Food to try in Japan!

Hey guys! A foodie lover like me would obviously dedicate my Japan eats solely for a post of its own because why not? Who doesn't want to read a whole blog post on food anyway! Be sure it's not mid night and you're hungry while reading this because it's mid night now while I'm typing this and I'm feeling hungry AF from looking at all the mouth watering food photos.

Okay, you may ignore my blab now and let's begin!

When you hear about Japan, the first thing that comes to your mind about Japanese cuisine is definitely sushi! And the best place to have it is unquestionably at the infamous Tsukiji Market, home to the freshest array of seafood in Japan!

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Fresh out from the sea - Sushi in Tsukiji

Do expect a mega long queue at famous sushi restaurants like Ryu Sushi and Sushi Daiwa, however if you're only going for fresh sushi, any restaurant is fine because at Tsukiji Market, everything is super fresh!

We had sushi at this sushi restaurant which is towards the back row of the market. It's location isn't as prominent as the popular ones so I guess this is why the queue wasn't too long. Gosh i look mega small among everyone else. :O

After waiting for around 30-45 mins we got seated! I ordered 2 of the monthly specials which consists of a salmon dish and a saury fish dish. Perfect for a salmon sashimi lover like me! I took my first bite of salmon sushi and it was divine! The salmon was very fresh and packed full of fishy flavours. It actually had some wasabi in it *i typically dont eat wasabi*, but it had very little of it and spread well so it went really well together with the salmon. I hate that the sushi in KL put a blob of wasabi inside their sushi and I always tear up cuz of the heat.

I dont typically eat silvery skin sashimi but I had to give this a go since I was in Japan. Took a bite and absolutely fell in love! It was so good I cant even put it to words. I think I literally had a food orgasm. Seriously. Damn. Good. I ordered another plate because it was really that heavenly. Definitely worth the wait!

Oh and they served green tea in this nice looking cup that has all the types of sushi! The sushi prints are carved on and for sale at the cashier. 

Other than sushi at Tsukiji Market, we tried takeaway sushi which we got at a random grocery store in Kagurazaka. The grocery store had their own sushi chef making sushi so it's sure to be fresh!

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Cheap eats - Grocery store sushi

Don't be fooled by the affordable price these sushi takeaways offer. It's actually really tasteful and surprisingly good. You can tell by the vibrancy of the sashimi that it's freshly made.

I've had ikura many times and its usually just tastes salty. This ikura however was packed with rich fishy flavour which you can only get if its fresh.

Other than sushi, ramen is a popular dish that can be found anywhere in Japan. But of course to try the best, Ichiran is the place to go for.

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Rich tonkotsu broth ramen - Ichiran Ramen

I stumbled across this Ichiran at Asakusa after the Sensoji temple visit. We were lucky that not many tourists come to this Ichiran therefore the wait wasn't too long. They've got an english menu to pick your ramen preference and as usual, you pay by the vending machine.

They use this really cute system to detect empty slots and it's easier to be seated if you don't mind sitting by yourself. 

Look at the little open windows which is for the staff to serve you your noodles. How cute!

When the food is served, they'll roll down the blinds and time to dine! Look at the pork slices and golden broth! It just looks so mouth watering.

Now time to take a bite. To me, it had a pack full of porky flavour and you can truly taste notable pork in the broth. I'm not a huge fan of soup noodles *more of a dry noodle person* but this is by far one of the best soup ramen I've had. However, I personally think it's a bit light for me, flavour wise *should have ordered the strong flavoured one* but overall, a great meal still.

If you're a dry noodle person like me, I bet you'll love my next recommendation! I actually found this very local ramen shop on timeout with the intention of just having some japanese food near our Airbnb on our first day. We arrived in Japan in the evening and headed straight to our Airbnb located in Shin Okubo / Korea Town. Since we were in Japan and not Korea, we wanted to have some Japanese cuisine and what a first day to have some ramen! Never tried soupless ramen before but I figured they meant meat sauce or something. With not much of an expectation, we just went for it and little did we know we were in for a great surprise.

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To die for soupless ramen - Menya Hanabi

Us looking like aliens among the locals. The server was quite shocked to see us there but provided us with great service and paper bibs too!

This is not a touristy restaurant because there's only like 10 seats in the whole place.

It was our first time seeing this sort of ordering and paying method so we were pretty much clueless on how to order the first time. ahaha!

So I ordered their famous soupless ramen called Maze Soba which is topped with raw egg yolk, a spicy mince of pork and beef, spring onions, matchsticks of nori, powdered dried fish, and chopped raw garlic. It's pack full of flavour and tastes like heaven on earth. The sauces was super flavourful and had a great balance of salty pork and beef alongside the strong, spicy taste of garlic and spring onions. I would say this was my favourite meal throughout the entire trip and would without a doubt head there again in a heartbeat! 

