What to eat Tokyo? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Located right in the heart of the island of Honshu - home to around 80% of the country's population - the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto symbolize the diversity of Japanese cuisine as a whole. Although the bentō is generally the equivalent of a packed lunch reserved for schoolchildren and workers, prepared at home, it can be found everywhere in shops and particularly in railway stations(ekiben) for a fairly low price, often between €5 and €7. This dish, prepared in a compartmentalized box, generally consists of rice, a small omelet, chicken or fish, and vegetables. Just before noon, it's also common for bentō vendors to set up on sidewalks in business districts or in front of government offices. Rice is a central ingredient in many dishes. Donburi, for example, consists of a large bowl of rice, usually topped with grilled onions and omelette, on which are arranged all sorts of ingredients such as katsudon (breaded pork called tonkatsu in Japanese), gyūdon (strips of beef), unagidon (grilled eel), oyakodon (chicken and egg), kimuchidon (Korean kimchi), tekkadon with tuna sashimi (or sakedon with salmon) or tendon with tempura, usually shrimp.

Tempuras/tenpuras are also well known outside Japan. They consist of vegetables (zucchini, carrots, etc.) or shrimps, fish, oysters, etc., covered in a thin fritter-like batter. In the same genre, but fatter, kushikatsu is based on meat, seafood and vegetables, but breaded and skewered on wooden spikes. Yakitoris are skewers of chicken, beef, fish or mushrooms, lacquered with a sweet sauce. Note that the beef-cheddar yakitoris found in France are a purely Western invention. As the Japanese are very attached to the cleanliness of common places, eating in the street is rather frowned upon. However, during festivals, whole streets can be taken over by street vendors(yatai). This is also a good time to try takoyaki (egg pastry balls filled with octopus) from Osaka, taiyaki (a kind of pancake filled with sweetened red bean paste, molded into the shape of a sea bream, a symbol of good luck), yakiimo (sweet potatoes cooked on a bed of stones, a bit like hot chestnuts) or gyozas (ravioli stuffed with pork, cabbage and leek). And let's not forget okonomiyaki, a shredded white cabbage pancake crowned with pork (buta), squid (ika), vegetables (yasai) or mixed vegetables (mikkusu), topped with a thick, sweet brown sauce, mayonnaise, soy sauce and dried bonito shavings (katsuobushi) that ripple delicately thanks to the steam escaping from theokonomiyaki.

Noodles are also very popular in Japan, often providing a tasty, quick and inexpensive meal. There are three main varieties: soba, udon and rāmen. Soba are buckwheat noodles. They are eaten hot in soup (kake soba), or cold with nori (seaweed) and soaked in soy sauce (zaru soba). Udon are thick wheat noodles, eaten in beef or pork soup. They are said to have originated in Takamatsu, on the island of Shikoku, east of Osaka. Rāmen are noodles of Chinese origin, developed in Fukuoka and eaten in soup. What these dishes have in common is that they're cheap (under ¥1,000) and can be eaten by sucking in air at the same time, as noisily as possible. This technique - though surprising for a Western audience - allows you to devour a noodle soup quickly while cooling it down. Yakisoba is a Chinese-inspired dish of stir-fried noodles served with vegetables. Despite its name, this recipe is not prepared with soba, but rāmen made from wheat flour.

Oden is a kind of stew made from various ingredients cooked in a fish broth. It consists of eggs, radishes, turnips, vegetable croquettes(ganmodoki), fish pâté(tsumire or hampen), konnyaku (konjac tuber starch jelly), konbu (kelp roll), grilled fish pâté (chikuwa), etc. This dish is generally served in winter and remains very popular. This dish is generally served in winter and remains very popular. Sukiyaki is a meat and vegetable dish cooked in front of the guests, on the table. The beef is cut into thin strips. Vegetables and tofu are then cooked in a broth of soy sauce, sweet rice wine (mirin) and sugar. The various ingredients are sometimes dipped in a raw egg yolk. Shabu-shabu is similar to sukiyaki, but differs mainly in its less sweet-salty broth. Another classic, robata-yaki is not a dish but a type of cooking, a kind of barbecue offering a wide variety of ingredients: meat, seafood, fish, vegetables, etc., which are grilled in front of customers on demand. Teppanyaki is quite similar, but the charcoal grill is replaced by a hot plate where food is grilled plancha-style.

The height of refinement in Japanese cuisine, the kaiseki ryōri is a multi-course meal consisting of at least a dozen dishes, both cooked and raw, made up of soup, meat, fish and vegetables, presented with absolute elegance. This meal, generally enjoyed in peaceful surroundings, of course comes at a price: between €100 and €300. More affordable, kaitenzushi is a type of restaurant where sushi is presented on a self-service conveyor belt. The izakaya is halfway between a pub and a tapas bar, where food is served with alcohol, and where the Japanese generally go with colleagues.

