Food

Several forms of Japanese cooking exist, including:

• Tempura:
• Deep-fried, batter-dipped vegetables and seafood served with a special dipping sauce.
• Haselswerdt Food Rating (out of four stars … actually, asterisks): When done right, a big fat ****. That’s good eatin’.
• Sushi:
• A variety of combinations of seafood and other delicacies served with vinegared rice spiked with horseradish-like wasabi and quickly dipped in soy sauce. While most is raw, some (i.e., eel) are grilled. Maki-sushi utilizes rice and toppings wrapped in seaweed.
• HFR: *** - would have been higher, but taste of octopus drives it down. But overall, very good.
• Shabu-Shabu:
• Extremely thin sliced meat and vegetables swished around in boiling water and then dipped in a sauce – you do your own cooking.
• HFR: **** - top rating ‘cause it’s just plain good (unless you’re not a fan of red meat, then you’re in trouble).
• Suriyaki:
• A combination of meat and vegetables simmered in a broth.
• HFR: * - low rating because boiling just isn’t exciting. Plus, you can over boil it pretty easily.
• Teppan-yaki Grill:
• Meat and seafood grilled on an iron plate and served with sauces – the chef cooks and arranges the food on your plate.
• HFR - incomplete … never had it. I think this is what you can get at a “Beni-Hana’s” or something like that, so let me know. I’m tired of doing all the work around here.
• Kaiseki Dinner:
• A full-course meal involving a number of courses served one at time in an established order – usually beginning with appetizers and then proceeding through a light broth, sashimi, a grilled dish, a fried dish, something simmered, something steamed, something in a vinegar sauce, rice and miso soup, pickles, and a dessert.
• HFR: **** - a lot of different food to enjoy. Can’t go wrong there.
• Yakitori:
• Chicken salted or coated in a soy-sauce dip and roasted, usually on a skewer.
• HFR: **** - it’s like a little baby BBQ.
• Udon/Ramen:
• Noodles.
• HFR: * - noodles are noodles. Not a big fan.
• Tonkatsu:
• Deep-fried pork cutlets served on shredded cabbage and covered with Worcestershire sauce.
• HFR: * - the sauce was a bit too thick and the pork a bit too deep-fried.
• Sashimi:
• Raw fish.
• HFR: **** - other than the evil taste of squid, this is good eatin’.
• Tofu:
• Various objects made of processed soybeans.
• HFR: * - too soft, too slimy, to … tofu tasting.

Information Gathered From:

Enjoy Japan: Travel’s Guide to Getting Around

JTB Corp., International Travel Division