La Dolce Vita: Japan :: #2

Here it continues the sets of theme photos regarding our recent trip to Japan. This time it's about "food". We love japanese food, but in Italy it is quite different than in Japan. Here it's mostly all about sushi and tempura, but in Japan the variety of plates is huge, and different from region to region. In Tokyo it's possible to find everything to eat, but as it was our first stop in Japan, we tried mostly sushi at those fantastic kaiten restaurants (with different plates on a rolling mat), which was such an experience thanks to our friends Ayako and Yukiko that suggested sushi to eat and ordered it for us. Another fun and interesting experience in Tokyo was to go to a supermarket and be amazed by all the different food and beverages they have in Japan. All completely different than in Italy. I must admit that going to supermarkets and get some typical ingredients of the foreign place we are visiting, is something we do every time we travel somewhere abroad. We love checking all the different products, try strange flavors and find something to be amazed about. We couldn't bring much stuff back home, but we bought something little and also we bought some foody gifts. :)

The south of Japan (Osaka and Hiroshima) are famous for their tasty food such asOkonomiyaki, Teriyaki meat and some kind of fried pork served with rice and a tasty curry souce. Very yummy!

When we were on the go, we preferred to get something typical, than burgers or sandwiches. In fact we often ate Onigiri and Bento boxes. Onigiri are little triangular rice balls filled with different ingredients: chicken, tuna, egg, etc... and they are sold wrapped into a nori seaweed sheet, while bento boxes are plates composed by different kinds of food, presented in a box with many compartments where different components of the plate are separated and presented into a scenographic way. In Japan the common rule for food is: "eat" with your eyes, then with your mouth, which means that the presentation and composition of the food is as important (or even more important) than the taste. I must admit that I agree with this concept about presentation and composition of the plates, but at the same time I also disagree with the fact that presentation is more important than taste!! In my opinion taste and presentation should be combined for the best result!

Sometimes we also ate soba (japanese noodle) and my favorite were those with sesame sauce. Sesame is in general a very common ingredient in the japanese cousine and we also tried beverages and ice creams made with sesame and tasting like that.

Japanese sweets aren't our cup of tea. They are often a cheat: they look fantastic, it seems like they are filled with chocolate cream of vanilla cream...but, when you bite one, you fall into a cruel reality: it's not chocolate but it's mashed azuki beans (black or white)!!!! They also sell some little sweet balls made with rice. They aren't particularly good to me: they are chewy and filled with strange flavors. Fortunately in most places there were coffee shops or french bakeries that were selling European style or American style sweets, especially for breakfast.

I must admit that japanese have learned to cook other international cousines very very well. One night in Kyoto we went out to eat in an Italian restaurant (we really needed some italian spaghetti!!), right in front of our hotel. The name of the restaurant is "Second House" and it really became our second house in Kyoto!!! With our great surprise and happiness they cooked fantastic plates of pasta, right in the same way we would cook it in Italy. Really good and at a very reasonable price. Also french pastries are made very well in some bakeries around Japan.

The king of all beverages in Japan is green tea at all. Then it's followed by local beers (such as "Asahi" or "Sapporo"), plum wine and sake. Japanese have also invented a very massive beverages vending machines system. You can find cold or hot beverages everywhere...at every corner there is a vending machine. It's so typical!!! We used these vending machines very very veeeeery often, because in August the heat was unbearable and we were loosing so many liquids going around. We always had something fresh in our hand to drink while walking around. One of our favorite beverage was jasmine iced tea, but also Wonda iced coffee and some grape flavored drinks.

Last but not least to remember are a couple of unique experiences we had: one was to stay and eat in a real Buddhist temple in Koya-san, the most important place for the japanese Buddhism. We could experience the real buddhist food shojin ryori, prepared only with vegetables. We ate a dinner and a breakfast in a fantastic old dining room into this temple, in the most typical and authentic japanese style. Another unique - but also traumatic - experience was another dinner in the japanese Alps, while we were staying at the Takaragawa onsen. They served us a bear soup and other kinds of strange foods that we still don't know what they were!!!

Here are some photos about our japanese food experience in Japan (summer 2010).

Enjoy!

1. Lunch at Bill Granger's restaurant "Bill" in Kamakura