Page 319 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

316  TR A VELERS ’ NEEDS WHERE T O EA T AND DRINK  317

Certain dishes from Osaka have
also made their mark on the
rest of Japan. One of the most
popular snacks in the Kansai
region is takoyaki, which is
griddle-cooked octopus in
batter. Takoyaki stalls have
sprung up in most Japanese
cities. Another famous dish
from Osaka is okonomiyaki,
which is often likened to a
pancake. The name means “as
you like it” and, as the phrase
suggests, it is made with any
Tuna being laid out for sale at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market (see p72) ingredients the customer wants.
as one of the true tastes of Edo
cuisine. As more people from Kansai region also became less Japan. Top quality local produce KOBE BEEF
the north of Japan moved to favored when people in Edo can be found in the area. In this
Edo, udon noodles, which were adopted a stronger tasting inland region, seafood has not One significant contribution that
popular in the south, were sauce. Even grilled eel, which been as central to the cooking the Japanese have given to meat
replaced by soba noodles. is thought to be a typical part of Kyoto as in the rest of Japan. connoisseurs across the world is
Kobe beef. The black wagyu cows
Soba is most commonly eaten of Edo cuisine, was originally a Instead, Kyoto’s superb chefs of Hyogo prefecture, of which
in the same simple way that it dish from Kyoto, but it is the have developed a vast range of Kobe is the capital, are bred and
was eaten all that time ago: in Edo method of cooking the dishes using their top-quality reared using strictly guarded and
a zaru (a small bamboo sieve). eel and preparing the sauce tofu, which is famous all over time-honoured traditions to make
The weaker soy sauce of the that we know today. Other Japan. In nearby Kobe, many some of the highest-quality beef
foods that feature strongly dishes celebrate the area’s in the world. Although similar
in Edo cuisine are sushi, tem- internationally sought-after beef. cows are raised in the US
pura, and oden – a hotpot of and Australia, the meat is not
Enoki mushrooms fishcake, boiled eggs, and considered to be genuine if
other ingredients. it’s not from Hyogo, which
makes authentic Kobe beef an
expensive delicacy. Kobe beef is
Kansai Cuisine an extremely tender meat, and
it is identifiable by the striations
Although in many respects of fat that run through it. It is used
the Kansai region has lost its in a range of Japanese dishes –
position as the most impor tant it can be eaten raw as sashimi,
area in Japan’s culinary cooked as teppanyaki or, as is
landscape, it should not be seen popular nowadays, served
as a spent force: food from the simply as a big hearty steak
Kansai region is still one of the Omoide Yokacho, a lane of restaurants or even a luxurious burger.
Selection of vegetables that feature in Japanese cuisine strongest regional cuisines in in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Tempura, originally a Okonomiyaki is a thick, Yakiudon are thick noodles
Portuguese dish, is lightly pancake-shaped mix of egg fried with seafood, seaweed,
battered deep-fried vegetables and other ingredients, cooked shiitake mushrooms, tuna
or fish. on a griddle. flakes, and beansprouts.

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