Do not be fooled by Chef Masahiro Mizumoto’s soft-spoken Taglish. Amiable as he is, the executive chef of Traders Hotel, Manila’s Kitsho Japanese restaurant is highly-skilled in neutralizing the most poisonous fish in the sea. In fact, he is the only licensed chef in the country who can prepare, cook and serve the deadly fugu.

More commonly known as pufferfish or blowfish, fugu is the second most toxic animal in the world, bearing huge quantities of tetrodoxin—a kind of poison found in its liver, ovaries and skin. It takes precision, skill and careful preparation to avoid contamination of the fish meat.

In Japan, fugu is still one of the country’s most celebrated “lethal” delicacies. It is in fact so dangerous that it is singled out as the only dish forbidden for serving to the Emperor of Japan.

But while Chef Mizumoto may never serve fugu to his emperor, he is offering the experience and the privilege to Filipinos. At Kitsho, he offers diners four simple dishes that bring out the goodness in danger. These are the fugu sashimi, hot pot, deep fry and congee.

Licensed to cook
In an interview with The Manila Times, the Japanese expat shared that it took him five long years of formal training in Japan before he was given the license to serve fugu.

“We Japanese chefs need five years of training and experience before we take the licensure examination given by every prefecture [his was the Fukuoka prefecture]. We need to follow this process, because if we do something wrong in preparing fugu, baka mamatay ang tao [the people who eat it may die],” Chef Mizumoto conveyed.

“But actually, I already started learning to prepare and cook fugu when I became a chef 20 years ago,” he added.

With such an extensive experience as Chef Mizumoto’s in preparing fugu, Kitsho became confident to offer fugu as a four-course set menu to brave diners from October to March—the season when the fish is abundant in Japanese waters. The restaurant and sake bar imports fresh fugu from Japan.

In preparing fugu, everything starts with cleaning the fish to make sure that all the poison is washed out without contaminating the meat. The key here, according to Chef Mizumoto, is knowing where the poison is.

He explained, “There are different varieties of blowfish. We must know what kind of blowfish and which part of the fish has the poison.” Identifying the most poisonous part of the fugu tells the chef exactly what to extract and if doing so will not cause any toxins to spread.

“It is really important to remove the poison. Other chefs boil the fugu to kill the poison. But the truth is, you cannot kill poison,” Chef Mizumoto warned.

Finally, he is careful to discard the fugu’s innards in an airtight container and separately from the rest of the kitchen’s trash.

Taste of danger
Asked how he feels about being the only chef in the country licensed to cook fugu, Chef Mizumoto humbly answered, “Pressured.”

However, seeing him at work shows no signs of this as he confidently served The Times the four specialty dishes. An expert on the fugu, he imparted that its meat has a distinct taste because of the texture of its meat, which is firmer compared to regular fish meat.

First served was the Fugusashi. Besides the thin slices of raw meat, the sashimi also uses the different layers of fugu’s skin. This is dipped in the distinct flavor of ponzu, a Japanese sauce.

Chef Mizumoto then started cooking a fraction of fugu in a hotpot with a dash of sake, mushrooms, vegetables and seaweeds. Any guests who dine at Kitsho will also have Chef Mizumoto in front of their hotpot. After boiling, everything is placed in a bowl of ponzu.

Next up was the Fugu Kaarage. Chef Mizumoto said that for this dish, he first marinated the meat in sake, soy sauce and ginger. To lock in the flavor, he coated the marinated meat with potato starch. He then deep-fried the meat. The result is a delightfully tangy and crunchy dish.

The perfect conclusion to the fugu experience is a filling congee. Chef Mizumoto used the leftover broth from the hotpot as soup base of the congee to incorporate the flavors of the fish. It is made creamier with the addition of a whole egg before eating.

The four-course set menu starts at P3,800++ per person and best enjoyed by a group of four. At least three days prior reservation is required.

World-class expat chef
Besides heading the Kitsho kitchen, Chef Mizumoto is also one of Philippine Airlines’ master chefs. He is in charge of designing the menu for the national carrier’s first class flights to Japan for 2013 to 2015.

When he is not hard at work, the 48-year-old culinary expert enjoys visiting the nearby Mall of Asia in search of good dining places. He names Italiani’s, Pepper Lunch and The Aristocrat as his favorite eating spots.

The Japanese expatriate chef also enjoys Filipino food. “I enjoy Filipino dishes that have sabaw (broth) the most, like sinigang, bulalo and tinola,” he enthused.

For inquiries and advance reservations, call (632) 708-4888 local 2312 or 2313.