All you can eat tuna!

So our teacher friend Jerry, the ultimate foodie, took us on yet another culinary adventure. Oh, and what an adventure it was. It's a sashimi house where you sit at the bar and pay for all you can eat. You pay a flat rate based on the grade of tuna you want. We paid 25,000 won each (which comes out to about $20) to get STUFFED full of food. Here's what the place looked like:






They bring out tons of sides (as is customary in every place you go in Korea) and then the chefs just bring out food when they feel it's necessary. Being that the pace and quality of the food being delivered is at the discretion of the chef, it was imperative that we tipped well, and early. Also, every time we ordered a beer, we got him one too. Win win.







Our delicious side dish fish, which comes out whole and you have to pick off of the bones:



Here's some of the best fish I've ever had:



Our chef taking his beer, in Korean custom with two hands:



What is awesome is that as the night progresses, the chef gets more and more drunk. With his drunkenness comes increased generosity. We were treated to much higher caliber meat than we paid for, and they started giving us special attention. We got this little gem, a blow-torched tuna tartar, which is then FED to you. Amazing.




We then got some really cool, random things. We were hand-fed a piece of tuna with some mystery ingredients inside. As we started chewing, they became more clear... there was... peanut butter? And a pickle? With a giant piece of tuna? Yes, that's correct. Fish. Peanut Butter. Pickle. Sounds absolutely disgusting, I know, but it was actually surprisingly delicious. I'd definitely eat it again. Then, the chef made a shot (which I believe was alcohol-free) of bluefin tuna, wasabi, soy sauce, and what we think are radishes. It was really good. Here he is making it:



And then, the most memorable part of the evening: a fish eye. Yes, you read correctly. We ate the eyeball of a tuna. Luckily, we were not required to chew it, but were instead given the fish eye in shot-glass form. It was served in this sweet, super pink liquid.



I won't lie and say I even tasted the fish eye... but I did feel it scrape by my teeth and go down my throat, and that pleased me. All in all, this night was declared nothing but a success. Then, to top off the evening (as if it needed it,) as we were walking out of the restaurant, we got to witness a traditional soju-fueled Korean bar fight. I guess it was technically more of a street fight, because these guys were outside, but we had seen them downing soju earlier on in the night. All I know is we were treated to dinner and a show. This one Korean guy was so drunk that it took about 5 guys 10 minutes to stop him from trying to beat up everyone in sight. He bloodied many faces. 4 cop cars ended up showing up. Also in traditional Korean fashion, they let him go after agreeing not to bloody up anymore of his friends. Nice.