Japanese Food&Drink ~6/10/2015 Ramen,Gyutan&kakigori

Mostly when people think about Japanese food it’s sushi or miso that springs to mind. One popular snack that probably won’t be pictured is kare pan – curry bread. Essentially, this is a crunchy, coated deep-fried doughnut about the size of a bread roll, stuffed with curry.

Tokyo is the city where you can enjoy all kinds of international cuisines; and even within this Tokyo, Nakameguro in the Meguro ward is famously known for its delicious restaurants. From luxury restaurants to causal ramen shops, Nakameguro has it all.

The temperature is soaring and it’s still only June, which means one thing: we’re in for a looooong summer. Love it or hate it the summer heat is unavoidable but it’s a good time to enjoy delicious seasonal treats such as watermelon, shaved ice and cold noodles.

The last few years have seen a boom in Tokyo’s vegetarian and organic restaurant scene. And as the healthy eating trend picks up speed, so has the number of small, independent shops specialising in freshly pressed juice and smoothies.

A few blocks from Tomita Ramen is another offshoot of the local Tomita Group enterprise: Tomita Shokudou, opened in 2010.

The “World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2015” selected by London (CNN) British restaurant papers was announced a few days ago and a restaurant in Spain was named number 1 in the world. There are 2 restaurants named from Japan as well and one ranked in the top 10.

I’m not exaggerating – out of all the delicious food Oana and I tried in Japan, gyutan is right up there with okonomiyaki. Gyutan aka ‘beef tongue’ is a Sendai delicacy and, while some Brits might be a bit put off by the idea, it is the most delicious and tender meat.

By now, you must have noticed all the weird food combinations in Japan.

Japan’s traditional summer treat, kakigori (shaved ice with syrup), made a strong comeback last year: specialist shops started popping up all over town, regularly attracting queues that bordered on the ridiculous.

You can get Japanese snacks delivered right to your doorstep! At LIFE PEPPER Co.

You can easily make Shaun the sheep! Character lunch box’s finished recipe! It’s good to use a tablet, match the size of the picture to the lunch box, and trace off of it.

Back in 2003 during my first Japanese class, one of the first vocabulary words I learned from our textbook at the time was 喫茶店 (kissaten, which the textbook translated to “café”.