Zauo - Fishing Made Easier

I can't say I'm much of an angler, or that I ever tried to be. Though I can't pride myself on having catch the biggest fish of my group of friends, I could probably say that I once caught the smallest? It doesn't make for a boast-worthy statement, whatever the case. Never the less, I do enjoy fishing! And, the good news is, if you suck at it like I do, and want to experience the triumph of eating what you catch, well then there's Zauo.

It's actually a lot like apple bobbing.

 The idea is as simple as it is brilliant - an indoor fishing spot combined with a restaurant. And it's doing so good that they've recently opened a third branch. Entering Zauo is a little enchanting, really, and the mere act of walking through the different fishing spots as you're lead to your seat is oddly exciting. As soon as you're seated, you're given the option of what you want to fish for (if you want to fish at all.) You pick, you're given a fishing rod, and lead to the appropriate part of the restaurant. And you fish until you catch what it is you wanted. The Meguro branch Ty and Bryan (who's back for a visit) and I visited had horse mackerel, sea bream, flounder, lobster, and shellfish.

Since you can very easily see your fish swimming around the bottom of the tank, and since there's like 10 of them per square meter, it's not all that much of a challenge to pull one out, so much as it is about finding one that's hungry enough to take the bait.

 After catching our own two sea bream, which I was no help in at all, we were even given the choice as to how it would be cooked for us. The choices are numerous - sushi, sashimi, fried, steamed, in a soup, and the list goes on and on. The sashimi option, I'd say, isn't really for the squeamish, since it's given back to you still alive and struggling, but with the rest of the meat laid out on the plate for you. Between two sea breams and a serving of rice each, we were quite full though, and they even served us the remaining bones in a tasty miso soup.

Our choices!

 Zauo, in the end, was lots of fun, and worth every bit of hype I had heard about it! Though not exactly cheap, I'd think it would be kind of difficult not to have a good time here. I sure as hell did!