Hiroshi has written about the crab kani-daikon-nabe he found interesting in ‘Sara no ue no takaramono’ (Plate full of Treasure).
Crab in a fugu (blowfish) restaurant? And why the extra daikon radish? It’s interested me for ages but finally could go.
There are three types of beer on the menu. This tell you all you need to know about the place just by looking at this.
I start with a beer and some jellied nikogori.
Fugu comes in Shimonoseki-style, after the “Fugu Capital”. Dry like this, it brings out the full flavour.
Karaage is also proudly ranked among the three best deep-fried fugu to have in Japan, by your’s truly. The sweetness of the slightly cheap skin is the best. And the taste of the fugu inside comes straight through and hasn’t been lost.
Finally it’s kani-daikon-nabe, sadly giving up on the grilled fugu.
It’s placed on the cooker right in front of me but still have to wait. However, I catch a whiff of the cooked crab giving me the sign to dive right in.
I take a sip of the soup stock, and a mouth full of daikon radish, and picking at the crab shells, the master behind the counter says, “sip the soup after you’ve taken the crab meat out!”
Ah, I see! So straight away, place the radish and crab in a small dish using a strainer, taking out the crab meat and place over the daikon, pouring on as much soup as you want. All of the flavour making up this soup will hit you all at once.
And although the nabe contains miso and butter to begin with, the crab gradually melts and changes the overall taste. Finally the flavour moves onto the radish, and delicious as it is, the real flavour will remain a mystery. It’s a revelation.
There’s ramen and ojiya to finish, and ojiya comes with Ikura on top. In fact everything comes with extra something. Crude or rough I’ll gladly eat this, even if it’s rude to say so.
It seems fugu and kani are available all year round. And as you’d imagine, getting a reservation this time of year is hard, but there is some room if the group is small. Let’s go one more time this winter. Next time it’s fugu-chiri (sashimi).

Makino Fugu
3-8-1 Matsugatani, Taito-ku, Tokyo
03-3844-6659