Diana Farah

DUBAI: Izakaya-style restaurant Fujiya hosted its second tuna-cutting show for its tuna-loving diners on May 4.

The 80kg Bluefin Tuna was cut by Fujiya’s head chef Tetsu, who also manages the restaurant, along with the restaurant’s partner Akio Hayakawa’s guidance.  

“I had been working in a tuna restaurant in Japan for three years, and that’s where I got my tuna-cutting experience from,” the chef said.

Fujiya is the only Japanese eatery in the UAE that performs the unique tuna-cutting show for its diners and Chef Tetsu said it was his goal to continue providing this experience.

“The tuna cutting show is something I want to do constantly,” he told Arab News Japan. “No other Japanese restaurant is performing this show, and we want to gain more customers through the show, which is a unique experience.”

The Bluefin Tuna was placed on a large cutting board for all diners to watch as the chef used multiple designated knives to elaborately cut up the fish.

Fujiya hosted a full house on Wednesday, and customers were fascinated by how much effort went into slicing through the tuna.

After the ceremony was over, diners were able to enjoy the unlimited tuna in many forms such as sashimi and grilled filets for dinner.

The first tuna-cutting show took place on March 13 and had people hooked since then.

“The previous tuna-cutting show was fully booked, and the restaurant was packed,” Chef Tetsu said. “All the customers were happy and satisfied and many of them even asked for us to do it again.”

The chef explained that most of the customers were foreigners, and they even hosted some Chinese guests.

The show is expected to return every three months, with an early bird ticket priced at AED 250 (approximately 8,900 yen) and a regular ticket at AED 300 (approximately 10,700 yen).