gmat Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 When I budget travel these days, I often have a bowl of soba at the little soba stands or buy a bento box lunch. This last trip to Bessho-Onsen Station, I had lunch at a Soba restaurant in Komoro. I looked for a better looking restaurant outside the station and was pleasantly surprised. Returning, I had time at Koumi Station and ate at a nice looking restaurant in the station building. Bad decision. What I thought was a sweet and sour crab omelet turned out to be crab with tofu with very little crab and too much corn starch thickening. I don't read much kanji so I depend on the pictures outside the restaurant. I usually have familiar japanese fare like soba noodles or katsudon, pork cutlet covered with egg omelet over rice. But I will order local variations if I can. I don't usually stop at the golden arches or its like when traveling unless speed, price or being homesick are important. I was once stranded at Manza-Kawaguchi during a summer storm and while the train sat at the station, quickly slipped out of the station and went to the only restaurant nearby. The food wasn't memorable but the restaurant people started talking with me, so I ended having a nice chat using my limited Japanese. Once when I was at Matsumoto Station, the soba stand at the station offered a higher priced version. It took longer to prepare. I think they started with dried soba noodles. The 'dashi' or soup stock was stronger, more sweeter. It was quite good. The ones around Tokyo have a weaker soup stock that is more salty than sweet, I think. They have lots of customers so I think that might lead to thinning the soup stock. I usually get the one with vegetable and shrimp tempura topping. It's a crap shoot whether it will be fine or have too much batter coating and feel like eating a dumpling. The tempura that's just right has a thinner crispy batter coating that softens and breaks apart in the soup stock. The stand at Kobuchizawa had a thick batter tempura that wasn't very good. But it sometimes depends on what day or week or month you order it. You could come back and find it much better. When I lived in Ueda City in the middle of Japan, my Japanese teacher friends said that I shouldn't order sushi or sashimi as it was far from the ocean. I had a sashimi dish that was tasty, but I wonder if it was because it was older? What are your experiences? Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 When I travel, I usually look for the spots where the locals go. Sparsely decorated and shabby places are usually the best in my experience. They care more about the food than attracting visitors. For example, I had a very pleasant Teishoku lunch in a small hidden local shop in Asakusa where the local merchants, labourers and handymen come. Not so expensive and tremendous quality. Another great meal I had was in Oyama (I think the place is called Ippinko, 一品香). A very very shabby, smelly and unromantic place with the best Char Siu Men I've ever had. No surprise this is the favourite Rāmen joint of my family ;) If possible, I try to stay away from chains, mall, and fast-food restaurants. As far as I know, a polished atmosphere doesn't necessarily come with good food. Same goes for izakaya. The ones where the interior is dark brown and dusty, with a layer of greese are usually the best. At least, as far as I can remember. Sometimes I don't even know/remember how in the hell I made it home! Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 (edited) A trick I often use is watching where the railway employees go to eat, we usually know where to get a good feed. In Kikonai last year we followed a guy to this little mum and pop establishment across the street from the station. I recognised the characters for curry on the menu and ended up with a nice plate of tasty curried rice, just the thing for a cold December day in Hokkaido. Edited August 28, 2013 by westfalen 2 Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 In Shinjo we were confronted with a hand written Japanese menu in the only cafe we could find open downtown, a man came over to us, explained that the two items on the menu were a chicken burger and an omlette then gave our orders to the girl at the counter. We thought he must have been the manager but he turned out to be just a helpful customer. I had the omlette which wasn't too bad. 1 Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 In Shinjo we were confronted with a hand written Japanese menu in the only cafe we could find open downtown, a man came over to us, explained that the two items on the menu were a chicken burger and an omlette then gave our orders to the girl at the counter. We thought he must have been the manager but he turned out to be just a helpful customer. I had the omlette which wasn't too bad. Hahaha. If you're squeamish about eating guts, you made the right choice. The hamburger was made from chicken intestines (it would have been my choice for sure!). ;) Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Hahaha. If you're squeamish about eating guts, you made the right choice. The hamburger was made from chicken intestines (it would have been my choice for sure!). ;) That's what we thought he said but that there must have been something lost in the translation, my two friends who had the burgers reckoned they tasted ok though. Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 That's what we thought he said but that there must have been something lost in the translation, my two friends who had the burgers reckoned they tasted ok though. I can very well imagine the burgers tasting good. It's the stuff the young and hip eat nowadays. Traditional food, forgotten by many that is having a revival because it's cheap and good. It fits well with the 'sufficient is enough' lifestyle of today (which of course is relative). Link to comment
