Food here in Japan is absolutely brilliant. Enough said.
I’m sure many of you have already tried, and hopefully enjoyed the usual like sushi, tempura, or yakitori. These foods have gained recognition overseas, thanks to all the franchises and restaurants that made it there, but you haven’t yet seen the “real deal” until you’ve visited the homeland.
However, the question is, “where should you go and what should you try”?
Here are some videos introducing the authentic Japanese gourmet experience you should definitely try for your next trip to Japan!!
Enjoy Various Ramen In Japan
It is great news that the world is finally starting to recognize the beauty of Japanese Ramen. However, it is somewhat disappointing that many people do not realize that “Japanese ramen” is just a general term given to the whole category of “noodle soup” and fail to recognize its variation.
For instance, take this restaurant that OkanoTV introduces:
You could see that the restaurant serves different flavored soups, shoyu(soy sauce) and yuzu-shio (citrus & salt) in this case. Although the restaurant might use the same broth and noodle to prepare the bowl, the two bowls have completely different characteristics.
Japanese ramen soup usually consists of these three soups, or a combination of them:
Tonkotsu (Pork Bone Broth): Typically creamy and thick in color with a distinct aroma. The presense of the soup is so dominant, chefs typically combine it with flavorful ingredients like garlic or soy sauce.
Torigara (Chicken Broth): Typically clear in color and more refined compared to Tonkotsu. The subtle flavor of the soup allows chefs to combine it with various aromatic ingredients such as fried green-onion oil, herbs, or citrus. However, some restaurants serve tori-gari soups that are as creamy and thick as tonkotsu.
Gyokai (Fish Broth): Typically used to compliment the two main soups above, fish soup adds a anchovy-like (some what close to South East Asian fish sauce) flavor to the bowl. In recent years, many restaurants add crushed fish flakes to tonkotsu soup to bring a stronger and more complexed flavor.
Once the broth is done, the restaurant would add condensed sauce mix to finish the soup.
Typically, shio (salt) would be the more aromatic and refined choice, naturally coming to a perfect marriage with chicken broth, whereas shoyu (soy sauce) would give the soup a more distinct and strong flavor, going well with both tonkotsu-based and torigara-based soup.
Although it hasn’t been under the spotlight in recent years, some restaurants also use miso to flavor-up their soup. Do not make the mistake in assuming that it would taste like a bowl of miso-soup. Not to say that miso-soups lack in complexity, but the rich broth completely changes the game.
Check this video of Brian, a ramen expert living in Japan, showing us “the most sophisticated shio ramen”.
If you follow a halal diet, be sure to ask whether the restaurant is using “tonkotsu”, and to omit the roasted-pork (“cha shu” in Japanese) for your topping. You won’t miss out on much, as Japan has a wide variety of chicken-based soup.
Try Unusual Food Only Available In Japan
What am I to hide from my fellow Asians. We do eat weird things (although the French love their snails and Italians eat maggot cheese, which makes our crown as “weird food-eaters” a bit unfair).
You probably have your own weird or non-typical food in your country, and here’s ours.
Out of the four introduced in the video, “nankotsu (chicken cartilage)” would probably be the most popular, given that you’ll find it in almost every izakaya you dine in Japan.
Eels are also a very popular dish, however it is usually kept only for special occasions due to its price.
Horse meat could have shocked a lot of you, but it is also a common menu, especially in restaurants which serve cuisines from Kyushu where horse meat is deeply inbedded in their culture.
Raw chicken could also come to you as a surprise, but there is nothing to be worried about as chicken in Japan are raised in a very carefully sanitized environment, as the Japanese eat raw eggs. If people are eating raw eggs almost everyday and still manage to live longer than most countries, you can be certain that salmonela doesn’t even stand a chance in entering the chickens’ body.
Dine Out At an Authentic Japanese Restaurant
If you want to have a grasp of the truly authentic Japanese gastronomic experience, you have to spend atleast one dinner at a high-end Japanese restaurant. And this doesn’t have to be the most celebrated sushi or tempura (in fact these two dishes started out as an easily affordable handy snack).
What you want is the “kaiseki” meal, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. Introduced in the video is a kaiseki restaurant called “Tofuya Ukai” which serves the most refined tofu assortments and many others. Not only are they delicious, but what you would truly like to enjoy is the whole experience including the tea room and the beautiful garden.
Japanese gardens are sometimes refered to as “a small universe”, as every element of it resembles something in this beautiful planet, may it be the small mountains or artificial river.
The food served in a kaiseki course always matches the season, showing how the Japanese appreciate the changing seasons and the land that provides us with beautiful ingredients for us to enjoy.
This is where you’ll find the true culture of Japan.
Drink What the Locals Drink At Izakaya
If you’d like to know how the Japanese enjoy their drinks, there is no better place to go than an izakaya, Japanese style bistro.
There, you’d see that there are various drinks to choose from and how unique each of them are. In the video, Deep In Japan presents us the most basic drinks enjoyed by the locals.
Although we’d love for you to enjoy all the drinks available in Japan, just a friendly reminder that switching between drinks is called “chanpon” and it is known to get you drunk very quick. We highly recommend that you go as a group and have a sip of each others drinks to find your favorite.
Hope this guide made you want to come to Japan for your next holiday!
Comments