Head of shrimp, spine of eel

That may sound like a witches brew of some sort, but no, it was just part of my great tempura meal last night. The restaurant only seated eight people, all at the counter. Everything was cooked by the chef right there in front of us, piece by piece. Most of what we ate was fairly routine--vegetables, fish, etc. Then at one point he put four live shrimp on his cutting board. They were still wiggling and hopping when he deftly cut off their heads and peeled them. Without realising what would happen next, he put two delicately battered and fried shrimp heads in front of Jun and I. And it was good! (I sort of figured it was like eating a soft-shell crab.) (We later ate the rest of the shrimp as well.) Then, the pièce de résistance. He got out a live eel, and since it was doing quite a bit of wiggling, he basically nailed down one end and quickly cleaned and filleted it. It was really good, but then I don't really mind eel (it just tastes like fish). After finishing the eel he presented us with a long, thin, crunchy piece of something that ended up being the spine from the eel. Again, I just kept thinking of soft-shell crabs, especially since I don't generally like bones in things. And once again, I have to say it was quite good--it mostly just tasted like crunchy, salted batter. (Unlike the uni, or sea urchin roe, which I tried when I had sushi the other night and am in no hurry to try again.) So while I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most adventurous eater, after this trip I think I deserve to be cut some slack. This is our meal and a really dorky picture of Jun and I in front of the restaurant.