ARTICLES
"As long as the fish is good..."?! A Welcome Party for a New Hire from Hokkaido is an Impossible Mission: 'These are people who use salmon roe as a rice topping!'
April is a month of new beginnings, with school entrances and new jobs. A mission given to a certain company in Tokyo that welcomed a new employee from Hokkaido has become a hot topic on social media for being "impossibly difficult."
When planning a welcome party for the new hire from Hokkaido, they were casually asked, "What kind of restaurant would you like?"
The reply came: "Thank you so much! A really cheap place is fine! As long as the fish is good!"
And so, Mission: Impossible was born—to satisfy a palate raised in Hokkaido at a price point affordable for a team of young employees.
Quote from @pentabutabu's post
"As long as the fish is good!"... This innocent yet cruel remark from a Hokkaido native threw the comment section into chaos: "It's impossible! These are people who use salmon roe as a rice topping!" "Whatever you do, don't serve them Atka mackerel!" "Let's just pretend we didn't hear that last part and go for okonomiyaki..."
Many advised to "overwhelm them with fish not found in Hokkaido," with numerous suggestions for fish relatively unfamiliar to Hokkaido residents, such as horse mackerel, Spanish mackerel, whitebait, sea bream, and cutlassfish.
So, what kind of restaurant was chosen in the end?
We spoke with the original poster, Pentabu-san, to find out how they conquered this daunting mission.
What kind of restaurant did you ultimately choose?
The new hire mentioned being 'curious about straw-roasted bonito,' so we decided on a restaurant that serves it!
The choice was a restaurant featuring "Katsuo no Warayaki" (straw-roasted bonito), a traditional dish from Kochi Prefecture! It's a dish where only the surface of the bonito is seared over a straw flame. It's true that this is not a common dish in Hokkaido. A safe bet, even for a Hokkaido native!
Is it best to recommend local fish to people from Hokkaido?
A casual comment from a Hokkaido native sent shivers down the spines of Tokyoites. When planning a welcome party in Tokyo, perhaps the best strategy is to choose fish that are not commonly seen in Hokkaido.- 1
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