We actually went there again on our second last day because all of us loved it so much we had to have it again before leaving! Forgot to bring my camera out that time so forgive me for my phone quality picture. This time I ordered the special one with added roasted pork belly. Once again, they did not disappoint at all. The pork belly melted in my mouth and I could hear angels singing aaww in my head. Damn. Thinking about it now makes me crave for it so much! The only thing for me is that the pork belly was a bit fatty. Maybe I just dont like meat with fat but I guess the fat is what makes it so damn good. Like damn! If you intend to try this, I recommend you to order one regular and one special one with the pork belly and share the meat. It can be super filling and even a big eater like me almost couldn't finish despite giving some to my mum. So yeah, share the good stuff! :P

The server guy actually recognized us and gave us little dumplings as a token of appreciation for coming back! That was so sweet of him! I guess he was just really surprised to have us tourists drop by. The dumplings were handmade by himself and tasted like siew long bao! If you happen to grab a meal there, show him my photo and see if he'll give you dumplings too! ahahah And I still remember him telling us that he'll wait for us to come visit again. That was such a good experience!

So this is the outside of the shop! There are several outlets and we went to the one in Shinjuku. 

There was also a flaming ramen restaurant to try near Roppongi called Gogyo Ramen but we didn't manage to try that. Anyone heading to Japan can give it a go and let me know how was it! :)

Next up is something for rice bucket / 饭桶 people like myself. Katsukura is something I rarely can find in KL especially the pork kind because it's non halal. So evidently I must try them in Japan. Katsukura is restaurant located in Takashimaya, Shinjuku that is famous for their fried pork cutlets.

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Crispy succulent pork cutlets - Katsukura

I've never dined in at a Japanese restaurant that specializes in pork cutlets so I was quite intrigued that we had to grind the sesame seeds by ourselves. Quite a fun task because we were sort of taking part in the process of making our own food. *syok sendiri much.*

The sesame was to be mixed with their special sauce which is the dressing for the raw cabbage the katsu comes with. To me, all of them tastes pretty similar la and not really my type of dressing.

Anyway, after around a 15-20 minute wait, my appetizer arrived. The appetizer came with the set I ordered but if you're ordering just the katsu and rice, you'll just get miso soup and green tea.

The cutlets can be ordered in three sizes, 120 grams, 170 grams and 200 grams. This is the 170 grams one. I personally think 170 grams would be perfect for someone who's really hungry because fried greasy food tend to make you feel full fast. The cutlet comes with a generous serving of barley rice which is served in a bucket.

This is my special set which comes with an appetizer, rich seafood soup (not in the picture), miso soup (soup again idk why), premium juicy pork cutlets, fresh cabbage, fragrant white rice topped with the fluffiest tamago and a dessert. I'm seriously curious how they make eggs so fluffy and soft, topped on the rice and eaten with the fried pork cutlets is just the perfect combo. TBH, this set is fit for a king sized appetite that's why I shared this with my mum. Even though I do eat a lot, this was just way way way too big for me to finish. But damn it was so good. I really love that the pork is still moist despite being deep fried. It's one of the most expensive meals of the trip but I'll have it again when I've got the money hahaha. Btw, the lighting is super romantic and a perfect place for a date night!

This is the dessert. I think it's some mochi with some unknown fruit and brown sugar something like that. Not my thing but hey, Katsukura is a fried pork cutlet place, not a dessert place hahaha.

Anyway, if you're spending more than a week in Japan like I did, I'm sure you'll get bored of having Japanese food all day what. So why not have some western burgers? I was so excited to find out Shake Shack opened their first burger joint in Japan! It's actually their very first franchise in Asia and there's another one opening in Seoul! I didn't get to try Shake Shack when I was in New York last year because the queue was god damn long and it was super cold I couldnt bear standing in the streets lining up for so long. So we decided to skip it then and I'm so glad we got to try it in Japan!

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Fresh, simple, delicious burgers - Shake Shack

This Shake Shack is located in Arte Mall near Ebisu station which we went after our Roponggi Hills visit. 

The menu even has stuff for dogs! So cute!

Since that time was close to Octoberfest, they had a special set serving beer and brats! 

So this is one of the Octoberfest burger called Brat Burger. It looks like bacon but it's actually a huge piece of BBQ sauce coated hotdog *sausage sliced in half. The burger also has fried onions inside. Very simple ingredients but matched perfectly! The size is just enough and seasoning on spot as well. I could really taste all the natural flavours of the ingredients. So so good! 

