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 Tempura to the left. by Maline
Eat the fresh out of the frying pan, with a dipping sauce made of dashi (japanese broth), soy sauce (50-50) and grated daikon (radish).
Tempura is eaten in both restaurants and at home, there are really fancy tempura establishments for those who with to try it out.
Tempura can also be had on top of udon or soba noodle soup. Then the crunch of the fry will be soggy, thanks to having been soaked in the soup. I am not a fan of this way of eating soft tempura. Ask for it on the side!
I can add that since we came home from Japan, we have treated guests to tempura a number of times and always received compliments for our cooking. Buy tempura batter, dip vegetables/fish/shellfish and submerge in boiling oil, turn them a couple of times while they fry. Leave a Comment Theme: Local
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Soba and udon are two types of noodles. The udon ones are fat and white, made from wheat, and very soft.
The soba are made from buckwheat, more gray in colour and are a bit harder to chew (like spaghetti).
The udon and soba are typically served in a hot broth, to form a soup. You slurp up the noodles using chopsticks to support them, and drink or eat the soup with a spoon.
Chilled soba (and sometimes udon) are often served in summer.
There are lots and lots of udon and soba restaurants. Most luch spots have soba or udon dishes available.
it is also easy to cook at home, dried noodles are for sale in all the convenient stores. Leave a Comment Theme: Local
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The tips in this category will not be about restaurants.
Rather, I want to give culinary tips and comment upon the subject of Japanese food. Each tip will be devoted to a special Japanese dish, and should I know of a place that serves it, I will include it in the tip.
First and foremost let me tell you that the Japanese cuisine is excellent. It is strongly oriented towards sea food (it is an ISLAND nation ok?), and consequently a bit weak in the meat department.
Staple food is rice. Rice "gohan" forms a part of almost any meal. I have been served a steak with fries - and a bowl of rice on the side. The rice is usually steamed in a special rice-cooker, and anyone boiling it on the stove would be considered a bit weird.
Rice can also be pounded to make mochi, a glutionous rice paste used for example in sweets.
Another staple are beans. You can make ANYTHING from a bean. At least the Japanese can. There is the tofu (the "soy cheese", although it is not at all cheese), the miso soup, the nattó (fermented beans), the anko (sweet bean paste), red festive rice (rice with beans) and there are even soy bean chips.
As far as the sea food is concerned, it does not mean only fish and shellfish. Sea weed and algae are also consumed on a large scale in Japan. And fish come in all shapes and sizes.
Some people find Japanese food a bit "slimy". True, it is hardly ever difficult to chew, rather more slimy in character. Also some find the trend of undercooking everything a bit hard to - well digest. But give it a try, ok, most dishes are delicious. Welcome to the world of Japanese food.
As we say in Japan "itadakimasu" (I will receive, said before starting a meal)
Ps: for cultural tips on how to be polite at the table Japanese style, see my local customs tips...! Leave a Comment Theme: Local
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 by Maline
In Sweden the sushi boom had a bit of a lame start in the early 1990s but is now full scale. Every tiny village in Sweden seems to boast a sushi place – a good tribute to this world famous Japanese dish.
I have actually been asked if Japanese people ONLY eat sushi – I can assure you they do not.
The concept of sushi actually refers to the specially prepared vinegared rice. And hence sushi comes in a variety of forms.
There is the nigiri sushi – the one shape (alongside norimaki) most foreigners would think of when thinking sushi. These are the oval rice "pillows" with (usually) pieces of raw fish on top.
Then you have the norimaki sushi, the seaweed covered sushi rolls that can be filled with fish, cucumber and more. A variety of these are the temaki, that are more cone-shaped with one pointed end.
Gunkan pieces are like rolls that have been cut and flipped to stand up. They usually have a bottom layer of rice and then a topping of different sorts of fish, caviar or nattó (fermented beans).
Then there are the inari pieces that are rice put in "bags" of deepfried tofu (called aburaage). The inari are among my favourites, but many people are not so impressed with their more sweet taste. Try and see what you think.
(There are even more types of sushi that I am not familiar with.)
Sushi can be ordered, bought at stalls or eaten at a moving counter "kaiten-zushi" where you pay per plate.
Forming a part of the sushi whole are also the gari, sliced of pickled ginger, and wasabi, a spicy green paste made of horseradish.
Soy sauce on the side for dipping is also essential.
