Beware the sea urchin

My friend Harry and I went to Sakura in Glorietta for some late afternoon Japanese food. I am a self-confessed Japanese food aficionado, but that encounter put quite a dent to this craving for raw food.

It's not questioning the service of Sakura. In fact, they have gracious personnel, and the food did arrive promptly (a big bowl of ramen, a delicious rice topping of sorts, mixed sashimi, and green iced tea).

Well, aside from the familiar glint of white, pink and reds of the salmon, tuna, and shrimp on top of moulded rice, there was a distinct concoction of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed) and on top of this is a rather intriguing mass of goo. It reminded me of fish insides, actually.

I promptly called the waiter over.

"Boss, ano 'to?" (Boss, what's this?)
"Sea urchin, sir. Masarap yan!" (That's delicious!)

Staring at this strange sashimi, I can't begine to imagine how it tasted like.

"Sir, this increases your drive for ... you know ..." The waiter's smile finished the sentence for him. He promptly left to attend to other customers.

I picked up my chopsticks and took a teeny weeny bit on top, dipped it on the wasabi-coated kikkoman, and popped it into my mouth. At first it tasted like oysters. And then the taste became stronger, like a concentrated version of oysters and clams. I frowned.

The waiter said it's great with soy, calamansi (a small, citurs fruit), and wasabi! And he promptly brought me some. With Harry taking a video with his phone of this momentous event, I took another small sample. My face did a couple of contortions.

Later that afternoon, I felt my face go numb in the cheeks, and a bit scratchy here and there. Thank goodness it subsided later into the night. I was already planning to borrow medicine from Harry, who's allergic to these things.

That's the last time I'll order anything with sea urchin in it!