Balinese Pepesan Ikan

I wanted to blindly try something new today, and noticed something local called pepesan ikan,which I knew had to be fish-based, but I didn't know how it would be prepared. When I asked, I was told that it was "fish pate." That sounded interesting, as thoughts of Japanese monkfish liver passed through my head. When my plate finally arrived, I nearly fainted at what I saw.

Oh crap! I ordered the local equivalent of one of the dishes that I absolutely despise: otak otak! Boy, did I roll the dice on that one and crap out.

Fortunately, when I tasted it, it wasn't as bad as I would have imagined. Instead of being overwhelmingly fishy and spicy, this was much richer and heavier on the coconut flavor. In fact, this was probably the best otak-related thing that I've had, and I nearly finished the whole thing.

Nearly, that is. I definitely won't get cravings for this stuff, but I was surprised at how well I could bear this.