SINGAPORE, April 28 — Travellers who have been to Japan may be familiar with tako tamago, a street food snack of soy-glazed baby octopus skewered and stuffed with a boiled quail egg.
Back in Singapore though, take heed: An order for a similarly named dish at Koji Sushi Bar here will have diners tucking into a delicacy of a very different kind.
The Japanese restaurant recently caught the attention of online users after it posted a video on social media to promote its newest offering of raw octopus eggs.
The video’s caption read: “Tako tamago (raw octopus eggs) is a traditional and unique Japanese dish.”
In the video, a pale yellow egg sac about the size of a man’s fist is torched, causing its membrane to melt and release a flood of slimy-looking octopus roe. The eggs are clustered together, resembling elongated grapes, but they are translucent and marked with striations.
Priced at S$16 (RM56) for a 40g portion, the octopus eggs are usually served with soy sauce and will be available at Koji Sushi Bar’s outlet near Raffles Place until mid-May, online lifestyle magazine 8days.sg reported.
Describing the dish as a “new trend in seafood”, the restaurant also claimed that the eggs are rich in protein, Omega 3 and vitamin B12, and are thus highly nutritious.
Despite the purported benefits, however, many viewers did not take kindly to the idea of eating octopus eggs, with several of them expressing shock and disgust over the contentious delicacy.
‘You don’t have to eat everything’
Since Koji Sushi Bar’s Instagram video was posted on April 12, it has attracted more than 930,000 views, 8,800 likes and 350 comments as of Thursday afternoon.
Instagram user “oanhsugar” boldly stated: “All right this is it, this is the line for me.” Others pointed out that “you don’t have to eat everything” and that there is “plenty of other food”.
A number of people claimed that eating octopus eggs was “completely unnecessary” and “just feels wrong” considering that many mother octopuses go through long periods of months and even years to brood the eggs and guard them from predators.
Instagram user “terencegoh21” said: “Female octopus care for (their eggs) till death and this is what you do to them? Not everything needs to be new and unique to get customers.”
National Geographic magazine reported that the act of laying eggs often signifies “the beginning of the end” for many female octopuses. They are known to guard their unhatched young so devotedly that they stop eating and waste away, often succumbing to death by the time the eggs hatch.
However, some people called out the naysayers for being “hypocritical”, likening the eating of octopus eggs to consuming caviar or the eggs of chickens that are more accepted by most people.
Despite the outcry, a small handful of adventurous eaters still expressed keenness to try the dish.
And they do not seem to be the only curious ones.
Quoting a representative from Koji Sushi Bar, 8days.sg reported that there was “an increase” in the number of people ordering the raw octopus eggs after the restaurant’s video gained traction on Instagram.
“They’re pleasantly surprised by the flavour and say it tastes like creamy egg yolk,” the bar said.
Tako tamago boasts a rich history with origins tracing back centuries in Japan. These prized sacs, sourced from mature female octopuses, were traditionally harvested by fishermen from the undersides of rocks or nestled within coral reef crevices.
The eggs are often served in its raw form as sashimi, accompanied by a subtle dipping sauce that accentuates their natural essence. The eggs may also be used as toppings for sushi or as an ingredient in a variety of cooked dishes.
Although tako tamago is rarely found in Singapore, this is not the first time that the dish is being offered here. Another Japanese restaurant named Torio served the unique delicacy in March 2022.
TODAY has reached out to Koji Sushi Bar for comment. — TODAY
