tako_koen (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tako_koen) wrote,@ 2004-03-29 09:35:00 |
|
By request, food suggestions...
First, some American-friendly Japanese food.
Tempura - Just deep-fried shrimp and veggies (and often Squid, which Japanese people love but I think tastes like shrimp-flavored rubber). This is actually an imported Portuguese dish, but it's been so popular for so long in Japan that it is considered Japanese food. Very tasty.
Yaki-torii - Literally, "roasted bird," usually chicken. Yaki-torii is chicken kabobs, and so delicious, especially if you get the kind cooked over charcoal or wood rather than a gas grill. Yaki-torii is sold from street stands, and you usually will smell them first, because they pipe the exhaust from the grill into the street, making the whole street smell like roasting chicken, and making everyone's mouth water. It's a cruel trick, but it can be forgiven because the food is so good.
(By the way, my first "real Japan" experience was in a Yaki-torii joint, joint being the only way to describe it. Some yaki-torii resturants are open street stalls, but some are actually closed in, meaning with a door, though the term "resturant" is used pretty loosely here. Imagine a tiny shack with just enough room inside for two tables and the grill, where the customers sitting by the grill have to pass food to the other customers. Anyway, I was squeezed into one of these places with a friend, and we were chatting away with the other customers, when the most interesting man I've ever met came bursting through the door to plop down at our table (there was nowhere else to sit). He was an older man, quite drunk, and he proceeded to tell myself and my friend about how he used to be a Yakuza (Japanese mafia). At first I thought he was just drunk and mouthing off, but then he showed us his hands, and his two missing pinkie fingers (Japanese Yakuza are famous for cutting their own fingers off whenever they "disgrace" their Yakuza "family"). But then he told us that now he's a Buddhist temple priest, and he proceeded to buy us drinks and espouse to us a lot of complicated philosophy that really impressed my friend, though she was unable to translate for me. Anyway, a great night, but I'm off the subject here.)
Ramen - I know, I know, you're thinking "What? Those dried noodle things that cost a nickle at Bruno's!?" Yes, same idea, but on an infintely different level of quality. The Ramen in Japan is usually flavored with pieces of pork and some veggies, and also perhaps a slice of Nori, which is dried seaweed (sounds gross but it's really tasty). My personal favorite is the Kyushu-style ramen, Kyushu being the South Island of Japan. Kyushu-style ramen uses a pork soup as a base rather than soy sauce, and it has thinner noodles, and is often quite spicy. Again, ramen is technically a Chinese import, but the Japanese have really made it their own.
Yaki-niku - Yet another imported food (this time from Korea) that has become very "Japanese." Yaki-niku is literally "grilled-meat," and there is no better way to describe it. The waitress brings a grill to your table, and a big pile of raw meat and veggies, and you grill it yourself. So yummy. (Another slightly-off topic rant - I can't believe that so many Korean people come to America and start Japanese restaurants, when I think Yaki-Niku would be a much better idea for a restaurant in America. I mean, it's piles of raw meat...)
Anyway, that's enough for now. I will try to post some more suggestions, as well as some food ideas for the more "adventurous" people later.
First, some American-friendly Japanese food.
Tempura - Just deep-fried shrimp and veggies (and often Squid, which Japanese people love but I think tastes like shrimp-flavored rubber). This is actually an imported Portuguese dish, but it's been so popular for so long in Japan that it is considered Japanese food. Very tasty.
Yaki-torii - Literally, "roasted bird," usually chicken. Yaki-torii is chicken kabobs, and so delicious, especially if you get the kind cooked over charcoal or wood rather than a gas grill. Yaki-torii is sold from street stands, and you usually will smell them first, because they pipe the exhaust from the grill into the street, making the whole street smell like roasting chicken, and making everyone's mouth water. It's a cruel trick, but it can be forgiven because the food is so good.
(By the way, my first "real Japan" experience was in a Yaki-torii joint, joint being the only way to describe it. Some yaki-torii resturants are open street stalls, but some are actually closed in, meaning with a door, though the term "resturant" is used pretty loosely here. Imagine a tiny shack with just enough room inside for two tables and the grill, where the customers sitting by the grill have to pass food to the other customers. Anyway, I was squeezed into one of these places with a friend, and we were chatting away with the other customers, when the most interesting man I've ever met came bursting through the door to plop down at our table (there was nowhere else to sit). He was an older man, quite drunk, and he proceeded to tell myself and my friend about how he used to be a Yakuza (Japanese mafia). At first I thought he was just drunk and mouthing off, but then he showed us his hands, and his two missing pinkie fingers (Japanese Yakuza are famous for cutting their own fingers off whenever they "disgrace" their Yakuza "family"). But then he told us that now he's a Buddhist temple priest, and he proceeded to buy us drinks and espouse to us a lot of complicated philosophy that really impressed my friend, though she was unable to translate for me. Anyway, a great night, but I'm off the subject here.)
Ramen - I know, I know, you're thinking "What? Those dried noodle things that cost a nickle at Bruno's!?" Yes, same idea, but on an infintely different level of quality. The Ramen in Japan is usually flavored with pieces of pork and some veggies, and also perhaps a slice of Nori, which is dried seaweed (sounds gross but it's really tasty). My personal favorite is the Kyushu-style ramen, Kyushu being the South Island of Japan. Kyushu-style ramen uses a pork soup as a base rather than soy sauce, and it has thinner noodles, and is often quite spicy. Again, ramen is technically a Chinese import, but the Japanese have really made it their own.
Yaki-niku - Yet another imported food (this time from Korea) that has become very "Japanese." Yaki-niku is literally "grilled-meat," and there is no better way to describe it. The waitress brings a grill to your table, and a big pile of raw meat and veggies, and you grill it yourself. So yummy. (Another slightly-off topic rant - I can't believe that so many Korean people come to America and start Japanese restaurants, when I think Yaki-Niku would be a much better idea for a restaurant in America. I mean, it's piles of raw meat...)
Anyway, that's enough for now. I will try to post some more suggestions, as well as some food ideas for the more "adventurous" people later.
