味噌汁
As part and parcel of
Japanese cuisine as sushi and rice, miso soup (
misoshiru) is a true gourmet's delight. Made from a fish-based stock (
dashi), miso soup is not suitable for
vegetarians but for demi-veggies miso soup is usually a meat-free zone.
Softened miso paste (made from soy beans) is added to the
dashi stock to form the base of the soup and various ingredients are added such as cubes of tofu, Chinese cabbage,
daikon radish,
wakame seaweed, sliced
negi onions and mushrooms.
There is considerable regional as well as seasonal variety in the type of miso used producing different flavors between Kansai and Kanto miso soup.
Instant miso soup comes in single-serving sachets containing dried wakame and tofu with miso paste that dissolves with the addition of hot water and can be bought in any supermarket.
Miso soup is usually served in red and black lacquer bowls.
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つけもの (漬物)
Japanese pickles known as
tsuke-mono are one of my favorite Japanese foods and completely
vegetarian to boot.
Japanese pickles are not usually pickled in vinegar but in salt, soy sauce or sometimes sake lees.
Tsukemono are eaten as a side dish with rice at a traditional Japanese meal - either breakfast or dinner but also turn up with Japanese curries.
Favorite vegetables that are pickled in Japan include daikon radish, turnip,
umeboshi, cucumber, Chinese cabbage,
shibazuke (rape blossoms), eggplant and ginger.
Kyoto tsukemono (
kyotsukemono) is particularly well known and many Japanese tourists take home pickles from any trip to the ancient capital. The wooden pickling barrels can be seen in the area near Kamigamo Shrine, which has a long tradition of tsukemono production.
Full of vitamin C and fiber, though heavy on the salt, tsukemono are a healthy addition to your diet.
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茶碗蒸し
Chawan Mushi lit. "tea cup steamed" is an egg custard dish popular as part of a full course Japanese meal.
Eaten with a spoon from a ceramic bowl usually with a lid, chawan mushi is flavored with a mix of
dashi,
mirin and soy sauce and usually contains chicken, shrimp,
shiitake or
shimeji mushrooms,
mitsuba and
kamaboko, so the dish is not suitable for
vegetarians.
In the pictures above, the kamaboko (fish paste) is colored and shaped as a maple leaf.
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冷やし中華
Hiyashi Chuka, Chinese-style Japanese cold noodles, is a summer staple designed to beat the heat.
The dish, basically a ramen noodle salad, is made with lots of toppings including sliced cucumber, smoked salmon, sliced omelette (
tamagoyaki), chicken, tomatoes and
beni shoga (pickled red ginger).
Vegetarians and demi-vegetarians can replaced the meat, eggs and fish with vegetarian alternatives including
yuba or dried bean curd, bean sprouts and grated carrots. Add mayonnaise for the kids.
After boiling the noodles, drain and add the toppings and the
tare sauce usually a soy and sesame mix that can be bought in supermarkets or made at home.
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納豆
One standard question that many foreigners in Japan are asked is: "Can you eat natto?"
The strong smell and slimy constituency of natto - fermented soybeans - means that even many Japanese are put off this much-maligned, healthy, gooey and 100% vegetarian delicacy.
Natto is usually served with a touch of
karashi mustard and a drizzle of soy sauce and eaten as an accompaniment to rice whether at breakfast or dinner. A little bit of sake poured on the natto as a condiment can also add to the flavor, I've found.
Mass produced natto sold in supermarkets usually comes in a 50g polystyrene pack with little sachets of mustard and soy sauce.
The health benefits of eating natto are many and legendary and include lowering cholesterol, preventing cancer and strokes to helping fight obesity.
So in answer to the question, "Can you eat natto?"
Yes, I'm lovin' it.
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カレーハウスCoCo壱番屋
Curry House Coco Ichibanya began life in Nishi Biwajima in Nagoya in 1978 and now has over 1200 restaurants spread throughout all 47 prefectures in Japan as well as overseas stores in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hawaii.
The company specializes in a pork cutlet curry with a thick pork-based sauce but also has a bewildering number of other dishes including aubergine curry, beef curry, chicken curry, cuttlefish curry, natto curry, shrimp curry, tofu curry, vegetable curry etc etc. All the curries come with the pork-rich stew so this is not a place for
vegetarians. Customize your curry by choosing the level of spiciness and the amount of rice you require.
Diners can order from an English menu and a variety of sides dishes: salads, croquettes and pickles are also available.
Service is usually quick and polite as befits the company's motto: "Briskly, Sharply, and with a Smile."
Coco Ichibanya has offered various gimmicks to keep its loyal customers including a free curry refill if you can finish off their largest curry on the menu.
Coco Ichibanya© JapanVisitor.com
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餃子の王将
Gyoza no Osho is a cheap and cheerful Chinese-style Japanese fast food restaurant chain specializing in such classic Chinese dishes as fried dumplings (
gyoza), noodles (
ramen) and sweet and sour pork (
subutta).
You may well be served by someone wearing white Wellington boots, but prices are cheap so never mind the MSG, tuck in!
Osho began life in 1967 in Kyoto and now the company operates over 500 restaurants in 29 of Japan's 47 prefectures, even managing to weather the seemingly-endless slump in Japan's economy. Osho has even re-exported Chinese food to China with the opening of its three eateries in Dalian, north eastern China.
Osho restaurants normally open between 11am and 11pm or even later.
Gyoza no Osho© JapanVisitor.com
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吉野家
Yoshinoya is a household name in Japan for
gyudon - beef served on a bowl of rice - and has 1000s of branches throughout the country and overseas, employing over 8,500 people in Japan alone.
