The Japanese restaurant where diners catch their own fish
“By preparing and eating fish that you have caught yourself, you can be truly grateful for life,” Mr Takahashi said.
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Your support makes all the difference.Mouths will be watering for the freshest catch available at Zauo, the New York eatery where diners will be fishing for their dinner.
Set to open on 152 West 24th Street Chelsea, New York, the Japanese restaurant chain will comprise of three "nautical themed" floors, according to their website. The first two will allow diners to sit in a boat and reel in fish from adjacent tanks.
Ten species of fish will be stocked in the tanks offering diners a choice in what they can hook on their lines, according to news website DNAInfo.
As soon as the fish takes the bait and is caught by the diner, chefs step in to grill, boil, tempura fry or serve it up as sushi.
The restaurant’s website says their freshly caught fish is cheaper than average prices: “The regular price of a red-snapper is ¥3,360, but if caught it can be eaten for only ¥2,499.”
But the option to order sushi and other “high-end” seafood dishes straight from the waiter will be offered on the third floor for diners less keen on the fishing novelty.
In 2015, the restaurant’s New York president Takuya Takahashi told Vice that the chain were also planning to open in San Francisco.
After visiting a Tokyo branch, Vice reporter Drew Millard wrote: “The restaurant's centrepiece is a series of tables made to look like a giant boat, surrounded by a moat full of fish. It looks, I can say without exaggeration, cool as fuck.”
There are 14 branches of the Zauo restaurant in Japan which each typically accommodate 200 diners. The chain is financially successful, with an earnings per share point of ¥25m (£179,000).
Taking the notion of fresh food to the extreme, the restaurant offers diners a unique way to better understand the origins of their food, giving parents an increasingly rare chance to show children where their dinner comes from.
“By preparing and eating fish that you have caught yourself, you can be truly grateful for life,” Mr Takahashi added.
The anglers among you will be pleased to hear that the restaurant is planned to open at the beginning of 2018 according to Mr Takahashi.
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