Before I describe the food, I want to mention how to order food. At many restaurants, you need to order from a vending machine. Outside of Japan, the idea sounds ridiculous, but actually, it's amazing, because you don't have to worry about any language barrier. You just look at the picture on the machine, put your money in, select your food, then you can bring your ticket to the chef who will cook your order. No speaking involved. For me who speaks no Japanese and has no idea of the names of food, it's the world's greatest invention.
I must say, I didn't know much about Japanese cuisine before going to Japan... besides sushi, that is, but I was impressed. We didn't eat in any expensive restaurants, just your average joe places on the side of the street, but of all 12 times or so that I ate over the span of two days, the only thing I didn't like was the pasta. I'd already tried this style of pasta here in Korea, since the Koreans imported Japanese pasta. Everything else was amazing. The Japanese don't blast your mouth with spice, like the Koreans, and I expected not to like it (since I only eat spicy food nowadays... if it's not spicy, I'll put spice in it). I was amazed to find out that non-spicy food actually can taste good. I had forgotten what it was like to live two days without spice, but it was quite enjoyable.
Here are some photos of the food I ate. I'll try my best to get the names and descriptions correct, though if the boyfriend hadn't been there I would have had no idea what I was eating the whole time.
Convenience store cuisine. And since Japanese convenience stores have no chairs outside, we had to squat under the eave of the building in the rain to eat this. We're not in Korea anymore.Takoyaki- A small piece of octopus fried inside a ball of dough with delicious terriaki sauce and mayo and other deliciousness.
Okonomiyaki (I might have this one wrong, I'll check later). Octopus fried into a pancake with terriaki sauce... amazing...
Soba noodles and yorichobab for breakfast (yorichobap is the korean name... I forget the Japanese name)
Our Yakisoba... it smelled better than it tasted. It wasn't bad, but the BF said he'd had much better.
Our first meal of sushi... for breakfast at 7:00 just after we arrived. We got this right outside of Tsukiji Fish Market. It was cheaper outside the market than in...
The boyfriend's new obsession. Natto. It's a fermented bean with soy sauce and mustard. It's ok, but I would never crave it. Now there are 6 boxes like this in my fridge.
And yes, to answer your question, we did manage to eat all this in 48 hours.....pretty sick, huh?
Okonomiyaki :) I know, it's a real mouthful. Er. No pun intended!
ReplyDeleteAnd tonkatsu, not donkatsu. ;) Also tempura. haha. Don't worry, I can't spell Korean dishes (I just devour them).
And no, no eating outside of convenience stores. People take the food home. Eating on the streets is normally not done in Japan except at yatai (stalls), where they do have seats. Oh well, didn't stop me either...heh.
Anyway, if you can *eat* nattou/natto (spellings vary), you're doing better than a lot of people, even if you're not wild about it! That'll impress the heck out of Japanese people. My husband swears that freshly made nattou is about a billion times more delicious than packaged stuff, though, so try it if you ever get a chance. :D
Thanks for the corrections, I can't claim any authority when it comes to Japanese...
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