Travel
The hole in the wall ramen shops have a great selection of soups, noodle and rice dishes. And they are only a few euro per serving. And the portions are generous. One bowl of soba would keep me full for at least half a day.
Our time in Japan was courtesy of Japan Rail Pass
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- Ikebukuro Autumn Festival, Tokyo: A Photo Essay
Before going to Japan, our friend +Lili Florea (aka Muza-Chan) recommended us to attend at least one matsuri. Given our fondness for festivals and all things traditional, we thought it would be an amazing idea, but at the same time we weren't...
- Planning Our First Trip To Asia. In Style!
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- A Brief History Of Sushi: Why Do Japanese Eat Raw Fish?
Sushi is the most famous japanese food. This picture bellow was taken in Taptrip's office when the whole team had a special lunch! Some people don't like sushi because it's made of raw fish, but the yeast and the sauce gives a special...
- Sushi-ya Restaurant Features New Menu
Pioneering is in the blood of Sushi-Ya owner Deisy Gutierrez and her chefs, and so the latest trends in Japanese food are always being explored at Sushi-Ya. The Sushi-Ya team is also genuinely interested in the well-being of its esteemed customers, constantly...
Travel
10 Yummy Food Photos From Japan (and Tips)
Part of our fascination with Japan is due to the culinary experiences we had while there. We completely emerged ourselves in the local cuisine. We had red bean and green tea ice cream, sushi, and ramen almost on a daily basis. In fact we barely had any Western inspired dishes the whole time we were in Japan. And that was great!
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| Takoyaki, or octopus balls. It was fascinating to see the street vendors skillfully flipping the batter in the pan with chopsticks |
This totally busted the 'Japan is expensive' myth for us. The more typically Japanese you eat, the cheaper it gets. Go for Western dishes and you will pay a few times more the normal price.
Also fruits are very, but very expensive. In some shops. Like the one we spotted in Magome where they were charging €30 for an apple, or a kilo, we couldn't tell. But a normal supermarket would have most fruits at a slightly higher price than in Europe.
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My first meal in Japan. It was in a hole in the wall ramen shop and the experience of trying to blend with the locals was amazing. And the soba was so good we actually came back here a few more times to try other varieties too |
The hole in the wall ramen shops have a great selection of soups, noodle and rice dishes. And they are only a few euro per serving. And the portions are generous. One bowl of soba would keep me full for at least half a day.
Ordering the food was another special experience. We would choose the dish number from the plastic dishes in the window, then buy a token from the machine at the door, and go with it to the counter for the food.
However, sushi, in all its varieties, is still the king for me. The prices vary depending on a few factors, mostly service related. As we had a JR pass, we had great flexibility, and we moved throughout Japan a lot. But I found the taste of sushi to be similar anywhere we went. The cheapest are the supermarket sushi boxes, just under €10. Plus most shops have great discounts after 8PM, as by law they have to get rid of the cooked food before the day ends.
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| Yummy sushi box |
The traditional restaurants seemed to be the most expensive ones. But we also found some very modern restaurants with a unique concept, where once you sit down you order your food via a touch screen and all the dishes land on the band in front of you a few minutes later. And though these restaurants have human staff, one rarely interacts with them.
The culinary experience in Japan is limitless. And fascinating to say the least. We ate our way from Tokyo to Osaka and loved every dish we tried on the way.
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| In the underground mall of Ikebukuro JR Station from Tokyo we found some of the most delicious European sweets |
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| And some of them looked very creative. They were also very expensive. But they tasted heavenly |
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| And just because the dumplings couldn't miss... |
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| So much for healthy eating in Japan! Greasy street food at Nagoya Festival |
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| The Japanese rice cakes in the making. We couldn't have enough of these |
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| Okonomiyaki - kind of a pancake with lots of cabbage and egg and other stuff |
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| We also had lots of algae while in Japan. And some dishes of which 'secret' ingredients shall remain secret. It was fun! |
In a future post I will show you some plastic food samples from Japan... I promise they will make you drool over your keyboard just like the real deal.
Our time in Japan was courtesy of Japan Rail Pass
- The Amazing Costumes At Jidai Matsuri Festival From Kyoto
We are festival lovers, there's no doubt about it. Therefore when the staff at Hotel Granvia Kyoto (you can also read our hotel review) announced us upon our arrival that they had got festival tickets for us, we were thrilled. They totally...
- Ikebukuro Autumn Festival, Tokyo: A Photo Essay
Before going to Japan, our friend +Lili Florea (aka Muza-Chan) recommended us to attend at least one matsuri. Given our fondness for festivals and all things traditional, we thought it would be an amazing idea, but at the same time we weren't...
- Planning Our First Trip To Asia. In Style!
We have some great news! After traveling through 23 European countries and 173 cities, we are finally getting out of Europe! Just thinking about it makes us feel goosebumps. But we are not only going to Asia, we are also doing it in style. First we'll...
- A Brief History Of Sushi: Why Do Japanese Eat Raw Fish?
Sushi is the most famous japanese food. This picture bellow was taken in Taptrip's office when the whole team had a special lunch! Some people don't like sushi because it's made of raw fish, but the yeast and the sauce gives a special...
- Sushi-ya Restaurant Features New Menu
Pioneering is in the blood of Sushi-Ya owner Deisy Gutierrez and her chefs, and so the latest trends in Japanese food are always being explored at Sushi-Ya. The Sushi-Ya team is also genuinely interested in the well-being of its esteemed customers, constantly...