What is your favorite japanese food?

I love to eat maki !!





and you ?

 

The list is just endless! raw fish ,cup noodle, ramen, tempura, Yaki niku, kit-kats etc etc etc. yummy ! next to American food (pizza, Taco Bell, Big Mac and fried potato etc) it's my favorites. I read that Japan has more A* restaurants than all other country's!!

 

Never had much of it as I can't really stand sea food , I would love to try some of those yummy kit kats though!

 

Even though I am a Japan-enthusiast who studies the language and culture both academically and in my free time, I have to say that Japanese food is far from being my favourite. In terms of Asian foods, I would choose Korean, Thai, Chinese (Henan Noodle/Sichuan spicy food) over many of the Japanese dishes.

Japanese dishes I really like, however:

Zaru Soba

These are cold buckwheat noodles which you put in the mentsuyu-sauce (a mix of dashi and soy sauce and sugar) and then fish it out of the bowl again to eat. It's very delicious and the firm noodles are a delight - however, if you are either really hungry or feel really cold, I don't recommend.

Okonomiyaki

A little bit like Korean seafood pancake, but lighter and with some really tasty sauces on top! Ingredients vary on region and style, but it can have anything in it, ranging from pure veggie to squid/shrimp/pork/tofu and even mochi. Very delicious if made from fresh ingredients, and really filling.

Udon

The quality is key with this dish. I'm sure everyone knows it from the standard fast food place in the West, but it's so much different if the noodles are made fresh. Either go to a decent place in Japan, or make sure your restaurant of choice makes them fresh. If the udon noodles are firm, the tempura crispy and the meat tender, pork/beef udon is a delight for the senses. Don't judge before you had a decent udon, the cup noodle-versions and the "3.99 Beef Udon" at Mr. Wok's do not do justice to this traditional soup dish!

Shio Raamen


This originally comes from China, so it doesn't count as perfectly Japanese, but I list it anyways because the dish was diversified based on Japanese culture once they had imported it. The Japanese try to differentiate roughly between 5 basic types of modern raamen:

There is the delicious Miso Raamen, which features extensive amounts of miso paste, and Shoyu Raamen, which is made with emphasis on soy sauce. Tonkotsu raamen is another version with broth made mostly from pork bones and fat. The fourth main category, Shio, is the most basic and traditional of all of them with light and clear broth that can be done in a variety of ways, which is why I like it the most.

Suppon
Suppon is a softshell turtle that is consumed as an expensive delicacy in Japan and other East-Asian countries. In Japan, this is known as "Suppon" (すっぽん), most times a wooden box that contains the shell of the turtle, the blood and the meat (both vacuum-sealed in separate plastic bags). Drinking the blood either pure or mixed with red wine is supposed to be very good for your body. My Japanese teacher was tricked into drinking it by her father when she was 8 years old and is still traumatized, she said
The trick in making it is to kill the turtle and drain the blood from its open throat before the poor animal realizes that it was killed. Only that way, the blood can be extracted without the addition of released adrenalin which would destroy the taste (if I remember the facts correctly).

 

yakitori with ice cold beer or top quality fresh sushi.......hmmmm i miss tokyo.

 

Udon, mother fuckers. Going to have some for lunch today. Such a great hangover food.

 

@GP
I'm sure you can compare better than me - did you ever try Marukame Udon in Honolulu? They always have such a crazy long line-up all the way down the block, and I personally thought the Udon there was fantastic and well worth the wait. But I also read bad reviews in Japanese by some native visitors, so I'm not so sure anymore
What do you think of their noodles?

 

I love the Katsu Chicken Bento Box + Mixed Tempura Vegetables on the side. Probably doesn't count as I'm guessing this is a westernised thing? Either way, love this.

http://littlemadfish.com/images/CHICKEN KATSU BOX.jpg

 

Never ate there. I usually had home cooked Udon when I lived in Honolulu, so never bothered going out. I also pretty much like only the hot stuff, and it's always hot in Hawaii, so no real reason to go out for soup. For me, anyway.

 

I was going to post tempura battered fish with kake udon - best I've had was fugu in Shimonoseki. Best standalone udon was in Takamatsu. Whale is also really nice and not really something I'd be able to eat in the UK - like fishy beef.

The Japanese product I actually eat the most of in Japan, given that I only go during the summer, is probably Coolish although a lot of convenience stores only seem to carry vanilla flavour at the moment.

 

Okonomiyaki and hama kama (broiled yellowtail neck). I'm lucky to live near a city where they have good japanese food. Most places have sushi and maybe a cheap noodle place. There's a lot more to japanese food than raw fish and noodles though!!!

 

Just like about every other person in my age group around here I loves Sushi, maki mostly. There are sushi shops all over the place nowadays.
I almost feel too mainstream saying so, just because eating sushi seems to be considered "cool". And saying sushi is your favourite Japanese food is kind of cliche.
Its almost like you are admitting you don't know anything about japanese food beside sushi, which is pretty much the truth in my case.
But what can I say? They are just too damn tasty.

 

Now UDON looks really yummy , I do also enjoy a Fried California roll with that weird white sauce.

Damn now I am going to make TOP Ramen for dinner

 

I like sushi, though I prefer the kind that's at least slightly cooked (not authentic, I know). I like yakitori, chicken teriyaki, vegetable tempura, miso soup. I also love almost any kind of Japanese chocolate. Kind of boring I guess, but that's what I like.

 

I really don't want to know what their secret sauce is.

Me? I love seafood, so I'm also a big fan of Japanese food. Sushi of course, but takoyaki is also awesome. One of my favorites is probably curry, which I'm not sure counts, since it's Indian food imported via Britain.

 

Okonomiyaki tops all, including sashimi (close call). Too bad availability outside Japan is sub-optimal.

 

A friend of mine went back to Australia and opened up an okonomiyaki stand called "Japancake". Did well for a while... I think he sold it eventually.

 

Love it!

I used to live close to Europe's only purported dedicated okonomiyaki place, Japan Pancake World in Amsterdam. Those were good times. Too bad it was closed for most of the year as the owner technically lives abroad. He's a great guy and I'd recommend the place to anybody.