Only Scratched the Surface…
On top of the New York Times, I can always count on The Economist as a good source of interesting articles. I am a subscriber to the print version of The Economist but this week was prompted to visit their website as one of their correspondent had written an online exclusive spotlight on Japanese food. Reading the article made me realize that even though I have been to Japan many times in the past few years (including what many consider its culinary capital, Osaka), I have only tasted the surface of what the country has to offer in terms of food.
The author writes that Japan is a true fast food nation…
…and Tokyo’s food-on-the-run is vast and diverse: at its best a thing of genius, while at its worst it can out-affront anything the United States has to offer.
Some of my best meals in Japan have been on the go. This includes yakitori and a hot soup/stew near Shinjuku station.
The author also describes the joys of eating at an izakaya. An experience that has still eluded me. Mostly for fear of not being able to order properly. I know that this shouldn’t be a deterrent to going into an izakaya but going into a busy restaurant and not being able to speak or read Japanese makes me uneasy. I don’t want to inconvenience an already busy staff with my bumbling ordering ways. Nevertheless, I really need to make my way into one on my next trip! I’ve already enjoyed drinking with salary men and women in Osaka so I have really no reason for being uncomfortable ordering at an izakaya right?!?!?lol
Another great food on the go I ate while in Tokyo on my first trip there was at Tsukiji. It was at a tempura stand where the first picture was taken. After a breakfast that consisted grade “A” sushi, I stopped at this stand to have tempura shrimp with soba noodles.
MTL is a great food city but having spent all my life here, there’s very little food that is left for me to discover (however, I am still in search for a decent ramen noodle joint…lol). That’s probably why on my travels, I always try to seek out the best food the city/country has to offer… But the best food doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be expensive… I usually try to go to places where the locals go to eat like any good foodie would do…lol
The Economist article is a great read for those interested…
japanese food has great variety and peculiarities… but have you noticed that for some odd reason, whichever country you’re in (that doesn’t promote variety in different cultural dishes), the foods all taste similar somehow? it’s like there’s something in the way they apply spices that make them all taste similar.
for example, you can tell almost immediately that something is indian, or korean, and in this case, japanese.
that is why montreal is great, in my personal opinion. it offers a wide variety of food, and each type of food can be catered to people of higher pedigree, or to ghetto fucktards like me, but most will agree that the foods actually do taste different.
by the way, don’t feel shy about going into a random resto and ordering shit. i did that every time i went to japan, including the time i was with you guys lol.
Canadian/Quebecois food is not varied in of itself in terms of taste… But the beauty of being in MTL is that we have access to foods from around the world (well except for decent ramen soups…lol)
I find japanese food tastes are more subtle… they let the freshness of the ingredients speak themselves… rarely do you see a japanese dish overburdened with sauces…
have you ever considered, though, that sauces themselves are composed of ingredients as well? it depends on the dish, but some dishes require good sauces. case-in-point: poutine. additional evidence: italian pastas.
and yea, i agree that canadian/quebecois food doesn’t vary that much in taste either, though i think you missed how implied that there were lots of different cultural dishes available in montreal lol.
I’ve been searching myself for a tolerable ramen restaurant in my hometown Seattle knowing that nothing would equal what I had in Japan. Luckily I found one, Samurai Noodle. My first try at Boom Noodle was terrible though. It’s all about the broth. Tampopo is a movie for a reason.
gabb, open a ramen joint in mtl and do it right. i have a feeling it could make lots of money
daranee,
We are lucking enought in MTL to have quite a large vietnamese population. So we have tremendous vietnamese noodle soups such as Pho and bun bo hue.But when it comes to ramen noodles, there are usually served in a bland chicken or beef stock. Nothing really to write home about…lol
Nam,
i always thought that would be a great restaurant idea for here. But it seems to me that in MTL, if a a restaurant is not “labelled something” such as Italian, Portuguese, Chinese people will have doubts about trying your restaurant. If labelled Chinese, they will expect to have your standard chinese amerian style cooking. Or if its Japanese, they will expect it to have sushi even though Japanese people don’t only eat sushi. Places like Schwartz Deli where they do pretty much one thing perfectly (smoke meat for those who dont know) is a dying breed in MTL. If I would open my own restaurant, since I am not a professional chef, I would prolly have only a few items on my menu (ie great ramen soups) but these items I would do them perfectly, the best in town…lol
Nevertheless, a ramen place is certainly lacking here in Montreal, I already have an idea how it would look like on the inside… My trip to Osaka providing my inspiration for the place…lol
that’s the thing though, you open it as a ‘real’ japanese joint, with ‘real’ japanese food, and instruct ppl on how ‘real’ japanese people don’t only eat sushi… and please, do not serve california rolls either lol.
i think with that type of unique concept, and some proper marketing to the right audience, you can really start a trend. if you *do* do it though, you gotta make sure that your chef is the best in town.
I find it hard to instruct people how japanese eat other things when they have been shown for years (via all the japanese restos in MTL) that japanese food is sushi and teriyaki chicken. I think it might be too much of a shock for the local people.
you just market it as ‘authentic’ and put up some pics of your experiences and some articles in travel magazines with pictures that show these things, and you’ll get people hooked into the ‘authenticism’ that you want, especially since it’s actually a real thing.
done and done. i’m a freakin’ genius.
You really should go to an Izakaya. Izakaya is all about the drinking and good times. Even the waiters are generally in such a festive mood that any lack of understanding is quickly forgotten. They’re too much fun to avoid.
by the way, is there such a thing as a conveyor belt sushi place in montreal? if there isn’t… make it already. that shit will WORK.
I’m not too sure it will work. Conveyor belt are good places when there is a constant flow of people coming in and out. This assures that the sushi is always fresh. I dont find there is anything that would separate the conveyor belt places with the all you can eat places besides the conveyor belt aspect. Kitchy restos arent really a big thing in MTL. Also, the crap fish we get in MTL would really shine during non-peek hours as some sushi would have been prepared when there was a rush of people. In the end, after trying conveyor belt sushi, I think MTL people would end up sticking with the all you can eat joints that they are familiar with and where the sushi would be made to order…
That’s funny… I had this conversation in the past with nam about the sushi conveyor belt thing… maybe it was during the time stamp of this entry. There is one in Montreal! The resto name is called Odaki.