The Food Scene - Japan

As Cheryl mentioned in her Kanazawa post, I'm going to add a little more colour to our fabulous meals out on the town in Japan.

Izakaya on every corner

We loved eating out in Japan!  In Kyoto and Osaka there is a restaurant on every corner - even in residential neighbourhoods... This is less true of smaller towns and rural areas, but across the board, by volume, the restos in Japan are small and quaint and (stereo)typically family-operated.

Every region in Japan has its own, slightly unique, micro-cuisine.  Little tweaks, like the kinds of mushrooms used or the kind of soy served or the sea location from which the seaweed was acquired, etc. - nuances to the non-foodie, but restauranteurs take these traditions and differences seriously!

In Japan, we ate every possible combination of the following ingredients:

• Rice
• Tofu
• Soy sauce
• Miso
• Fish
• Seafood
• Mushrooms
• Pork, chicken and beef
• Wheat
• Egg
• Kelp
• Sweet potato
• Pumpkin

This is, of course, a simplification, but is nonetheless highly representative of the Japanese cuisine.  Of course, there are variants of each ingredient.  A half-dozen kinds of Miso, 3 main kinds of soy sauce, myriad kinds of fish, a dozen kinds of mushroom... etc.

I mention this because if you aren't into fish, soy or tofu, you might want to reconsider a trip to Japan :)

Tip

Opening hours in most smaller Japanese towns is a bit quirky when it comes to eating out as a family.  The thing is, kids generally like to eat supper earlier because they go to bed earlier.  In rural/small town Japan, there is a "food outage" from 3pm-6pm.  Most establishments close, presumably to give their owners a break and to allow them to prepare to serve their dinner menus.

This means that at the kid-snack bewitching hour, your options may be quite limited - hit a grocery store and pack some light snacks to stave off your kids' supper hangry phase :)

Izakaya (Pub) Food

As a general rule, expect at least 50% deep-fried menu items in Japanese Izakaya - from the obvious, like Tempura to the less obvious like chicken in a curry sauce.

A great Izakaya in Kyoto

Ramen Soups

Ramen noodle soups are a staple in the Japanese diet - they're served in 1/4 to a 1/2 of Japanese restos.  They're made with wither a miso or a soy-based soup stock - they're a salty and belly-filling menu option.

Soy-based Ramen

The noodles are delicate, wheat-based, super-long noodles.  They take on the taste of whatever broth they're put in.  It's common to find bamboo shoots, green onions, pork slices, Dakon (radish), Enoki mushrooms, etc.  These tasty soups will set you back about $12 on average.

Restos do all kinds of variants of this - many add a sunny-side-up fried egg or some tofu.  A seafood version is also a common feature, including shrimp and crab and other bounty from the sea.... but watch out - lower-end restos will say "crab" but it'll be imitation crab or other imitated ingredients - like jellied fish.

Most people enjoy Ramen soups - they're not too challenging for the western palate and they're a great value!

Anecdote - Izakaya in Kanazawa

We wandered around Kanazawa to restaurant-hop a little - this is a great way to sample flavours from different shops.  The kids wanted Japanese soul food - hearty and warm because it was cold out - so we hit a couple Izakayas.

We started with Ramen and Gyoza (Japanese dumplings).  We moved on to beef curry, an avocado dish, some satay and some noodles.

The kids turned their noses up at a few dishes, but by and large, they chowed-down with smiles on their faces.

All over Japan, when given the option, we sat on the floor on Tatami mats and ate like old-school Japanese folks do.  Pub food rocks in Japan!

Tempura

Tempura is a thin batter, akin in function British fish-n-chips batter for deep frying.  It gives food a crisp coating, which can make otherwise "meh" food more interesting.... like a slice of green pepper or pumpkin... or even cheese?!

Tempura is greasy and so we're not big fans of it, but admittedly, a good sushi roll with tempura shrimp inside can be a real treat.

The batter can either be smooth or textured with Panko flakes - IMHO, Panko is more "fun".

Tempura shrimp (Panko style) - note the grease spots :)

Curry

Many of the Izakaya we visited served curry on their menus - often on a bed of Udon noodles.  The curries we had in several restos were all dark brown, flavoured sweetly and not at all spiced with heat.  Our kids loved Japanese curry - beef or chicken!

Sake and Beer

I can't write a post about Japanese food without talking about Japanese brewing!  Like most booze, Sake can be rough or smooth, sweet or dry and folks invariably wax poetically about the notes of this or that they detect in their Sake - it's just as complicated (or simple) as wine.

Sake is offered just about everywhere and the Japanese are not uptight about booze - you can buy beer from on-street vending machines!

Most Sake bottles offer English-speakers no clue about what's inside - they're smattered with Japanese writing and not a stitch of English.

Sake bottles - this particular Sake was superb - smooth and slightly sweet

Japanese beer is everywhere - and often the same price as an equivalently-sized soda, coffee or water.  In other words, you can't go wrong - sample at will!