Yoshinoya began life in 1899 as the Japanese took up beef-eating under western influence in the Meiji Period. The first Yoshinoya restaurant opened in Nihonbashi in Tokyo before moving to the
Tsukiji Fish Market after the
Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
The BSE crisis in the US caused Yoshinoya to suspend imports of American beef in 2004 and switch to pork (
butadon) as a substitute.
Yoshinoya now serves beef from both the USA and Australia as well as pork
gyudon.
Yoshinoya has restaurants in the following countries overseas: Australia, China (Hong Kong), Indonesia, Malaysia (no pork on the menu), The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States (Arizona, California, Las Vegas, and New York City).
Yoshinoya's motto is "
umai,
yasui,
hayai" (tasty, cheap and quick).
Yoshinoya115-8529
Kita-ku
Akabane Minami 1-20-1
Tokyo
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モス
MOS Burger is Japan's answer to McDonalds and aims to provide an authentic "Japanese burger" experience with menu items such as MOS Rice Burger, Pork Cutlet Burger and MOS Rice Burger Yakiniku.
MOS (from the first letters of "Mountain Ocean Sun") burger began in the 1970s and one of its most popular meals at the outset was its "teriyaki burger" which combined a Japanese dish with the American hamburger.
MOS Burger now has over 1300 fast-food restaurants in Japan, with branches overseas in Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The company also operates the 80^C stores, MOS's-C, Mother Leaf, Mamedori, Shanghalichiba and Stefan Grill food outlets.
MOS made over 552 million yen in 2009 and is the second largest fast-food franchise in Japan after its rival McDonalds.
As well as hamburgers, MOS offers hot-dogs, fried chicken, fried potatoes, soup, desserts and a morning-set meal. MOS is also trying to diversify its menu by adding more meals aimed at the health-conscious.
MOS has its HQ in Shinagawa-ku in Tokyo and employs around 900 full-time employees, with the rest of the staff made up of part-time workers.
MOS© JapanVisitor.com
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温泉卵
If you stay at a
hot spring resort in Japan, you may well be served an onsen tamago (hot spring egg) for breakfast or dinner.
These weird looking eggs are traditionally cooked in the waters of the hot spring. The eggs are placed in rope nets and left in the hot water for around 30-40 minutes - the low temperature heating causes the egg yolks to harden more than the egg white. The eggs are thus poached within the shells.
The eggs are usually eaten in a light sauce made of mirin, dashi and soy sauce with chopped spring onions sprinkled over the top. The image below is a model of an onsen tamago at the Onsen Museum in Gero.
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ひな野
Hinano is a restaurant chain serving locally sourced, often organic, all you can eat buffets, which are great for
vegetarians in Japan.
Hinano franchises are mainly in northern Japan and Kanto with a few restaurants spreading in Kansai in Nara, Osaka and Hyogo Prefectures. Hinano has its HQ in Sendai and started its operations in 2007.
There are outlets in Sapporo, Hachinohe, Sendai, Mito, Tokorozawa, Tsukuba, Utsunomiya, Nagoya, Toyohashi, Yokkaichi, Ise, Okazaki and Nara as well as other cities.
The choice of fresh food is huge with delicious desserts and a range of fresh juices. Interiors are traditional Japanese farmhouse style with lots of wood and basketware.
The restaurant pictured is in the LALA Garden Mall in
Tsukuba Tel: 029 855 8031. Hours are lunch 11am-3.30pm and dinner 5.30-10.30pm. Last orders are an hour before closing time.
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エリックさんの新・和食
The Breakaway Japanese Kitchenby
Eric GowerKodansha InternationalISBN: 4-77002-949-7 112 pp
A dedicated gourmet, the author spent 15 years in Japan but never lost his carefree, Californian touch. Bemoaning the fact that people "come to like and expect the standard repertoire when it comes to Japanese food" and that Japanese "learn from childhood that there's a right way to eat almost anything," he relishes the opportunity to ignore convention and combine the quintessentially Japanese with the distinctly non-Japanese.
"Orange Tarragon Cauliflower Simmered In Sake" or "Miso Apricot Glaze" for white fish give a fair idea of what to expect. This is not a Japanese cookbook, but rather an eclectic selection of dishes incorporating Japanese staples like soy, persimmons and shiso with the olive oil, butter and fresh herbs such as mint and coriander found in a Western kitchen.
Some dishes such as the "Boozy Japanese Potatoes" (parboiled then cooked in sake and rounded off with soy and butter) or the "Shiitake Ginger Pasta" manage a happy marriage of flavours. Others might seem a little too outlandish, but this depends on how experimental you like to be. What the book does do is give a much-needed reminder that there’s a whole lot more you can do with any given ingredient if you leave straight and narrow conventions behind and try something new.
While the book has gorgeous photographs throughout and is very slick, one of its strengths is that, not being a professional chef, Gower’s recipes are undaunting and he makes a good guide for those looking for a little more zest from familiar ingredients.
Aidan O'Connor© JapanVisitor.com
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ラーメン横丁
Sapporo is known for its ramen (Chinese egg noodles). The whole city is scattered with ramen joints, but the most famous place to try ramen is in Ramen Yokocho - an alleyway packed with steaming, crowded, noodle restaurants.
Ramen stock comes in three main flavors:
miso (fermented soybean paste),
shio (salt) and
shoyu (soy sauce). Hokkaido ramen specializes in the
miso variety. There are spicy
kara-kuchi ramen options too.
Ramen Yokocho is in the entertainment district of Susukino not far from the Susukino metro station on the Namboku Line.
Everyone has their favorite ramen hole-in-the-wall. On a recent trip we were recommended Shirakaba Sanso. Shirakaba Sanso has a number of shops in Sapporo, one in Chitose and another in Aqua City,
Odaiba, Tokyo.
Shirakaba SansoTel: 011 512 7388
Images by Rob Markovitz
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