This Week's Fish — Kanpachi, Uni on Saturday
A good week. Kanpachi (Greater Amberjack) is back — in its prime now as the water temperatures drop and the fish accumulates late-autumn fat. A few boxes of Hokkaido Uni will arrive on Saturday morning; reserve online if you want to guarantee yours. Nagasaki Bluefin Tuna from Hosei Suisan is available as always — this week's fish is the regular Goto, Nagasaki supply, and the quality is superb. Winter fish at its full potential.
Anju — Ganjang Guksu with Bluefin Akami
Anju, the acclaimed Korean restaurant in DC, has added a new dish to their menu featuring our Bluefin Tuna Akami: Ganjang Guksu — buckwheat noodles in a smoked soy sauce broth, topped with Japanese Akami, pear, buchu (Asian chives), and smoked trout roe.
The description is worth sitting with: smoked soy sauce against the clean, iron-rich depth of Nagasaki Akami; the sweetness of Korean pear cutting the richness; buchu adding an herbal sharpness; smoked roe bringing a second layer of oceanic salinity. It is a dish that crosses vocabularies — Japanese technique and ingredient, Korean flavor logic, a result that belongs to neither tradition exclusively.
This is the second time our fish has appeared on Anju's menu this year, following the summer Bibimguksu with Akami. If you are in DC and curious to see what a serious kitchen does with the same fish you take home, Anju is the place to go.
A Note on This Week's Bluefin
December Bluefin from Goto, Nagasaki via Hosei Suisan is when the fish is at or near its annual peak. The combination of cooling water temperatures (which slow metabolism and promote fat storage), heavy autumn feeding, and the care Hosei Suisan puts into the Ikejime process at harvest produces a fish that is consistently among the best available anywhere in the world at this time of year.
If you've been buying since summer and have experienced the lean July and August fish, this week's product will be an obvious and striking contrast. The Otoro is deeply marbled. The Chutoro has the fat-to-lean balance that makes it the most nuanced cut on the fish. The Akami is intense and clean. This is the season. Order here →
On Ganjang Guksu at Anju: The dish demonstrates something we've believed since the beginning — that our fish works across culinary traditions, not just Japanese ones. The clean, strong umami of Nagasaki Akami is a foundation that Korean, French, Italian, and other flavor systems can build on. If you visit Anju and order it, let us know what you think.