Tip

I recommend engaging in conversation with a bar tender to learn about Sake and to sample Sake you will like.  Otherwise, it's eeny-meany-miny-moe, which never ends well for anyone :)

Sushi Joints

Sushi is a shining gem of Japanese cuisine.  Nowhere else in the world can you safely eat such a huge variety of raw fresh fish and seafood (if that's something you want to do).  From sashimi to maki and beyond - it's all awesome.

sushi - yum!

 
In retrospect, Canadian sushi joints do a pretty decent job of sushi in general... but they can't match the freshness of the fish and seafood ingredients!  Land lubbers!

Anecdote - sushi in Kanazawa

In Kanazawa, we visited a small mom-n-pop sushi joint run by a guy whose age I dare not guess (suffice it to say he was a senior citizen).  He and his wife knocked-out some of the best sushi I have ever had.  Eating at Sushi Tora was an experience from start to finish.

We were doted on, one at a time - from drinks to picture taking at the end - we are now this kind gentleman's extended "Canadian Family".

New friend, great food!

With precious little common language, we managed to share customs, laughs, do some serious food business and enjoy a 100% custom-tailored culinary experience.

Just getting started

Fresh ingredients

Individual service

Unagi (BBQ eel) - yum!

We ate Tako (octopus), Maguro (tuna), Futo Maki (fat rolled sushi), Umeboshi (plums with Shiso leaf), Kappamaki (cucumber), Tamago (egg) and more - suffice it to say that eating sushi in a port town like Kanazawa is a must do!

Street Food

Japan has lots of street food vendors hawking their wares.  Like many places, the variety of street food is astounding.  Language is a real barrier when interacting with street vendors - English is not great.  Take your time and watch the vendors preparing the food closely so you get the whole scoop on the dish being offered.

Tip

Because it is frowned upon to walk-and-eat in Japan, most street vendors also setup a side stall with benches for eaters to take a seat and chow-down.  I recommend hovering in the side stalls a bit and chatting-up the other patrons if you're not sure about whether or not you want to try the food.

Watching the food being eaten will tell you a lot about what's being on the table.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Savoury Pancake)

In Kyoto and elsewhere in Japan, you will find street vendors making Okonomiyaki.  These are savoury pancakes willed with all kinds of regionally-available goodies.

The ones we had in Kyoto had cabbage, noodles, pork, onions, scrambled egg, a few veggies and were open grill-fried for a few minutes each.  They looked AWESOME and the kids were really into them, right up until the vendor sprinkled on Kombu and Bonito flakes.

Bonito flakes are a deal-breaker for our kids.

yum (maybe?) - everything tastes good with bacon, right?! - note the eating benches behind the stall

Takoyaki (Octopus Balls)

These little ditties are sold all over Japan.  They're a flavoured batter that has little octopus bits floating in it, along with a host of great spices and other chunky ingredients.  They are cooked in what look like rounded (rather than cylindrical) muffin tins and flipped like a Belgian waffle maker, resulting in balls.

They're topped with Kombu and Bonito flakes as well as a sweet-n-sour sauce and some Japanese mayo.  The batter isn't always fully cooked through, so they kind of "ooze" in your mouth.  They're also on the greasy side.

Our kids tried 'em but they didn't like 'em - Bonito is not an easy fit for westerners.

Preparing Takoyaki

Satay/Skewers

You can buy skewers almost anywhere in Japan - even at the corner store!  They can be chicken or pork and (rarely) beef.  Most include a soy-based sauce, but this isn't always the case.  They can be whole or ground meat.

Our kids LOVED the skewers and satay sticks they found around Japan.

Skewers

Sweets

Ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream!!  The Japanese LOVE ice cream!  We found some amazing new flavours - from Cherry Blossom to Green Tea, Chestnut and Bamboo - and that's not all!  You can get gold leaf foil sprinkled onto your ice cream for good measure - 'cause why not, right?

Gold leaf on ice cream

Yaki Inari

Fried tofu sliced open lengthwise and stuffed with seafood or meat and rice.  Freakin' awesome street food - try it!

Chicken and rice Yaki Inari

You figure it out - pictures rock!

Fancy Joints/Menus

We didn't do a lot of sit-down, multi-course meals in Japan... because... they're WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for a family of 5.  Seriously - easily CAD$50/ea.  We found Japan very expensive in general, so this just didn't feel like the right balance of experience-to-value for us.

This said, we ate like kings at a famous Ryokan in a small unadulterated post town called Tsumago - more in this in another post.

From what we could tell, if you want to have a proper snow crab, lobster or Kobe beef meal, you should hit a fancier joint to get your fill.  We noticed that some have lineups around the corner while others have a wide open door - draw your own conclusions!

Many of the fancier joints have displays out front with artistic replicas of their dishes...

Artistic food replicas - this wasn't a fancy joint but it gives you an idea of what to expect

Summary

Cheryl's going to write a post about our Ryokan and Onsen experiences - some "5 star" joints with acclaimed local menus and food service.  Keep your eyes peeled for her post.