So our whole trip through the Philippines and Japan has been great food adventures for us. And we're sure it will continue as we go through the rest of East Asia. Of course we eat the usual Japanese foods: sushi, ramen, and curry; all were delicious. But we got to try a couple of other things as well.
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| Anthony Hungry = No Time for Pictures; Curry Yummy |
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| Ramen, Gyoza, and Fried Rice |
Takoyaki
This food is at the heart of Japanese street food. Takoyaki is snack of pancake-like batter balls filled with octopus, green onion and pickled ginger. It is served with four or five on a skewer slathered with a sauce. This savory snack is cooked on a special grill by dedicated men and women who pour, flip, rotate, and stab these takoyaki until they are ready to eat, still boiling hot. We purchased our first set from a lovely women who proclaimed even though her shop was small (the entire shop can be seen in the photo) her takoyaki are as good as anybodies. They are. If you ever make it to Japan and need a snack, keep your eyes open for the takoyaki vendors.
Fugu
In an earlier post we talked about fugu from the perspective of a language barrier, but we did not talk about what it is, so here we go. Fugu is pufferfish, most probably Japans most notorious sashimi. This is because the fish contains lethal amounts of a sodium channel blocker, a poison that if consumed will cause paralysis resulting in asphyxiation and death. Because of this all restaurants that serve fugu go through an intense governmental licencing program and all chefs that prepare it are required to go through extensive training. Even with the intense training and regulation there are still some deaths from fugu. So it was a goal of Darin's to eat it, obviously. And as it happens, across from the capsule hotel was a fish tank filled with pufferfish advertising the restaurant as specializing in fugu.
We enjoyed it as sashimi and as a table-top barbecued. The sashimi tasted like spring, it was served on raw cabbage with some fresh green onion and some other fresh vegetables. Very light and refreshing, absolutely delicious!
The cooked version had three different cuts of the fish; skin, flesh and flesh with bone. Our favorite was the bone-in cut. All of the barbecued fish and vegetables were basted in an incredible ponzu sauce that could make anything taste great. Overall, two more fugu lovers have been added to the world.
Kobe
We have all heard of Kobe beef, and on a map we saw the city
of Kobe. How could we pass up such an opportunity? So having no idea if the
name was merely a coincidence we hopped off the train and made a b-line for the
information desk. Clearly we are not the first tourists to ask about this since the
woman handed us a map of the area with restaurants that serve Kobe
beef.
In an earlier post Anthony had mentioned that Hida beef was
just as good as Kobe beef. I have to agree, Kobe beef is just as good as Hida
beef. Talking and comparing the two meals we came to one final conclusion; eat
Hida not Kobe. Why? There is a fairly noticeable difference in price of the two
beefs and we could find no justification for it other than the celebrity status
of “Kobe”. Granted both of these beefs are uber indulgences and the consumption of either is the definition of gluttony, one fact remains. Eat Hida not Kobe!
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| From Our Hida Beef-eating Experience |
Okonomiyaki
As we were wandering Kyoto, we stumble across a little cherry blossom festival and see tons of food vendor stalls. Half of them must have been cooking things in these cupcake tins and we were curious. They fill each one with batter, a lot of cabbage, an egg and a piece of ham. After a couple of minutes, the cook deftly flips it over and lets the other side cook. After a couple more minutes, they're done and ready to be eaten. And we purchase one not knowing what it truly is. Overall, it was yummy. Anthony didn't care too much for it, but I thought it was good.
As we head to Osaka and Hiroshima, we read about the two cities on wikitravel and find out that what we ate what is called Okonomiyaki. These two cities are actually known for their versions of Okonomiyaki with Osaka making the snack with a thick pancake-like battter in the bottom and Hiroshima making their version with a thin crepe-like bottom and a lot of noodles. Both have tons of cabbage, egg, and ham or bacon to top it off.
While in Osaka, sitting in a bar, we strike up a conversation with the bartender and mention that we had Okonomiyaki in Kyoto. She responded with, "why?" At the time, we really didn't know better, so we were just trying it. I guess the people of Osaka know that their city is the city to have Okonomiyaki. Sadly, even with her recommendation (and with the same recommendation from a different bartender in a different bar), we didn't get to try Osaka Okonomiyaki. But we get to Hiroshima and hear that there are a couple of places where there are stalls after stalls selling Hiroshima Okonomiyaki and we head off.
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| Prepping the Crepe-like Bottom |
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| Cooking the Egg for the Top |
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| Darin Enjoying his Okinomiyaki |
This version was yummy. Anthony and I both agree that this was definitely better than the Kyoto one we had, though we weren't able to compare it to Osaka.
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