Pig kidney.

Snake meat.

Clams with garlic.

Goat's drumstick.

Smelly bean curd.

Meat buns.

Beef stomach.

Durian cake.


Variety of exotic food on this on display here including silk worm.

Roasted fish.

Mantis prawn.

Crab meat rice.

Me in Donghuamen night market.

GPS/Coordinate: 39.915378, 116.410072
Address: Near by Wangfujing street.
Subway: Wangfujing station on Beijing metro.