Hotto or coldo?

In the past I have complained about eating very little on trips to Japan. This is nothing to do with the food and everything to do with crazy working hours and being in the middle of nowhere, relying on lifts to get to supermarkets and restaurants.

The food is in fact wonderful as long as we stay away from banquets. Actually, there was one banquet I very much enjoyed. It was at bonenkai ("forget the year party") and it was the first time I had ever had lobster. But on the whole, a banquet means sushi and sashimi and I do not do raw fish or roe or whatever else they throw at me and pretend is food. One dish we gaijin dub "custard surprise" is particularly vile. It is a vaguely custard-like dish with a potent and unidentifiable sea creature hidden inside.

But I was talking about the good food. Not the expensive hundred-course meals we sometimes find inflicted upon us. The first full day I was here during the current Japan trip saw eight of us go to the Korean Barbeque. I recognise that this isn't actually Japanese cuisine but I would class going for a curry as something British so will include the Korean stuff in my little post! Regardless of the food's origin, the service is still uniquely Japanese. The exquisite courtesy we are offered and patience when we stumble through the ordering is fantastic. As we enter an establishment, we are greeted loudly and promptly. We are usually ushered towards an area where there are any number of tables from one to six on a slightly raised platform enclosed by paper walls. We take off our shoes and sit on thin cushions at the low tables. As we peruse the menu (thankfully often illustrated with pictures but if it is not, a waitress is usually able to translate at least some of the dishes) we are brought towels to wipe our hands (and some wipe their faces also) which sometimes come fresh and steaming. We also get small cups of tea: green, oolong or, at “the steaming bowl”* barley tea. Once we have chosen our meals, there is none of this “catch the waitress’ eye” nonsense** as we have a button to press on our table that summons our waitress.

But I was talking about the food. The Korean BBQ was amazing. We had amongst our number one vegan who could survive quite well in the Bay Area but found herself considered quite the alien in Japan. Stewart’s Japanese was put to the test as he had to describe to the waitress what a vegan was and then ascertain which menu items could be eaten or at least modified. Queue a comedy situation where Stewart was talking in Japanese for a couple of minutes only to translate it as “there’s salad” and then continue in Japanese to get the next possible menu item. In the end it worked wonderfully as we got a huge plate of raw vegetables to cook on our table’s barbeque and a bowl of pickles***, a lot of salad and a mountain of rice. Plus, the waitress found someone who I am guessing ran the place who presented our vegan friend with a slab of tofu surely larger than her stomach.

But I was talking about the food that I ate. All of the above plus a platter of gorgeously marinated beef strips half the size of our table. We cooked this in front of us to absolute perfection (while eating our barbequed vegetables, rice, salad, pickles and also large bowls of soup). So you see, I do eat rather well in Japan.

Although I could end there, I don’t want to talk about eating in Japan without mentioning tonkatsu. A couple of nights ago, six of us went to a small tonkatsu restaurant. The dish is simply breaded pork, deep-fried and some shredded cabbage with rice and miso soup on the side. And oh there is this gorgeous sauce that I just put over everything. I can’t get enough of it.

* Our name for it as it has a bowl with steam coming out of it in front of the restaurant. There is another noodle place we go to which has a statue of a racoon in front of the door. This place we call Roadkill. Other restaurants get called by their real names or by a description of the food serves like “the Korean BBQ” or “ramen” place.

** I do not believe we have ever been served by a waiter.

*** Did I not mention the pickles? Oh I hate the pickles… what a way to ruin perfectly good vegetables.