gmat Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 (edited) The fried eggplant and pork with a miso sauce is quite good and I often order it if I go to a chinese style restaurant. Jajamein is a similar miso based ground meat sauce over a plate of ramen noodles with sliced cucumber garnish. The chinese style restaurant that I went to in Kamata used the cheapest pork with lots of gristle. Ugh!! I'll never try that again, or not until I forget why I'm not going to that restaurant as it's close to a nice shooting spot on the Ikegami Line. A place in Shimokitazawa used to have a jajamein that was very good. There are 'viking' buffet' or 'all you can eat' chinese restaurants around. There's one that my wife and I go in the Hanno Station building on the third floor. The food is pretty decent. On the other hand, there was one next to Ikegami Station on the Ikegami Line which had rather poorly prepared food or used cheap ingredients. But it's all you can eat, so it was worth it, .... once. Have you had spicy ramen? I mean the soup stock is red with chili sauce. There was one ramen shop near Kanda that had a 'tekka?' or fire? ramen was very good. I used to even drink all of the soup stock, sweat pouring from my face and drinking copious amounts of water. A similar spicy ramen near Kamata was just plain hot and I didn't try to drink much of the soup stock. At some ramen places, you may see a customer saying 'kaidama' and getting a refill of noodles for his ramen. It's about 250 to 300 yen extra and much cheaper than ordering an extra bowl. At the sadly departed Nandenkanden Ramen place, I regularly asked for three refills and they would add some more soup stock, too. I had to stop going there as my spending allowance shrank. Best wishes, Grant Edited August 28, 2013 by gmat Link to comment
gmat Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 jajamen looks something like this. http://www.enki-s.com/menu/jajamen.html pork and eggplant stir fry. Kind of like this. Maybe it's oyster sauce and not miso based. http://casaveneracion.com/pork-and-eggplant-stir-fry/ Buffet - viking restaurants in Japan. http://www.tofugu.com/2012/04/09/in-japan-vikings-are-just-all-you-can-eat-buffets/ Spicy hot ramen is something like the Red King Ramen. http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=139599 Kaidama refills. http://samuelstravels.com/2013/04/02/10-things-to-know-about-japan-before-you-go/ Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 For those in Japan: - Jajamen: じゃじゃ麺 (originally Chinese, many variations. We make it at home with Nattō. Ibaraki-style!); - Pork & Eggplant stir fry: 豚ナス炒め (Buta Nasu Itame); - Spicy Rāmen: 担々麺 (Tan Tan Men) and 激辛ラーメン (Gekikara Rāmen); - Buffet/All you can eat: 食べ放題 (Tabehōdai) -> 放題 = All You Can (飲み放題 = All you can drink; 読み放題 = All you can read; 見放題 = All you can watch, etc.). Hope this is a bit useful ;) Yes, me and my wife are foodies... Link to comment
Densha Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Sparsely decorated and shabby places are usually the best in my experience. They care more about the food than attracting visitors. If possible, I try to stay away from chains, mall, and fast-food restaurants. As far as I know, a polished atmosphere doesn't necessarily come with good food. Even though I can't apply it to Japan because I haven't been there, this is so very true from what I've experienced elsewhere. Always look for some alley and stay away from the main streets if you're looking for food, it's even the more expensive the worse it tastes in my experience. Nowadays you can't even get a good ordinary pizza where I live, but the one from the supermarket you have to bake yourself tastes better! Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 One Japanese fast food chain I don't mind is Sukiya, when I'm feeling hungry I look around to see if I can see their sign anywhere. A couple of years ago I also discovered Curry House Coco. The have a multi-lingual menu and their 'Hand-made chicken tender cutlet curry' is delicious. 1 Link to comment
miyakoji Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 mmmm, CoCo Ichi. I used to get the handmade pork cutlet curry. Back home in the US I make vegetable-only curry with the S&B Golden Curry mix. High in salt but otherwise not too bad. I suspect my cardiovascular system prefers it to the deep fried pork Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Hi people! Nice topic gmat! It's making me hungry thinking about it! Can i add that Jajamen: じゃじゃ麺 is actually pronouced correctly as 'Zhar Jiang Mian' or '炸酱麺', literally meaning 'Fried Bean Sauce Noodles'. It's made by frying minced meat and other cordiments together with bean sauce, and pouring the sauce onto water-cooked noodles. I think the origin is China, but i can't be sure as recently it has been made really popular by the Koreans. In Korea, everyone knows Zhar-Jiang-Mian, and my Korean client told me the Koreans can't live without it! Can i add another fast food chain, Matsuya? I find their meals cheap, and slightly taster and more varieties than it's main competitor, Yoshinoya. http://www.matsuyafoods.co.jp/ It's a fast food chain so i think most stations have Matsuya branches. Yummy! Attached are some photos of some food we had last year in Japan, includes Yoshinoya Gyudon bowl, a set meal in one of the smaller restaurant in Osaka Dontonburi, set meal in Chinatown of Yokohama, rice bowls in Ameyayokocho, rice bowls in noodles in Tokyo station while waiting for our shinkansen, etc. Hungry! 1 Link to comment
Sacto1985 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 For all those people who want a real Japanese food experience in Japan, you need to eat at a teishoku-ya (定食屋). While the food may not be a 100% Japanese food experience, it's definitely the type of meal businessmen eat in Japan during lunchtime a lot. 1 Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My travels in Japan are 90% related to train riding and photography, so meals (especially lunch) are geared more towards convenience and "fueling up" than enjoying high cuisine. It's pretty much determined by what's in or near the station- tachigui soba like gmat mentioned, or a bakery in the station concourse, which often have a dining area. At smaller stations, I'll go to some restaurant near the rotary- for example, I went to a soba restaurant near Ito Station on the Izu peninsula. If time is in limited supply, and there are no other choices, I will even (gasp!) go to a Mickey D's- I have done that at Yokkaichi Station a few times- Mie Prefecture is so auto-oriented, there just aren't many establishments even in the station areas. When I have more time, I'll splurge a bit in the evenings- for example, in Nagoya this earlier this month, I had hitsumabushi, an excellent grilled eel dish prepared in Nagoya style, at a well-known restaurant in the Meitetsu Dept. Store at Nagoya Station. Otherwise, I will just go to a teishokuya, like the chain Yayoiken, or the local Chinese restaurant, which almost always offer good value for money. Oh yes, and when on a long-distance seishun 18 journey, I'll buy an ekiben and a bottle of tea, and either eat on the train, or at a station bench, while watching the trains pass by. Link to comment