While in Japan, make sure to try out a Kaitenzushi, where the dishes roll past you and you pick them as they pass, then pay per plate! See the photo! Leave a Comment Theme: Local
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 by R.Dettmann
Those little snacks are really famous on festivals. But be careful they are extremly hot inside!
Tako Yaki is not expensive, but the overall cheapest Tako Yaki, I found in Kyoto. Check it out at my Kyoto page for more information about price and location of the restaurant. Leave a Comment Theme: Japanese/SushiPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: least expensive
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 by SLLiew
Cost is a factor when eating in Japan. Many Japanese do not eat sushi, beef syabu-syabu every day because of the cost. Of course, it is different if it is on the company's bill when entertaining foreign guests.
But I have found affordable eating with a bowl of ramen, Mc Donald and smaller shops that sell to salary man and office staff.
The take-away "bento", ready to eat food in a box has different prices and useful when you are travelling on a train, bus or boat. Any way, space is premium in Japan and many people do eat in the park, standing at the stall or at their office desks.
There is a rich variety of food in Japan - oden, sukiyaki, okonomiyaki, noodles with regional variation and specialty besides the standard yakitori and sushi.
Generally, noodles and vegetables are cheaper than meat and fish.
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 by R.Dettmann
Almost every region in Japan makes its own Udon noodles. There is some kind of competion going on like with every other food of Japan. So best to eat Udon is fresh. Go to places where they make their own noodles. Leave a Comment
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mock-ups of their dishes in the window of the restaurant, or in a glass display cabinet.
The beauty of this for the Gaijin is that you don't have to read Kanji to understand what's on offer in the restaurant. Even better, many low- to mid-range restaurants also have photos of their food on the actual menus.
A story goes that it was the Gaijin who are responsible for this plastic food display in the first place
Historically, when Westren foods were first introduced to Japan, the locals were completely dumbfounded by the descriptions on the menu. So, to smooth the introduction of new foods, and to drum up more interest and business, the restaurant owners displayed wax versions of their new Western dishes.
Eventually, this changed to plastic, and encompass the entire range of foods, not just the Western ones.
Plastic foods also make a unique souvenier from Japan - it's not exactly high-culture, I'll admit, but if you'd like to take home something a little quirky, then head out to Kappabashi the big kitchenware market area of Tokyo, where a typical "dish"can be had for about 500 yen.
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Fast food in Japan is not limited to McDonald's hamburgers. A variety of Japanese fast foods fulfill the demand to be "fast, cheap, and good tasting."
Among the leading Japanese fast foods are dishes with names including the character "don ". They are made in a large bowl, called a donburi
A gyudon, or beef bowl, consists of rice topped with sauteed sliced beef and onions boiled in a sweet and tangy mixture of soy sauce and sugar
A medium-size beef bowl at Yoshinoya costs 380 yen.
Many people eat it with miso soup (50 yen) and/or salad (90 yen/120 yen), and may order a raw egg (50 yen) to beat and pour over their gyudon, or pickled vegetables (90 yen) as condiments.
an update....this dish is NOT serve anymore in this store.....There are other ingredients and dishes but not the famous meat one..due to BSE... Leave a Comment
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 Sashimi style, easy to enjoy! by Maline
First, you need good rice. The grains shall be short and rounded, try asking for sushi rice.
Then you need rice vinegar, sugar, fish (or vegetables whatever you wnat to put in the sushi), nori seaweed, wasabi and –optional –gari.
Start by cooking the rice. Follow instructions on the package.
Mix vinegar, sugar (and salt) in a pan and heat it until the sugar dissolves.
When the rice is done, put it in a large flat bowl and sprinke the vinegar mix onto it. Then you have to separate the grains while cooling the rice (by fanning it), you "rake" the rice to separate the grains, don't crush the grains, or you will end up with porrige!
Once the rice is cool you wet your hands and form little "pillows" in good eatable sizes. Onto these you spread a thin layer of wasabi and then slap on a piece of fish. Make sure the fish has been deep frozen for some days before using it if you are using raw fish.
(Tip: it is easier to cut when it is still a little bit frozen).
Hard core sushi cefs would probably faint over this description but frankly we make sushi a lot at home and even though we're just amateurs, the taste is almost as good as the reasturant ones, even though they don't look the part. Leave a Comment Theme: Local
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