To be honest, I only decided that it was time to go to Tokyo when I found out about
Royal Host (and it's relative
Cowboy 家族 (Cowboy Family)). You might ask why I'd be so intrigued by a place where the
hamburgers come with garlic cream sauce but no buns, and the beef java curry comes with
an egg in the morning. Or a place where the staff
dress like cowboys and bow after singing happy birthday [I was going to take rakka to cowboy family for her birthday but they're
waaaaay out in the burbs]. Those links might be enough to explain it, actually.
But more exciting than the seeming quirkiness, they led me to discover the concept of Yõshoku (洋食). It translates directly as "Western Style Meal" but I think it's really about western foods that have become Japanese. The saucy burger with no bun is a great example. It's not just a kooky thing that they do at Royal Host, it's an established form, ハンバーグ (Hambāgu) and is essentially
Salisbury steak. (I just figured that out. I learn so much researching these posts).
These sorts of cultural crossovers are fascinating. Especially if you come from the source culture. It gives you a window into the values of the borrower culture. What they keep and what they leave can be telling. This does need to be tempered with some history though. For instance, to understand Japanese curry you need to know that it was filtered through British Navy culture before it got to Japan. Speaking of curry...
カレー (curry) is the big, obvious example. It's hugely popular in Japan. It has evolved so far from indian curry that it's completely it's own thing (for one, it's often beef). And it's the best thing to eat before you go to prison.
Scene from
転々 (Adrift in Tokyo)
I've made Japanese curry before from those roux packets you can get at the asian grocery. Makes my head go all funny (not in a good way) and rakka has made it from a Japanese cookbook recently. But my first taste of the real deal was at
CoCo 壱番屋 (CoCo Ichibanya).
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| Fried Chicken and Veg Curry |
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| Sausage Curry |
It's a chain, but no worse for that. Bold curry taste, not too spicy, didn't make my head go funny. I liked it so much that I went for curry in the airport on the way home (it's the only food I had twice in Japan). Airport curry is not as good. CoCo Ichi is the way.
Then there is Omurice (オムライス). It's just what it sounds like. It's an omelette on rice. Usually with ketchup. I got a cheap one from Lawson and it was really tasty.
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| Lots of ketchup |
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| You can see it's just rice with egg on top, but it's おいしい (Oishī - Delicious)! |
Since we've been home we've accidentally invented spicy omurice. We ran out of ketchup so we used Sriracha sauce. Talk about Oishī! And since Huy Fong Sriracha is born and made in America, we have now westernized an easternized western food. I love that.
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| Spicy Omurice |
Oh, and speaking of Lawson. Like 7-11, it's a conbini (convenience store) that started in the US and is now a Japanese company. Unlike 7-11 they don't have any stores in the US anymore. Also unlike 7-11 they are everywhere in Tokyo. Near our hotel in Hamamatsuchõ there was one 7-11 and four Lawsons. Like, they're everywhere.
There is another dish that I've been enthralled by ever since I saw the 深夜食堂 (Shinya Shokudō) movie on the plane. The movie, based on a show based on a manga, is about a diner that's only opened from midnight to 7am (english title "Midnight Diner"). The dish is
Spaghetti Naporitan.
Sadly I didn't find any in Japan, but we don't let that stop us around here. Since we've been back there are already two new Japanese cookbooks in the house. One of them has a recipe for Naporitan, and rakka just made it last night. I stupidly didn't take a picture because I'm stupid, but it seems pretty easy. Just spaghetti, some veg and sausage, and a sauce made from ketchup and a little sake and stuff.
Yep. Ketchup again. I guess you can't really avoid the war completely. This dish is said to be inspired by the rations at GHQ, the US's head office for the occupation. (Related, I've heard that the popularity of ramen started after the war too, because the US imported lots of wheat to help with shortages.)
The process of making western foods into Japanese foods is, of course, still ongoing. My favorite new innovation that we found was the
モスライスバーガー "海鮮かきあげ (塩だ れ)" (Moss Rice Burger "Seafood Tempura (with salt))
(sorry for the western quotes there, effin' blogger).
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| Moss Rice Burger |
It's a seafood medley on a bun made from 焼きおにぎり (yaki onigiri - grilled rice ball). This if a fantastic idea and I salute it. Even if it was not very flavorful. At least it wasn't as flavorful as this
Freshness Burger.
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| フレッシュネスバーガー FRESHNESS BURGER |
It doesn't really count as Yõshoku, because it's just a burger. Hokkaido pumpkin buns not withstanding. It was so oishī though. Better than most fast food burgers I've had in the states. Seriously, In-n-out is like ashes in my mouth compared to even the most basic Freshness Burger.
Add to that all the other stuff we sampled, from various conbini sandwiches, to ice cream (hokkaido melon ice-cream!), chips, and pastries (oh, god the
Totoro cream puffs! OMFG, say it twice more) and you can only come to one conclusion: Japanese food is amazing, even when it's western food.
I will talk about "Traditional" Japanese food in a forthcoming post, but honestly I don't know if I'll be as excited about it.
