Food.....

[SKY031]

Hi there!

Me again, back with some more of my silly ignorant questions.

I just got to thinking.... Japan must have been invaded with things like McDonalds and KFC and Burger King/Hungry Jacks etc etc.

I was just wondering what sort of things you'd find on the menu in these places that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Seeing as they try to cater to everyone, I was wondering what sort of things can be found on the menu.... things that wouldn't be on the menu in aus.

I mean......

Do they sell McDuckets (duck) instead of McNuggets (chicken)?

Tofu burgers?

I like to watch cooking shows, and I don't think I've ever seen a Japanese chef cook with chicken.

(Iron Chef is awesome, it's one of my favourite shows )

[Rezz]

Chicken is BIG here, chicken nuggets (about the only way I can describe "Do-mo kun" - a burnt chicken nugget) chicken katsu sand, fried chiken at the konbini (not recommended) chiken ramen (kids fav) etc, etc

But getting back on topic, McDonalds just finished selling the "Tsukimi Burger" (Tsuki = moon, mi = see) a couple of weeks ago, basically two buns with and egg and sauce etc... supposed to look like the moon. An only in Japan menu item I think...

[Evo_Lee]

duck and lamb is considered low on the food chain preference for the Japanese so you will not see many of those cuisine. Pity because I miss those...mum's cooking a lamb roast!

IIRC the order of preference,

1st Seafood

2nd Chicken

3rd Beef

4th Pork

and

5th...etc everything else.

If you like cooking shows then there are heaps shown overs here as well as restaurant recommendations...I actually do enjoy wactching the cooking shows .

[InspectorGadget]

chicken katsu sand

That's another thing that you'll see. In many of these places, they refer to burgers as 'sand' (ie an abbreviated version of sandwich)

McD's did have a Tofu burger at one stage, but by all accounts, it tasted like eating an eraser.

Japan has it's own selection of fast food joints as well. Here are a few that spring to mind:

Genki Sushi: A Kaiten sushi (revolving) restaurant specialising in serving . . . . .sushi.

Lotteria: Crap burgers

MOS Burger: Halfway decent burgers

CoCo Ichiban Curry (CoCo's Number 1 Curry): Japanese style curry. Bloody good and really cheap. The Chicken Katsu Curry with a cheese topping is brilliant. I go there every Tuesday night (ie tonight)

Ramen (Chinese Noodle) restaurants are EVERYWHERE. The Japanese are obsessed with this type of food.

Okonomiyaki: This is like the Japanese equivilent of pizza. Egg, cabbage, ham, cheese, corn and cornstarch shaped in a circular shape with a sauce that tastes like BBQ sause on top. It's pretty good stuff.

Soba-ya: Buckwheat noodles. Really good and refreching on a hot day. You often eat them cold.

Tonkatsu-ya: Deep fried pork cutlets in a light batter on shredded cabbage. Great food when you have a hangover (nomisugi)

IG

[SKY031]

about the only way I can describe "Do-mo kun" - a burnt chicken nugget

Wow.... if you think Domo-kun looks like a chicken nugget, I don't want to eat what you're eating!

I think he looks more like.... a furry eskimo pie. (with arms and legs)

anyhoo........

Is duck more of a Chinese ingredient?

It didn't even rank in Evo_Lee's list.

Is living in Japan (after growing up somewhere else) a real culture shock from a food aspect?

I mean, fruit and vegetables... even something as basic as fruit and veg can be hugely different.

I live in an area that is highly populated with people from Vietnam and India, and recently a heap of shops have opened up that specialise in strange herbs and spices, and fruits and vegetables that you wouldn't find in a regular grocery store.

Things like lychees, daikon, taro, santonsai, bitter melon, hairy melon, sin qua, mangosteen, and a bunch of other stuff that i wouldn't have any idea how to cook.

Are these things used in every day cooking?

Or are they more of a specialty item?

Can you buy regular "aussie" type vegies from the vegie shop, or do you have to seek them out?

[InspectorGadget]

You can find a lot of the 'regular Aussie vegeies at the local supermarket. But you can also find a lot of other really weird stuff there as well.

That's the fun part of living in another country. Trying everything out.

IG

[Guest RedLineGTR]

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/

[G0DF4Th3R]

whats a meal cost at maccas? in AUD?

[Evo_Lee]

about ￥500+...$8 for a regular bigmac meal. I rather buy a freshly cooked bento meal even if is still called fastfood.

