Tempura consists of vegetables or seafood deep fried in a very light and crisp batter. Good tempura is judged on the freshness of the ingredients, and by how light and crisp the batter is. There is a light soy based dipping sauce that accompanies the dish. Prices range from extremely expensive to quite reasonable.

Sushi and sashimi are perhaps the foods most associated with Japan. They are now massively popular overseas. The world seems to have been taken over by the sushi craze. You will find sushi in Japan to be a little more fishy than the Californian Rolls, Teriyaki Chicken, and other hybrids you find overseas.

Sushi in Japan comes as Nigiri-zushi ,which is a wee hand-shaped oblong ball of sushi rice with a small slab of raw fish on it. Or Maki-Zushi, which is sushi rice wrapped in seaweed with a topping (usually fish). Maki-zushi can be divided into Te-maki which is usually wrapped loosely by hand into a sort Continue Reading

Soba is similar again to Udon but the noodles are brown and made from the soba plant. They are thinner and have a more distictive flavor than their Udon cousin.

Udon is a tranditional Japanese noodle and soup dish. The noodle is thick and cream colored. The broth is usually a very delicate flavor. This simple dish is a Japanese favourite during the winter months and is usually quite reasonabley priced.

Usually there is something else added as a small garnish such as a tempura shrip or a bit of dried seaweed.

Ramen is a form of noodles and soup. The soup comes in three main varieties, salt, soy sauce, miso. Salt is just a finely salted broth and is delicate in flavor. The other two are as they sound. There are normally a couple of slivers of meat and possibly half a hard boiled egg, or mung beans depending on which variety you order.

Ramen has gone through a bit of a resurgence in recent years and there are literally magazines and TV shows devoted to the intricate nuances that differentiate one shop’s ramen from another.

Donburi is really the generic name for a bowl of rice with some kind of topping. This can vary from Katsudon (crumbed pork cutlets on rice), to Oyakodon (chicken and egg omlette on rice), Unagidon (eel in a sweet teriyaki style sauce on rice) to Chirashizushi don (a mix of raw seafood on rice).

Donburi is a good staple meal. Cheap, filling, and often delicious.

Shabushabu is another traditional Japanese dish where a very delicately flavored stock is heated over a flame. Very thinly sliced slivers of fine beef cuts are brushed through the gently boiling water and are cooked almost instantaneously.

They can then be dipped into a creamy seasame dip or a more traditional tart soy based dip. There are also vegetables such as mushrooms, hakusai, and also noodles that are added to the stock and taste delicious. Generally this dish is eaten during the winter months.

It’s a bit cheeky to call  Yakiniku a Japanese dish as it really harks from Korea. However, this dish has become extremely popular in Japan since meat consumption has grown, and the Japanese have adopted it with such fervor that we are including it in our top ten list.

Yakiniku is basically strips of meat barbequed over a grill. There are a variety of types and cuts of meat, some marinated, some sprinkled with a little salt. There are also dipping sauces for the meat. Vegetables can be grilled too.

Sukiyaki is usually cooked during winter. It is thin strips of beef, and varioius vegetables all simmered together in a slightly sweet sukiyaki sauce. This is always popular with families in winter as it is nutritious, tasty and easy to prepare.

It is quite common to have a sukiyaki party and cook sukiyaki in a nabe over a gas burner for guests when they come around. It is a wonderfully social way to eat as guests all pull the sukiyaki from the nabe into small bowls called torizara to eat.

Okonomiyaki is often described as a type of cabbage pancake. This description is not far from the truth as a kind of pancake mix and cabbage form the basic ingredients. Into this various other ingredients are added such as seafood, beef, pork and ingredients such as corn, mushrooms, mung beans.

Sometimes cheese is also added if that is what you like. The okonomiyaki pancake is usually cooked at a grill at your table and often it is your job to do the mixing and flipping of the pancake. The staff will usually give you a quick lesson if you are a newbie. Continue Reading