We are very lucky that we get to experience so many Japanese flavours all around the world. After all, Japan isn’t the closest destination (to Europe) and it would be so sad if we couldn’t get a taste of its cuisine without going there. That being said, there are still so many things that we haven’t yet found anywhere else. So for the food inspired travellers out there, here is a list of things you can (still) only find in Japan.
Takoyaki
What a peculiar thing to eat! It reminds us of a bubble waffle or a бухта (a Bulgarian breakfast) with a piece of octopus and some vegetables in the middle. Oh yea, like the Okonomiyake, they also get topped with dried fish flakes and seaweed powder. Takoyaki are also usually made in front of you, although this is strictly street food, and they come boiling hot. We were so tempted by the smell and the fact that we’d waited for 5 minutes for them to be made that we rushed into eating a whole ball in one go. Big mistake! Genuine advice – it’s better to wait another 5 mins for them to cool off slightly than to burn your mouth so bad you can barely taste the rest.
The best thing about Takoyaki though is the way they’re made. The process is truly hypnotising and we stayed long after we’d finished ours just to admire it.
P.S. Takoyaki originate from Osaka. Be sure to try them while you’re there to avoid missing out (see cheesecake section).
P.P.S. This is pre-pandemic by the way, but the people who make your food still wear masks. Did we mention that Japan is the cleanest place on Earth?!
Tako tamago
Octopus is the pure awesomeness of seafood so we had to try all the Japanese versions. We discovered this cute bite-sized version that lets you eat a whole octopus in a single bite if you wanted to. They come on a stick. And they have a delightful surprise in the middle – the head has a quail egg inside! When you bite into one you get the chewiness of the octopus and the smoothness of the egg making it a unique and fascinatingly delicious treat.
How did they get the egg inside the head if the octopus seems to be whole? We preferred to keep the magic and not google this right away. But if you’re curious, here’s a video recipe you can check out.
Jiggly cheesecake
We made a huge mistake on the cheesecake front. HUGE! When we set off on our trip we had a few must-try foods on our list and the famous jiggly cheesecake was near the top. It’s a signature dish and something quite unique to Japan. The most famous bakery making these is Rikuro’s and it has ~10 locations giving you enough options to try the cheesecake.
But they are ALL in Osaka.
Unfortunately, we realised that only after we’d left the city and went back to Tokyo and our efforts to find an equivalent bore no fruit. If like us you expect everything to be a chain and a megapolis like Tokyo to have it all have this in mind. We sought out Pablo, which seems to be a massive cheesecake chain to try and make up for our miss. While the cheesecakes were indeed exceptionally tasty, they were nothing like what we wanted to try so we were left disappointed.
And this is them in action:
Layer cake
Another fantastic dessert and another thing we can watch being made all day. We are actually quite happy these aren’t made anywhere near us as we would eat this all the time. It’s so good!
The cake seems simple enough to make in principle – the layers are baked individually by rolling a cylinder in cake batter, then running it through a round in the oven, then rolling on top of that layer and baking again until you have ~15 layers of the most delicate soft cake you have ever tasted. Oh yes, and they sometimes do matcha batter as well.
Once baked the cake is cut out from the cylinder and reassembled into circles or bite-sized cake pops which you can buy in shops.
Black sesame ice cream
What can we say, we love ice-cream. And this is one of the best flavours we’ve had, along with the matcha. It has a very specific sesame taste and it’s black or charcoal in colour making it look exceptionally exotic.
We had this one in Kyoto after visiting the Ginkaku-ji Temple (Silver Pavillion). There is a cute street leading up to the entrance where you will find souvenirs and quite a few ice-cream stalls. There are quite a few falvours to try and the gardens are magnificent so we highly recommend going there.
Square watermelons
Yes, they are real, and no we didn’t eat any. We asked around in shops and were told they actually don’t taste good and are only used as decoration. The classic round watermelons were more prevalent though and they did taste nice.
Fruit in Japan in general are of great quality and well worth trying. They are apparently inefficient to grow on the islands though so they are expensive.
Green ice tea
OK this is not food, but it must be mentioned. This is one of the best things we discovered in Japan. Available in every store and every vending machine, this quickly became our favourite drink of all. It is the best thing in the world and we wish it was available everywhere. Please, drink traders, import some of that goodness!
Why are we raving so much about it? It’s just green tea! Yes, precisely because it is JUST green tea – no sugar, no sweeteners, no colourants, no additives of any kind. It tastes bitter, it looks unappealing and it is so refreshing especially in the hot summer months. It is also the only cold drink other than water that doesn’t taste sweet that we’ve ever found. It is amazing! (can we please stop putting sugar in everything?!)