Sacto1985 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 By the way, Aichi, Mie and Gifu Prefectures are extremely auto-oriented because of the presence of one company: Toyota. And that's despite the presence of extensive Meitetsu and Kintetsu private rail lines in the region. As such, you see a lot more places to eat near major highways in the region, unless the rail station is located in the center of town.. Ekiben is actually very convenient if you travel on long-distance trains a lot in Japan. Also, ekiben is a great way to experience the regional cuisine of the local area, too. As such, railroad fans tends to overlap a lot with ekiben fans. Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 (edited) Did I hear someone mention bakeries in station concourses. mmmm. I often make them my breakfast because I'm usually off to the station to catch a train and begin my day's train riding before the hotel starts breakfast. Then as bikkuri says graze at Seven Elevens and super markets during the day and go to a restaurant for dinner. A good way to avoid the language barrier when ordering is to find one of those places where you buy a ticket from a machine outside with pictures of the meals on the buttons of the machine, just press the button with the picture of what you want and hand the ticket to the guy behind the counter. Edited August 29, 2013 by westfalen Link to comment
Densha Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I thought Japanese find seeing other people eating in public transport rude, is that not with an ekiben? That would sound a bit illogical to me if that's true. Link to comment
westfalen Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I think eating on a crowded bus or commuter train would be bad form but is accepted on long distance and country trains, you always see people eating. Link to comment
Sacto1985 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 I think eating on a crowded bus or commuter train would be bad form but is accepted on long distance and country trains, you always see people eating. There's a reason why ekiben shops are located literally on the platform of any Shinkansen station where most trains frequently stop. Indeed, if you saw the full-length video of the Nozomi Shinkansen trip from Hakata (Fukuoka) to Tokyo, you can easily see the ekiben shops on the platforms at Okayama, Shin-Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya Stations. Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 (edited) There's a reason why ekiben shops are located literally on the platform of any Shinkansen station where most trains frequently stop. Indeed, if you saw the full-length video of the Nozomi Shinkansen trip from Hakata (Fukuoka) to Tokyo, you can easily see the ekiben shops on the platforms at Okayama, Shin-Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya Stations.Yap, also further to that, one can even find nice ladies pushing push carts around inside the shinkansen or long journey limited express train routes like the Hida Wide View (Kiha-85) to Takayama and the Super Hokuto (Kiha-283) to Sapporo, just to name a few i've been on. I've just uploaded a video i took last year onboard the shinkansen service, i think on board the Hikari 700 series towards Shin-Osaka. Reason i took this video is not because the girl is very pretty (but still pretty) but because i was curious how she will make a U-turn back as the isle is very small, so now i know ~~ *HHHmmm after much viewing and recalling, i think it's not the shinkansen i'm on, or rather the Super Hokuto service instead from Sapporo to Hakodate.. Edited August 30, 2013 by JR500 のぞみ Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 It largely depends on the seating in the train. If a train has 1+1 seats, like in most Ltd. Express services, you have your own table and can enjoy a lunch on your own. 4-person box seats as well, but in a lesser extend. If you have long bench seats aligned to the walls, it's a commuter train and usually not a place to eat. However, I've experienced that in the countryside on longer journeys, people tend to take life a bit more relaxed and do enjoy their ekiben there as well. Regarding the sparseness of eateries in the country side. It's the same in Ibaraki. Cause is probably Nissan in certain parts ;) Link to comment
bronzeonion Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Time of day, where you are and type of service are all factors in whether to eat or not! E233 series, suburbs of Tokyo, train fairly busy with bench seating = Not good time to eat 115 series, scenic mountainous railway line, train empty with box seating = Yeah sure eat, why not! I've always assumed it's okay on Limited Exp/Shinkansen where you have flip down tables and doors at the end of the carriage no matter where you are. Link to comment
Sacto1985 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 (edited) I've always assumed it's okay on Limited Exp/Shinkansen where you have flip down tables and doors at the end of the carriage no matter where you are. I remember on YouTube there is a member who posts videos of ekiben showing the meal being eaten while travelling on the Shinkansen.... Here's one taken of an ekiben bought at Shin-Yamaguchi Station, showing it off and eating it on a Nozomi train: Edited August 30, 2013 by Sacto1985 Link to comment
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