Hokke? Ok

A few days ago, I had the rare opportunity to eat at Temari (1043 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD),  a Japanese owned Japanese restaurant near my hometown.  It has been about a year since I last ate there.  As I looked through the menu of traditional classics like chirashi, tonkatsu, or ramen, I didn't feel up to it.  I wanted to try something different.  I looked at the wall next to my table where they would list out special items.  One item caught my eye: hokke (Akta mackerel).  I have tried mackerel before but never this kind.  It was grilled and served with grated radish, tofu with katsuobushi, salad, rice, and miso soup.

The fish itself was grilled to perfection.  When I poked my chopsticks into it, the natural juices came out.  I also noticed that the rib bones and the spine was also attached to the filet, which made eating it a little more difficult than I would have expected.  But since I'm used to eating whole fish it was fine for me.  Leaving the bones on actually helped the fish retain its natural juices, which always makes for great eating.

After this amazing dining experience, I wanted to learn more about this fish.  So I went on to Wikipedia, like any normal person would, and discovered that this fish is from the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of Siberia.  There is another Atka mackerel from Atka Island of the Aleutian Islands, but judging from the skin, I know for a fact that I ate the Okhotsk variety.