Another great choice burger joint to try is Lotteria! I tried McDonalds in Japan and it's way more expensive compared to KL and not much of a difference. So I would recommend you to try Loterria instead because it not only serves japanese styled burgers, but it also has a premium kobe beef burger!

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Budget burgers - Lotteria

Photo by tokyotravels

Halloween is a huge thing in Japan and I love how they really incorporate the Halloween theme into their burgers! The Japanese really wins in packaging and presentation. Damn cute!

I gave a go on the Halloween edition prawn burger and to my surprise it was really good! The prawn patty was combined with potatoes and you can really taste and see prawns in it, not like the prawn paste kind where it's gooey. The cabbage had this egg mayo and pumpkin dressing which was quite unique and blended really well with the prawn patty. No doubt one of the best prawn burger I've had.

On my last day I even dabao-ed the Kobe beef burger to eat while waiting for my flight. As usual, they did not disappoint. The burger had a super thick and juicy beef patty and still tasted good after getting squashed in my bag. Undeniably one of my favourite fast food joints that I would definitely have again!

Ramen, sushi, katsu and burgers, what else did I not cover? Japanese cafes that is. If you're just looking for a place to chill, drink some tea *sorry coffee people*, and snap some pictures *or a hundred*, Aoyama Flower Market Tea House is just the place for you! If you're a girl la because it's filled with flowers and flowers make us girls happy! :D

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Girly girly, Insta-worthy cafe - Aoyama Flower Market Tea House

 I went to the tea house in Omotesando area on my Harajuku day. Walking from Harajuku to Omotesando was eye opening because you can really see a lot along the way and the weather that day was great too!

Look at these mini bouquets! So cute! 

Isn't it beautiful? It's like we're dining in a green house.

 Mum and I ordered some toast with mushrooms, lotus slices and cheese. Very healthy tasting and scrumptious. We also ordered their signature rose tea. Funny thing is they served us the wrong tea which tasted super strong with a tinge of bitterness and they didn't want to be rude by taking it back so we got two pots! And the thing about this place is they will not refill your tea pot with hot water. Maybe cuz they have limited seats and dont want you to hog the place for so long. But the tea was great. The tea they gave wrongly was too strong for us and had a tinge of bitterness towards the end. The rose tea was very fragrant and it was like eating the flower. You can taste it.

Mum and her tea! 

Me being macam yes lady like with my tea. 

Mum being the best photographer for me and getting me to sit here and there for the best photo hahahah! So artistic ehh! We literally moved around like a maniac and could not stop laughing. And we took almost a hundred photos at this place. So worth it lo.

 This place has got the best lighting too. Perfect for an insta-worthy photo!

 Even the toilet is pretty!

Look at the flowers they have for sale! Looks like its freshly picked from a nursery. Just so damn beautiful. #floristgoals

Are you spoiled for choice now? How about some snack recommendations! I'm a sucker for fried potato whether its fries, chips, wedges. I think I've said that I like eating almost everything. You guys should try Calbee Jagabee! There are a few Calbee+ stores in Japan and they serve their famous fries right from the fryer! Sounds yum!

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Fresh out of the fryer - Calbee+

Their cute Calbee potato mascot plushies are available for purchase in the store. 

photo credits to lattejapan

We ordered the set with ice cream and chips cuz mum wants ice cream and I want chips! I just love my chips dipped with soft serve. Hope I aint the only weirdo but it tastes awesome ahahah!

Lastly, crepes! Nothing screams crepes than Harajuku crepes. Or is it the other way round? haha either way, you must try the crepes in Harajuku. Throughout the main street after exiting the Harajuku subway station you can see a street full of crepe shops but the famous ones are Marion Crepes and Angel's Hearts. Both are situated facing each other and have been around for 40 years.

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Harajuku crepes - Marion Crepes / Angel's Heart

I tried Marion Crepes at night for dessert and had the chocolate banana crepe. I actually like the crispy kind of crepe better and this one was kind of soft. But overall it was light and yummy.

Marion crepe in the morning!

The next day I had a smoked salmon with cream cheese crepe at Angel's Heart. Loved the smoked salmon and but it had a bit too much cream cheese for me. Again, I still prefer the crispy kind. Both Marion Crepe and Angel's Heart served great crepes and if you ask me to pick the best, I couldn't. It's no wonder both of them can survive facing each other for 40 years and counting!

Overall it was a good experience and I ate a whole lot of good food throughout this trip. Definitely must start working out again but I do not regret eating all of that. ahahah Happy food hunting and I do hope this posts helps you guys on what to eat when in Japan!

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To read the highlights of my Japan trip, click here!

To view all the photos, click here!

Cheers x