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We ordered a box of koi-shaped sushi to see if they taste as good as they look 【Taste Test】

Scott Wilson Oct 13, 2015
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Last week we saw the amazing koi-shaped (carp-shaped) sushi created by one sushi shop in Japan. While they were certainly beautiful and life-like, one question was on our mind: How do they taste?

To find out, we ordered a box of the koi-shaped sushi and gave it a try. Does the fish-shaped sushi’s taste live up to its appearance? Read on to find out!

Just for a quick recap, the sushi store that makes these amazing creations is Tansho in Oita Prefecture’s Saiki City. They make them by putting pieces of salmon, egg, uni (sea urchin), and seaweed on top of firmly packed rice, then cover it with an extremely thin piece of squid. After adding two small nori eyes and being cut to the shape of a fish, the magic is complete.

We’re pretty big fans of sushi, so naturally such a sight made our eyes pop out of our head just like a real koi. We had to try some and ordered a box immediately.

▼ We got the five-person, 15,000-yen (US$126) box. It came via refrigerated post (a perk of living in Japan), and we had to let it warm up to room temperature once it arrived.

▼ The view after the much-awaited box opening. Can you spot the koi sushi?

▼ There’s one of them! It’s stuffed right in there along with a bunch of other sushi and an adorable bottle of soy sauce.

▼ To get a better view we moved the koi to a separate plate, along with a blue beach ball so they wouldn’t get bored.

▼ The colors are amazingly realistic. How did they do it? We decided to peel off the squid skin from one of them to find out.

▼ Underneath is salmon, egg yolk, uni and nori seaweed. It’s incredible how much difference just that thin layer of squid makes.

▼ It was a lot prettier before. Can someone put it back together please?

▼ But what about the taste? P. K., can you tell us a bit about the flavor?

▼ Ithf justhf leihkgh ifth thop ith wulhp thist!

Once P. K. finished chewing he told us much more understandably. The most powerful flavor that hits you right away is the squid, which makes sense since that’s what it’s covered with. The salmon and uni come together nicely afterward, and everything is rounded out nicely with the egg yolk bringing it all together.

In short, it’s delicious. If you like sushi, then you will absolutely love this.

▼ We’d love to stick around and give you more eloquent taste reviews, but this platter of sushi isn’t going to eat itself.

If you’re lucky enough to live in southern Japan and you’d like to order some fancy fish-shaped sushi for your next special occasion, then check out Tansho’s website. You can order a full box like we did, or just a few individual koi-sushi too. Just remember: try not to fall in love with your cute little fish sushi before you eat them.