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Viet Cong Ramen
As it had been a while since I’d last visited Nagoya, I popped into Shin-Kyō for some Viet Cong Ramen. Viet Cong Ramen is a style of ramen originating in Ichinomiya and Gifu, characterised by its strong garlic and chilli flavour. Although ‘Viet Cong’ was a derogatory term for the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, it is said to have been named after the heroic image of the Viet Cong—a term that was commonly used in Japan at the time. These days, it is explained as an abbreviation for ‘best condition’. At Shin-Kyō, the dish features whole…
- Aichi
- Food
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Buri Shabu
Ine, where over 200 boat houses line the shoreline, has become a popular destination for foreign tourists. Alongside Himi and the Goto Islands, it is one of ‘Japan’s Three Great Buri (yellowtail) Fishing Grounds’, and from now on, you can enjoy the rich, fatty winter buri landed in Ine Bay. Buri shabu is the perfect way to savour this winter buri. Whilst its origins are disputed—some say it originated in Miyazu, others in Ine—it is, alongside Matsuba crab, synonymous with winter flavours. The classic method is to briefly dip the buri fillets into a kombu-based broth; once they turn white,…
- Food
- Kyoto
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Hanasakigani (Paralithodes brevipes)
The spiny king crab “Hanasakigani”is actually a type of hermit crab. I first tasted it 35 years ago in Nemuro. It was my first visit to eastern Hokkaido during the summer holidays. Every bird I saw was a new sight to me. I popped into Nemuro Station for lunch, where a lady at the fishmonger’s said, ‘It’s delicious, so do give it a try.’ When I put it in my mouth, the sweetness of the crab filled my palate, and I was astonished—wondering what on earth the crab I’d eaten before had actually been. The shell and legs are covered…
- Food
- Hokkaido
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Wakasa Space Mackerel Tins
These Wakasa Space Mackerel Tins were a gift from a customer. They are tinned mackerel designed to be eaten in space, developed over a period of 14 years by Obama Fisheries High School and Fukui Prefectural Wakasa High School. It was delivered to the International Space Station in 2020, where it was highly praised by astronaut Soichi Noguchi, instantly bringing it to prominence. The tins available to the general public are produced by recreating a JAXA-certified recipe for Japanese space food and are sold at roadside stations and tourist information centres in Obama, as well as online. The cooking liquid…
- Food
- Fukui
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Sauce Katsudon
It’s the first day of Silver Week in Japan. For the first time in a while, every station is bustling with Japanese travellers. This morning, I’ve come to Tsuruga to assist a foreign guest with their transfer. When one thinks of Fukui, soba, seafood and sauce katsudon spring to mind. In particular, Europe-ken, whose head office is in Fukui City, is popular as the original home of sauce katsudon. In Tsuruga, there is Tsuruga Europe-ken, which was established as a branch of the Fukui head office. The founder, Masataro Takahata, who had trained in Germany, devised the sauce katsu-don by…
- Food
- Fukui
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Matsutake-Konbu
‘Toba Ume Grocery Shop’ remains a greengrocer that embodies the spirit of Kyoto. With the arrival of September, Matsutake-Konbu has taken the place of chirimen sansho (dried baby sardines with sansho pepper) on the shop shelves. This dish is made by slowly simmering matsutake mushrooms and kelp in dashi stock, soya sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. It is the perfect accompaniment to plain white rice and is sure to whet your appetite. It is said that Matsutake-Kombu originated in Arima Onsen, Hyogo Prefecture, where local matsutake mushrooms were combined with kombu from Hokkaido—transported to the Kansai region by Kitamae ships—to…
- Food
- Kyoto
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Kyobashi Station’s Famous Frankfurt Sausage
The Frankfurt sausage is sold at the platform kiosk at Kyobashi Station on the Keihan Railway. A local speciality said to sell 700 sausages a day, they have recently become available at Chushojima Station as well. Kyobashi Station is a transfer point for the JR and underground lines, and these sausages are popular as a quick snack whilst waiting for a train. Although they are served without ketchup or mustard so they can be eaten quickly, they are thoroughly seasoned. The history of Frankfurt sausage in Japan is said to date back to the early Meiji period. At that time,…
- Food
- Osaka
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Sanma, Pacific saury
At the first auction of the month, Pacific saury fetched a price of 440,000 yen per kilogramme. In Japan, the kanji for ‘sanma’ depict a fish shaped like a sword that is in season in autumn. Prices are high at this time of year, and the fish are not as fatty as they are in season. However, as the saying goes, ‘Eating the first catch of the season extends your life by 75 days’, so the first catch is considered to bring good luck. Toba Ume Shoten had some Pacific saury landed in Eastern Hokkaido, so I asked them to…
- Food
- Kyoto
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Hamo-Otoshi
Tomorrow is ‘Yoiyoiyama’, the eve of the festival held two days before the Yamahoko Procession of Gion festival. Hamo (Pike Conger) is a fish traditionally eaten in Kyoto at this time of year. Although sourcing fish was difficult in Kyoto, which is far from the sea, hamo—a fish with extraordinary vitality—was reportedly the only species that could be transported alive from the Seto Inland Sea to Kyoto. However, hamo has sharp teeth and many small bones. Through trial and error, Kyoto’s chefs established a technique known as ‘honekiri (bone-cutting)’, in which only the fine bones are removed without cutting the…
- Food
- Kyoto
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Toyama Black Ramen
Toyama Black Ramen is now available as instant noodles even in supermarkets. Its most distinctive feature is, without a doubt, the jet-black colour of its broth. The jet-black base is made not with tamari soy sauce—the darkest variety—but with dark soy sauce. In August 1945, as the war was drawing to a close, the Great Toyama Air Raid took place. Although almost the entire city centre was destroyed, reconstruction work began immediately after the war, attracting many manual labourers to the area. It is said that ‘Black Ramen’ was created for these workers: a dish with a high salt content,…
- Food
- Takaoka
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Kombu Onigiri
In Takaoka, it is customary to wrap onigiri (rice balls) in tororo kombu rather than nori. Although Toyama Prefecture, including Takaoka, does not harvest kombu itself, it has the highest consumption of kombu in Japan. This is because, during the Edo period, Takaoka flourished as a port of call for Kitamae ships; at that time, large quantities of kombu harvested in Hokkaido were distributed through the area, and dishes using kombu—such as kobuzime is a traditional cooking method in which ingredients such as white fish and squid are sandwiched between sheets of konbu and left to marinate for several hours…
- Food
- Takaoka
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Abalone
It is said that Yamatohime-no-Mikoto, who is believed to have founded the Ise Shrine after travelling through various regions, arrived in Toba whilst searching for offerings for the shrine. She is said to have been deeply moved by the abalones offered to her by a female diver, and it is for this reason that, ever since, the abalone has become a sacred offering at the Ise Shrine. The Japanese black abalone, caught off the coast of Honshū, is currently in season. It is delicious as sashimi, of course, but also when steamed with sake. Nicknamed the ‘black diamond of the…
- Food
- Mie