Fried Shrimp is Not Exactly What You Think..

My dad tends to spoil me with vacations and food, which I try to stay as humble as possible about, but when it comes to something like this deceptive dish I would want to let everyone know what it's all about.

Fried shrimp. When you think of "fried shrimp" you probably think of those tasty, breaded little shrimp tails that most of us could eat all day long. At least that's what I usually think of them as, but when ordering Fried shrimp at a sushi restaurant in San Diego, I was definitely expecting something a little different, but not what was handed to me on my plate.

I was expecting something along the lines of the shrimp tempura we have here at Soma Sushi on campus, or even just shrimp sashimi with some extra delights on them.

Nope. I got a head. A fried shrimp head that looked like someone cut a big shrimps head off, stuck it in a deep fryer, and plopped it right onto my plate. In fact I was given 2 of them.

I, again, don't have my own picture of it. Google fried shrimp and you might find what I'm talking about, this picture is the closest I could find:

Apparently it's usually called Atama, and I didn't know whether or not I should be eating something that still had it's eyes on it.

I told my dad if he ate one I'd eat the other, so he reached over and bit its eyes and antennae off.

I gagged.

He said it was delicious! Usually I'm into eating unusual foods, but this time seemed different. I picked up the shrimp, and tried to prepare myself for the entire head I was about to put into my mouth. The shrimp stared back at me with clear disappointment, and I stared right back. 

I took the bite, and was hesitant to keep chewing. I needed to know if it tasted good to keep going. And then it hit me, it was delicious! Kinda odd to eat something that is staring at me but it was definitely worth it. 

.. It just takes some mental preparation to enjoy.

(the eyeballs were what really got me)