Japanese Food

Eating at Itsu does not make you the AA Gill of Japanese cuisine. In fact sushi and sashimi served on a carousel in this way is seen as a cheaper way to eat in Japan. (Fast food if you like.)

I was told once, that if you became a junior chef in decent Sashimi restaurant it would take you four years of boiling rice before you where allowed anywhere near the fish. And although this is a slight exaggeration, the reason for this lengthy, rice only apprenticeship, has a lot to do with the price of fish. Quality tuna are so expensive that it’s enough to make you cough on your chopsticks.

Recently a 513 lb tuna sold for £220,000 at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market. Making it the most expensive fish ever.

The mighty blue fin is on the decline though. (Soon to be extinct we’re told.) But not all Japanese food has a fishy twang. And so below is a little about Japanese cuisines alternatives to eating life aquatic.

Real Japanese food is incredible, simple, clean flavours. Seasonality is essential, but the quality of ingredient is where your money really gets spent.

Chawanmushi

This is delicious even if it sounds a little odd. It’s basically a savory egg custard. Beaten eggs flavoured with sake and stock. Then imbued with shredded chicken, coriander and mushrooms. Then steamed until just set. Served warm as an early to mid course at dinner.

Yakitori Yaki (grilled) Tori (Fowl).

Small pieces of chicken thigh are skewered and then grilled over charcoal. Often coated with tare sauce, generally made of Mirin, Sake, soy and sugar.

Sukiyaki

Thin slices of beef cooked very quickly in stock made with, beef stock, soy sauce, sake, sugar, and water. The boiling stock is kept hot at your table while you eat. The stock also contains noodles, vegetables and mushrooms that float and bob around amusingly.

Mizutaki

A Japanese hot pot dish. Chicken and other ingredients are simply simmered in dashi soup. Usually a pot is shared by several people. Ponzu sauce is added to improve the flavour.

Ponzu basically means various citrus juices. The sour sauce made with citrus juice, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, dashi stock, or katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), or kombu (kelp) is often called ponzu shoyu or ponzu sauce. Ponzu sauce can also be used for dipping.

Now you have no reason to eat tuna when you go for Japanese food.

One final bit of advice, check the prices before you order, or it might be the bill and not the wasabi that brings tears to your eyes.