While other stalls offer it around the market, Myo Zhima is the only one preparing it so flamboyantly and publicly.
It’s also the only one with its own ship and fishermen, who make daily deliveries of fresh bonito from the sea straight to the stall each morning to ensure its just-caught freshness.
“Tataki is the unique specialty of Kochi and I think we’re so popular because we’re doing the cooking in front of the customers,” continued Sawada.
Twenty-four-year-old Sawada has been working here since he was a teenager and he and the stall’s small team flame-grill a near constant supply of roughly 200kg of bonito each day from the Myo Zhima ship, which gives the eatery its name.
This same-day, ocean-to-table service is a big part of why the stall is so popular.