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This is a 3 post series. Topics covered:
Post 1 (Please click here to read post 1 a & b – Here)
a. What we saw, felt & experience
b. A brief history of Japan from ancient times to Modern
Post 2
c. Food in Japan (this post)
d. What we ate & where (Coming up) – details by restaurant
Post 3
e. Cities we visited & Activities we did (Coming up)
Restaurant experiences
- Shabu Shabu – Shabuzen Yotsuya
- Sushi – Sushidokoro ishihara
- Omakase – Nominokouji
- Tempura – Shinjuku Tsunahatchi
Other Food experiences:
2c. Food in Japan
- Food in Japan (whatever we ate in the 11 day trip) was always Quality over quantity – Both sellers & buyers are aligned to buy / eat less quantity of good food over more quantity of average / bad food. Example – A traditional sweet named mochi is Rs.135 per piece for 50 grams approx. People were just buying & eating 1 – 2 pieces rather than buying box-fulls at low prices. In the entire trip we did not see any deals/ discounts / offers/ happy hours etc. at eateries.
- Food is a serious business – genuine effort to offer relevant good flavour, taste & texture. From Michelin star restaurants to supermarket food, train station packed ‘food on the go’, simple small food shops & shacks. Chefs took pride in giving the best food offering. Did not hear anyone bragging ‘biggest xyz at lowest price’.
- Attention to detail was at its best possible – ideal temperature of food, way of plating, bite size that is appropriate & does not compel the guest to widen jaws like a crocodile, what the food is to be paired with (our tempura /teppanyaki chef actually told us separately for each variety, whether to dip in soy / salt / wasabi salt with every different kind of tempura he served us).
- Show-windows of most eateries had a visual depiction of the food that they were serving. This displayed food would be made of plastic but would look quite real from a distance. The good ones could even deceive from a distance of 1 meter.
- Restaurants seemed to be specializing in any kind of dish – be it a small eatery or a large famous one. Examples – sushi & sashimi, ramen, omu rice, teppanyaki, tempura etc. We did not come across anything like the concept of multi-cuisine restaurants in India – ‘Indian Mughlai Chinese’.
- Uncooked meats, fish, seafood & raw eggs are a big part of the diet, be it in the form of the popular (outside Japan) dishes like sushis & sashimis or in the rather unknown (outside Japan) dishes like shabu shabu, yakiniku, sukiyaki etc.
- In all sushi restaurants, the chef would just clean his hand & make the sushi using his fingers. No gloves used. Soy sauce/ wasabi was not served on the side but was added by the chef in the right proportion in the sushi itself.
- Japanese Guests were eating sushi with their fingers, not using chopsticks.
- We came across many traditional & modern sweet shops all across Japan. These sweets were being eaten just like that throughout the day, not served as desserts after a meal.
- No tips was the norm at all kinds of restaurants. A genuine THANK YOU was enough to make the chef/ server very happy.
- There were supermarkets near every street corner &also on all railway stations. We did not see any kirana store equivalents selling food items. So we bought all food & drinks from supermarkets & just drinks from the numerous vending machines installed on footpaths. Carrying coins for these vending machines were an annoyance for us as we have got used to UPI everywhere these days.
- There was enormous variety of food available for ‘on the go’, readymade food / almost cooked food (finish at home) for busy people.
- Bento box – Many dishes in separate compartments in a box, conceptually similar packaging to haldiram’s thali box ordered through zomato.
- Sweetened seafood crisps were being sold in supermarkets & speciality shops.
- Uniqueness of daily replenished food items in supermarkets e.g. soft boiled eggs, cut fruits, hot soups, steamed meats & seafood,
- Make your own smoothie at supermarket – buy cut fruit stored in plastic glasses (& milk/cream if needed), go to smoothie machine, do it yourself.
- The Japanese food has minimal strong flavours of spices (if at all). However, the flavours of fermented foods / seafood were strong at times.
- We came across a large variety of rice based snack, often with real / artificial seafood flavours. The uniqueness of this was the exceptional crispiness.
- Rice was the main cereal from times immemorial. After world-war 2 there was a huge shortage in rice. US sent wheat in bulk to Japan during this period & that is what popularized ramen (noodles).
- The Japanese are so serious about anything that they get into, that they have made fabulous versions of western bakery products & have now come up with their own variants too.
- We got know while talking to some people from Tokyo that rice, fish & miso soup is a staple everyday diet for all, like dal-roti-subzi is for many north Indian families & dal-bhaja-fish curry-rice for many Bengali families.
- The raw seafood & meat markets almost always had cooked food eateries.
- Many food items looked like anime characters
- Global Chain stores like KFC & Mc Donalds had unique Japan menu & they were really good. Coca cola sells bottled cold tea in Japan!!
- Macha is a unique drink made from tea leaves in bright green colour. Macha tea making ceremony is a unique experience when in Japan. Macha is now used for flavouring a large variety of food like desserts, ice creams, breads etc.
- Salmon was a fish served in cheap Japanese fishes long back. Tuna was always the most sought after. Atlantic salmon popularity came about when the Norwegians smartly marketed their excess produce. Salmon sushi & sashimi became popular n restaurants, but usually where foreigners dine,& in foreign countries. We were not served salmon in any sushi/sashimi/teppanyaki restaurant that had a set menu (where chef decided what to offer).
- Earlier tuna used to be caught in the Japanese waters & was immediately brought to the market & auctioned. Nowadays most of the tuna comes from all across the world, refrigerated. These are frozen to minus 60 degree Celsius immediately after being caught. We went to see tuna auction one morning, There was only 1 fresh local tuna that morning among thousand frozen ones. That fish sold at highest price immediately.
- We had Savoury gel in quite a few places that looked like Karachi halwa. It was solidified gel like soup that could be picked with chopsticks & eaten.
- Sake is a traditional drink that is made from rice. Like other alcohols there are dry & sweet versions. It is had as it is & is used in many cooking recipes.
- Wagyu (wa means Japanese gyu means beef) from Kobe region deserves a special pointer. The marbling (spread of fat in between the muscles) is incredible. The meat is like none other I have ever eaten in my life. The price of cooked kobe beef at a roadside shop was INR 35000 / kilo. We had 2 plates of 60g meat each. Later we had dinner at a Wagyu specialty restaurant & it was the best meat ever – the juices from the fat rushed into the mouth with every bite, the meaty flavour was intense. The texture unparalleled – melt in the mouth is an understatement. Worth saving up money to have this.
