Tag - Japanese food

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My Japanese Culinary Tour
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Traditional Sushi Dining Experience

My Japanese Culinary Tour

This week’s blog post is devoted to the dizzying array of culinary delights that I came across in Japan.

Osechi (see below) is traditional Japanese New Year’s fare.  Osechi are served in boxes called jūbako (重箱).

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On New Year’s Day there was also an abundance of sushi on offer.

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Noodles are very popular in Japan, particularly at lunchtime.  Below is a picture of a bowl of Soba noodles complete with egg, spinach and a tempura prawn.

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Here is a picture I took of a chef making Soba noodles.

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In my humble opinion Japanese KFC is far superior to the British version, and that is to say nothing of the customer service – read smiling and servility (including bowing).  What more could anyone ask for from a fast food restaurant?

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Whale meat is still widely eaten in Japan, much to the annoyance of Greenpeace.  Below is a picture of whale bacon for sale in a fish market that I visited.

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A strawberry and wasabi flavoured ice-cream.

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There are a number of different types of restaurants that serve meat in Japan, including Teppanyaki and Yaki Niku (see below), where the customer cooks the meat themselves.

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Below are two plates of gyoza.  I went on to order a third.  Gyoza are delicious but not particularly healthy.

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A bowl of eel (unagi) on rice that I had for lunch one day in a traditional Japanese restaurant.

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This sausage on a stick (see below) was probably the least appetising thing I ate in Japan.  They can be purchased from service stations, and are best avoided.

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The Japanese love ornate culinary displays (see below).

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And yet more sushi.

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Traditional Sushi Dining Experience

I have been to numerous sushi restaurants in Japan, but none quite like the one in which I am now sitting, ideally located many hundreds of miles south of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant.  This particular restaurant is so popular that to avoid disappointment, bookings should be made at least a month in advance.  On entering the premises, there is surprise that the dining area consists of a single counter with six seats and I wonder how the establishment could possibly turn a profit from so few seats.  I bid the chef and my fellow diners Kombanwa (Good evening), then sit down and order a beer.  I am informed that I will be not be drinking beer but rather green tea, as it does not interfere with the taste of the sushi.  With some assistance, I inform the waitress that I will take my chances with the beer.  This proves to no avail.  Apparently traditional sushi restaurants only serve green tea.

Admonishing myself for my ignorance, I inspect the ornate dining utensils in front of me, see Picture 1.  The dripping water visible behind the counter is to wash ones hands after each serving.  Picture 2 is of the sushi counter, if you were wondering what the white substance is, it is salt.

The meal consists of eighteen separate servings.  Not only is each sushi exquisitely presented, but they are perfection, quite superior in fact to any I have previously encountered.

My particular favourites are the tuna, which literally melts in the mouth and the sea eel which is soft, succulent and served warm.  There is even poisonous puffer fish sushi (see image ); a local speciality.  The waitress constantly replaces our cups of green tea, so as to keep the liquid at the perfect temperature to cleanse the pallet after each serving.

Having finished the meal, I continue sipping green tea, contemplating on how this has been the best sushi experience of my life. Sometime later a diner to my left remarks in broken English that I am looking a little green and suggests it might be a result of the poisonous puffer fish.  The chef casts a nervous glance in my direction.  They need not be concerned; my complexion is merely the result of the contents of the bill.  It is now abundantly clear how the restaurant is able to operate with so few seats.

My book, Charles Middleworth, is a humorous tale of the unexpected.  It is available from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle (£1.96/$3.14).

Click on the link below to read the first two chapters for free:

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