The Japanese has yet again come up with a whole new, unique way of enjoying their food. The Ramen Burger, as described by the Asahi Shimbun is as amusingly different as the challenges they come up with in their game shows:
In place of the hamburger buns, the Furusato-tei restaurant uses boiled ramen noodles baked into small round cakes. Rather than a meat patty, the ramen “buns” sandwich other ingredients often found in a ramen dish, such as char siu roasted pork, menma, a condiment made from dried bamboo, and naruto sliced fish cake.
While the first bite of the baked noodles …read more

I am very pleased to have found this recipe as I am reminded of my college days when I used to order this dish at the local Japanese fastfood stall inside our campus. What makes it unique is that they’d serve it up with raw egg on top, yum! I didn’t do the same though as this was my first attempt at this recipe. Maybe next time. For now, I thought I’d go strictly by the book:
Ingredients:
2 tbsps oil
200g chicken breast fillet, cut into thin strips
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 tbsps water
4 tbsps Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsps mirin
1 tsp dashi …read more

Here’s a flavorful dish which, in my opinion, I find quite uncommon to Japanese cuisine. The last time I had steak the Japanese way was when I dined at a Teppanyaki place. I guess I’ve always known Japanese food for its sushi, Gyoza, miso soup, Yakisoba, Sukiyaki and Tonkatsu.
So, if you’re bored with your trusty salt and pepper, why not perk up your steak with this delectable Japanese recipe:
Ingredients:
2 tbsps white Japanese sesame seeds
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 cm piece fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsps Japanese soy sauce*
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp caster sugar
500g scotch fillet, cut into 4 steaks
3 spring onions, to …read more

..to eat Takoyaki?

Believe it or not, these contain diced baby octopus coated in a specially prepared batter.
They immediately caught my eye when I took my son to town for a stroll and decided to have lunch at this small fastfood Teppanyaki eatery. I just had to tell my husband about it. And what do you know, he was excitedly fond of it too! We shared each other’s good old memories of our last helping of Takoyaki balls. I remember enjoying this tasty Japanese snack back in high school. Whenever the school fair is on, I look forward to finding the …read more

..well, then you must try the Teppanyaki restaurant to enjoy a unique dining experience! Pictured above is such restaurant we went to when my parents were around visiting. As you can see, your order gets cooked right in front of you on the big hotplate! Makes you appreciate how fresh the food that is served up.  As for the price, it is fairly reasonable. Our dinner at the Fuji Restaurant seven months ago had cost $35 per person, which gave us a healthy variety of beef, chicken, seafood, vegetable, rice, miso soup and green tea ice cream. You’ll surely get …read more

Whenever I’m out for lunch and crave for sushi, I notice that most Kiwis eat with their hands, i.e. dip the sushi onto the soy sauce then into their mouth. Made me wonder why they don’t bother at all to use the chopsticks. Hence, I went out of my way to look for this instruction video:
 

I first encountered mentaiko reading Chubby Hubby’s IMBB 16 entry last year, and it’s been on my mind ever since. Every time I went to an Asian store, I looked for this spicy pollack roe and was disappointed. Until I read JW’s advice on where to get mentaiko: I promptly visited the Korean food store in St. Louis while we were there and voila! It was sitting in the freezer section — where I always got my frozen eel, but I never noticed the box before! This was actually a little indulgence for me (and …read more

Who woulda thunk? Once upon a time, you couldn’t order sushi online. How could you possibly? Sushi is supposed to be prepared and served absolutely fresh, preferably right in front of you.
There’s even a funny website some college guys created where you could order sushi to be delivered to your home. It was a spoof site, of course, but good for some laughs (warning: not a kid-friendly site). I keep wondering if people actually tried to order from them.
These days, there are companies doing this for real. Take Catalina Offshore Products, for example. …read more

June 3:
Louisville, Kentucky: Asian Water Festival Family Day
June 1-4:
Herndon, VA: Herndon Festival
June 1-4:
Ithaca, NY: Ithaca Festival
June 4:
Temecula, CA: Fourth Annual Children’s Matsuri
June 5-16:
New York, NY: Taste of Korea: 3rd UN Korean Food Festival
June 8-11:
Daegu, Korea: Dafood 2006: Daegu International Food Industry Exhibition 2006
June 7-9:
Beijing: FHC Beijing
June 9-11:
Hawaii: Pan-Pacific Festival-Matsuri
Children’s Matsuri, including a Family “Iron Chef” Contest
June 10:
Bristol, UK: The Bristol Vegan Fayre 2006
June 21-24:
Taipei, Taiwan: Food Taipei 2006
June 17:
Savannah, GA: 11th Annual Savannah Asian Festival
June 21-25:
Seoul, Korea: Tea World Festival 2006
June 24-25:
Chinatown, Los Angeles: …read more