It's impossible to complete this introduction to Japanese cuisine without mentioning sushi and sashimi. Although the Japanese only eat them occasionally, they are nevertheless a major part of Japanese gastronomy, and often have a completely different flavor on the spot. A case in point is the Toyosu fish market, the largest of its kind in the world, which replaced the iconic Tsukiji market in 2018, having become too cramped. Not to mention a 278 kg bluefin tuna sold for a record 2.7 million euros in Tokyo in 2019.

Sushi is an umbrella term for several specialties based on vinegared rice(shari). These include the classic nigiri-zushi, in the form of a slice of raw fish placed on a rice ball coated with a touch of wasabi. Sometimes a small strip of seaweed(nori) surrounds the canapé. Maki-zushi is the version we're most familiar with in France, consisting of a nori roll encasing a rice, fish and vegetable filling. If the filling is of a soft or semi-liquid consistency (sea urchin, fish roe), the chef-sushi(itamae) will build a small collar of nori around the rice canapé to hold it in place. The sushi is then called gunkan-maki. Served in a bowl, chirashi-zushi consists of a bed of rice on which various varieties of fish,atsuyaki tamago (thick cold omelette) and mushrooms (shiitake) are arranged. Hako-zushi is simply prepared by pressing rice and filling together before dividing the block into bite-sized cubes. Finally, inari-zushi is a pocket of fried tofu, filled with rice and various other ingredients (meat, fish, mushrooms). In fact, sushi as a whole can contain a wide variety of ingredients: eel(unagi), scallop(hotate), crab(kani), shrimp(ebi), omelette(tamago), sea urchin(uni), mackerel(saba), salmon(sake), cuttlefish(ika) and, of course, tuna(maguro). And let's not forget the fatty tuna(toro), a highly prized piece of fish from the belly, reputed to melt in the mouth.

As for sashimi, it's a thinly sliced piece of raw fish, seafood or shellfish. Sashimi is usually served as an appetizer to a traditional meal, as the delicate flavor of fish can be compromised by the taste of already-cooked food. They should be soaked in soy sauce, possibly mixed with wasabi, before eating. Some sashimi are prepared with meat, such as basashi, which comes in the form of thin slices of horsemeat. Among this feast of raw fish, fugu is one of the most sulphurous specialties. Sliced into sashimi, the translucent flesh of this fish sends several Japanese to the morgue every year! Indeed, most of the fugu's organs are toxic, and the slightest error can render the dish fatal. Years of training explain why this dish is so expensive, costing up to €100 per guest.

Compared to savoury dishes, traditional Japanese pastry(o-kashi) is the poor relation of Japanese gastronomy. In fact, there are a limited number of specialties, which often share a similarity with the indestructible anko or azuki bean paste, which is used very generously. Matcha tea has also become common in desserts, although this is a recent trend. Mochi (glutinous rice paste) is a classic Japanese pastry, most often topped withanko. Red bean paste is also used to garnish manjū (steamed brioche) or dorayaki (a type of pancake). Pancakes are very popular in the country, as are hottokeki, a kind of thick, fluffy pancake. There's also the soufflé cheesecake, created in Japan in the 1940s, which is very light and airy. Pastries are generally served in cafés, while restaurants limit themselves to ice creams. Green tea has been Japan's national drink ever since the first seeds were imported from China in the ^9th century by Emperor Saga. It's drunk daily, and there are numerous tea-based beverages, such as bubble tea from Taiwan, which contains gelatinous tapioca beads and soy milk.

Introduced at the end of the ^19th century, beer is very popular in Japan. The best-known national beer brands are Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo, Yebisu and Suntory, but there are many others. Japan's emblematic spirit, sake(nihon shu), has nothing in common with the digestifs served in Asian restaurants in Europe, which are often Chinese rice alcohol called baiju, which rises to 40°. Sake is not a strong spirit, but a rice wine fermented at 17°. There are over 2,500 varieties of nihon shu. Nihon shu is either karakuchi (dry) or amakuchi (sweet). It can be eaten hot(atsukan) or cold(reishu). Shōchū is a 30° sweet potato, barley or rice spirit often accompanied by soda and lemon juice(chūhai or chū-hi). Alternatively, let yourself be tempted by umeshu, a delicate plum liqueur at just 10-15°. It can be drunk iced in summer or hot in winter.

It may seem surprising at first, but whisky has an important place in the land of the rising sun. Although production only began at the end of the ^19th century, when the country opened up to the world, Japan is now the world's fourth-largest consumer! There are several companies producing whisky in Japan, but the two best known and most widely available are Suntory and Nikka. Until the late 1990s, Japanese production and consumption remained domestic, but a number of recent awards have boosted worldwide recognition of Japanese whiskies, as well as the price of some bottles, which sell for thousands of euros.