A list of ten tasty traditional-style Japanese cuisine that are a must try when travelling in Japan. If you are game enough you should also try this list of ten weird Japanese foods too.
1. Yakitori 「焼き鳥」
Skewered chicken pieces that are grilled over hot charcoals.
2. Sukiyaki 「すき焼き」
Thinly sliced beef and vegetables simmered in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin.
3. Ramen 「ラーメン」
Noodles in broth garnished with small pieces of meat and vegetables. Check out two of my favourite ramen shops Ippudo Ramen and Kyūshū Jangara.
4. Okonomiyaki 「お好み焼き」
A savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. Okonomi, meaning “what you like”, and yaki meaning “grilled”. My favourite okonomiyaki was at Kiji (in the basement of the Umeda Sky Building) in Osaka.
5. Sushi 「寿司」
Cooked vinegar rice commonly topped with raw fish, or put into rolls.
6. Kushikatsu 「串カツ」
A deep-fried cutlet of meat or vegetable skewered on bamboo skewers and eaten with a tonkatsu dipping sauce. I had some good kushikatsu at a store called Daruma located at the base of Tsūtenkaku in Osaka.
7. Yakiniku 「焼肉」
Thinly sliced beef and vegetables grilled over a charcoal or gas burner and eaten with a tare (sweetened, thickened soy sauce) dipping sauce.
8. Yakisoba 「焼きそば」
Ramen-style noodles stir-fried with pieces of pork and vegetables and flavoured with yakisoba sauce.
9. Tempura 「天ぷら」
Thin strips of vegetables and seafood lightly dipped in batter then briefly deep-fried in hot oil and eaten with a tentsuyu dipping sauce or sprinkled with sea salt.
10. Nikuman 「肉まん」
A steamed pork bun.
Check out 10 Weird Japanese Foods for more tasty morsels of Japanese culinary goodness such as raw horse meat, poisonous puffer fish, grasshoppers and more.
Ippudo Ramen
Kushikatsu
Kyūshū Jangara
Umeda Sky Building
Cat Cafe (A “cat café” in Tokyo) Robots Of The Future (Japanese robots video) ……
Scott J
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Brad F.
Jamaipanese
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Jamie
I don’t care for okonomiyaki but I’ve eaten and loved everything else on this list. In fact, we’re going to eat at a restaurant serving Hokkaido style ramen tomorrow night. ^_^
Enjoy! Although I love all types my favourite regional variation is Hakata ramen. In saying that, when I was in Japan last year I ate “Tantanmen” practically 3 days a week for a year.
It must be good! Unfortunately we never made it to ramen last night, so we’re going tonight instead. Looking forward to it since I’m hungry now.
nice list! now I’m hungry though….
i should have put up a NSFH (Not Safe For Hungrypeople) warning.
NSFHP’d me too, Lee. Dang. Great photography on this one.
Yakisoba looks delicious
I agree, but then again, they all look mouth-watering.
That picture of yakitori has helped me decide what I’m having for dinner. Washed down with a couple of ice-cold beers, of course!
Thanks for dropping by Wil. Ice cold beer is certainly a must have accoutrement.
right, i’m off to ippudo tomorrow!
some Japan enthusiast I am, never had anything on this list
(gobsmacked)!
Are these foods not too common in Jamaica?
Kushikatsu is awesome.
If you’re in Yokohama area, try a HUGE Nikuman in Chinatown.
For a “challenger” type, I’d recommend ‘Horumon’(BBQ cow organs), too, which is my favorite.
Great post!
Thanks for dropping by Aki. Now that you have laid down the challenge for “Horumon” I am going to have to give it a try. Not a big fan of internal organs though so plenty of beer and/or sake will need to be on hand.
Great stuff.. Keep bringing it.