Sky, duck is indeed eaten often by the chinese...you can eat duck if you go to a chinese restaurant here. But things are changing I've noticed as Lamb is turning up at my local supermarket .

Only thing which suprises everyone is the cost of everday living as you all know, once you can accept that everything else should fall into place/adjust. It certainly won't stop me buying fruits because it cost 10-20% more expensive...you just can't keep pumping yourself with tablets (vitamins). Course buy in moderation, just not as much/often.

Regarding groceries, pretty much anything can be bought and is the same as Aust or anywhere else, just given seasonal changes especially during typhoon season vegies get very expensive.

[Rezz]

You'll never guess what the "MOS" in MOS Burger means!!!

M = Mountain

O = Ocean

S = Sun

What that has to do with hamburgers and servings of fries with 2 (no more, no less) onion rings is anyones guess!!!

[Evo_Lee]

I thought it was Mountain, Ocean, Sun...

edit: you'd be right

[Streeter]

Dont be dissing the Mos burger... that shit is great. The only problem is you need to order 2 meals per person

[Informer]

about ￥500+...$8 for a regular bigmac meal.  I rather buy a freshly cooked bento meal even if is still called fastfood.

Sky, duck is indeed eaten often by the chinese...you can eat duck if you go to a chinese restaurant here. But things are changing I've noticed as Lamb is turning up at my local supermarket .

Only thing which suprises everyone is the cost of everday living as you all know, once you can accept that everything else should fall into place/adjust. It certainly won't stop me buying fruits because it cost 10-20% more expensive...you just can't keep pumping yourself with tablets (vitamins).  Course buy in moderation, just not as much/often.  

Regarding groceries, pretty much anything can be bought and is the same as Aust or anywhere else, just given seasonal changes especially during typhoon season vegies get very expensive.

Dood are you sure you can get a big mac combo for 500 yen? Where are you? I wanna go there. BM combo meals sell at 600 yen around my area (in Tokyo and Chiba).

You can buy duck meat at Ito Yokado, they would be in plastic packages though (probably import).

[Informer]

Japan must have been invaded with things like McDonalds and KFC and Burger King/Hungry Jacks etc etc.

There are no Burger Kings/Hungry Jacks in Japan. THere used to be.

I was just wondering what sort of things you'd find on the menu in these places that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Like the others have said, special meals come and go. They are usually catered for the local consumers as nothing like chinese or italian flavouring is offered.

I like to watch cooking shows, and I don't think I've ever seen a Japanese chef cook with chicken.

(Iron Chef is awesome, it's one of my favourite shows )

Ah yeah, I watch that too, BS though I can cook but I can't do that so what's the point?

Chicken is cheap here, well to me. Beef is too bloody expensive. No way you'll be having BBQ Aussie style in Japan unless you're loaded. Fish is common, can be expensive too. You can visit the chinese supermarket and get the normal chinese stuff like chicken feet, head, liver and stuff like that. Just need to find them (probably Yokohama).

[SKY031]

er.... whats in a MOS burger?

[Streeter]

Just a decent fast food burger except really small (about as big as a junior burger from McDonalds but a little taller) and with some special Mos sauce.

And Informer Im guessing Lee doesnt go to Maccas much as Big Mac meals are about 600 odd yen over here too.

Speaking of fast food Im addicted to Bikuri Donkey at the moment. That shit is the business and for 500 yen a meal its pretty good value too.

[Rezz]

MOS Cheese Burgers are the best: Couple a buns, a beef patty, a thick slice o tamato, a "slice" of melted mild cheese (looks more like mayonaise by the time you eat it) and MOS secret sauce... in fact if it wasn't for the secret sauce MOS would be very ordinary IMO. Their hotdogs aren't bad either.

[Rezz]

What about Family restaurants guys?

Troy and I usually go to "Royal Host", "Bamiyan" (Chinese and *really* good), "Big Boy" and "Kobeya" (probably the best one). They're not cheap, meals are usually between 1,000 and 1,700 yen but you can have a good feed with side dishes and what not.

[Laurence]

That was cheese?

I think the Melon Soda at Mos Burger gave me diabetes...

[DaiOni]

I may have missed it (didn't read in depth), but did anyone mention the fact that MOS burger offers burgers that use sticky rice, instead of bread, for buns - that's a pretty unique slice of japan.

bikuri donkey = funniest restaurant name in japan.

btw, it's a well known fact that domokun is a sentient turd, and (to most), not edible.