Food from Japan.

[gboss]

As I've posted about elsewhere on this forum, I've recently returned from a short business trip to Japan. I took photos of a lot of the things I ate, mainly to show my wife, who was not able to join me on the trip. It occurred to me that others might appreciate seeing some Japanese cuisine that isn't sushi rolls.

So, I'll upload photos and descriptions and I guess I'll see if there's any interest.

Gyudon - Simmered beef and onions over rice. W/ green onion (negi) and an onsen egg (raw is often used). Similar to fast food shops Sukiya and Yoshinoya. This was a bit better than those.


Beef Yakiniku. Gas grill built into the table. Cook your own.



Hotel Breakfast - Buffet style. In Japan, it's often called "Biking" which, I believe is a permutation of smorgasbord->Viking->Biking



Oyakodon - literally "mother and child rice bowl" Chicken and egg, mirin, soy sauce, etc over rice. Served with pickles and Miso soup.



Train lunch box "Bento" This was about $8 and is kurobuta pork, rice, pickles, etc. Purchased in a train station directly before boarding the shinkansen (bullet train)






Kamo Soba - Duck Soba soup. The plastic version in front of the restaurant and what I was served.



Refreshing Asahi Super-Dry at a Hanshin Tigers Baseball game.



Avoiding the crowd after the game by drinking 9% alcohol cherry soda.



Snack of a deep fried curry bun.

[gboss]

Here's some ramen:

First is a fairly well known chain in Japan. With extra pork and negi.





And here's another place in Kobe:

And, putting the gross "sea kale" to the side before digging in:



A countryside place:

[gboss]

Uncle Bob nori is not my favorite! 🤣😁 It's why I go for nigiri and not maki whenever I have sushi.

[hoovarmin]

I really appreciate these posts. Fascinating stuff!

[Bkhuna]

What, no natto? That is probably the one thing I never got use to.

[gboss]

An colleague who lived there more recently steered me to a burger place to get my opinion... Very solid burger, especially for Japan.





Tonkatsu - Fried pork cutlet with sauce and mustard. Cabbage salad, miso soup, pickles, and rice.



More Yakiniku



Hotel "Set" breakfast: Salad, tamagoyaki (rolled omelette), fruit and yogurt, sashimi in miso, pickles, fried fish, and a bowl of white rice.






Tonkatsu Sandwich - pork cutlet and sauce on crustless bread.



Zarusoba - Cold soba (buckwheat) noodles - inexpensive late night snack



Yakitori - Duck and negi, chicken and negi, chicken skin, chicken meatballs

[Jerod Broussard]

Guess I could adjust, but even without any gastrointestinal issues, I'm still picky enough to probably starve in any country.

[MsTwiggy]

That crustless white bread and fried pork should be right up your alley man!!

[gboss]

Another Tonkatsu sandwich - They're delicious.



Some A5 "all you can eat and drink" yakiniku. This was an amazing experience. $84 all-in (tax, no tip) for all you can eat A5 Wagyu and all you can drink alcoholic beverages.




When there's all you can eat meat, this is about how much "non-meat" I'm likely to consume.




This next one, the meat that's labeled "skirt" is definitely tongue. I'm not sure if it was intentional because they thought I wouldn't like/eat it if I knew it was tongue or if it was simply a mistake.



Katsu-curry - Japanese beef curry with rice and fried pork cutlet.

[hoovarmin]

This is just terrific.

[Jfrosty27]

Man that looks like some mighty fine eating. I have never been to Japan. Always wanted to visit. Now even more so.

[gboss]

It's a great place to visit! It's a little challenging if you don't speak Japanese, but really with smartphones it's not bad at all to get around. Most restaurants have plastic versions of the dishes on display, so you can always just point as a last resort. There's also a lot more English signage post-Tokyo Olympics.

[Murdy]

Thanks for posting this, very interesting. That beef looks amazing, and $84 all you can eat and drink sounds like a pretty good deal to me (I think I could cover that on Brats and Beer).

[gboss]

The beef was really incredible and I definitely got my money's worth. There's some rules (2 "orders" at a time for meat, turn in the empty glass for the next drink, pay for anything you order but don't eat) but otherwise it's a great 2 hours

[MsTwiggy]

I love "pay for anything you order but don't eat". Gonna start doing that to my kids. . . 😁

[rlozinak]

All looked good, especially that burger

[Huskee]

I'd be all over that $84 all you can eat & drink!

[Steve B]

😂😂😂😂

[FireMan]

What a great post man! Now we need the book fer all the explaining, like how to rustle up all this mighty fine food, heh, heh, heh!

[jfmorris]

Thanks for sharing your Japanese adventure with us gboss! I think I could easily get by on what you've shown us so far, from a food and drink perspective.

[58limited]

Thanks for sharing these pictures, the food looks great! I'd be all over that $84 wagyu deal. Did you have any gyoza while you were there?

[gboss]

I did have some gyoza while I was there. It was a quick lunch and I didn't get a photo.

[smokin fool]

Great stuff Greg, its interesting as lets face it, the vast majority of us will never make it to that side of the world.
I'll have to travel vicariously thru your jaunts around the globe.

[Steve B]

A ton of great pics of some great looking food.
Just not so sure about some of those early on chicken pics. Looked to me the chicken was almost raw. Most likely cooked to perfection but not what we would normally expect. Meaning we’re used to seeing a char on our meats.
Glad you had a great time. And yes I’m hungry now.

[gboss]

That's fair. It's dark meat (thighs) and it's been cooked in liquid so there's no browning. It's definitely fully cooked. I am pretty sure that Kenji has a recipe in The Wok.

[MsTwiggy]

The Japanese food in Japan is awesome. Their take on some of our cuisine can be horrifying though! Thx for sharing this was super cool to see 💯❤️🐿

[gboss]

MsTwiggy I'm not sure I'd go as far as "horrifying" as I don't think I've had anything that was inedible. But their interpretations of western food could be quite "creative."
My favorite was being taken to a restaurant called "Mashed Potato." It was a hamburg steak restaurant, and they didn't serve any mashed potatoes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[MsTwiggy]

gboss i am referring specifically to spaghetti marinara made with ketchup. I am probably being too harsh but I don't think the Italians would like it either. 🫣

[gboss]

MsTwiggy ahh, yes. I've had a half ounce of that stuff included in many meals. Yea, it's pretty bad, NGL. But perhaps it's because I was living there and this is probably bordering on "no true scotsman" territory, but I always just considered that japanese ketchup noodles and not an imitation of any particular italian dish. Convenience stores had a big ole bowl of spaghetti bolognese which was both not ketchup and tasty. Obviously not real bolognese.