Food in Japan

Before i visited Japan, i was worried about the food being expensive, you know it's Japan we are talking about here. To my surprise there are a list of really good chain restaurant which serve yummy food that cost like less then 500yen for a set lunch

this is the standard size, which was enough for me

 teriyaki chicken, it's yummy and filling!!

like this Gyudon set with a Miso soup and a small salad which come with a Free tea or plain water. Gyudon is basically bowl of rice with boiled beef saute with onions in a mild sweet sauce with dashi(fish and seaweed stock) There are many chain restaurant which serve Gyudon and their price are almost the same. Try Yoshinoya(one of my favourite place to have a quick lunch), Sukiya, Nakau, Matsuya and many more

things you should now @ Gyudon restaurant :

A. the size ------> nami = standard, Omori = large, tokumori = extra large

B. there are also a variety of side dishes eg. Miso soup, tsukemono(pickled vege) raw egg, salad, etc are available for an addition of 100yen-200yen

menu @ Nakau chain restaurant

 and most of the menu they have it in English and if not don't worry most of their menu are illustrate :) and they normally come looking exactly the same like in the menu

menu @ Yoshinoya

Sukiya

All these chain restaurant they are scattered all over in Japan, Don't worry it's not hard to find 1 :)

2 of Boon's favorite convenient stores, 7-11 and Lawson. There are a variety of tit bits, rice balls(filled with salmon, chicken, vege  ,etc), sandwiches, ramen and other things suitable to eat on the run

my favorite, green tea ice cream by meiji

i didn't know that one can heat up their snack. My Doriyaki came with a warmer, just press it(the warmer) and it will warm up itself...cool right @v@

having lunch @ 7-11 in Kyoto. We were looking for a place to grab a quick lunch and couldn't find any Gyudon restaurant so 7-11 was our choice. Ramen for lunch and fruit Jelly for dessert

another slightly more expensive food chain is this Coco Ichibanya or Coco Ichi. It's rice with curry and deep friend pork cutlet or chicken 

the price range in  between 700yen - 1000yen. It's really filling! I find it just ok and the curry smell can be quite over powering at the end but I think one must try Japanese style curry :) 

if rice is not your thing, there is always noodles

:P

a must try in Japan is their vending machine noodle(ramen). We found alot of this vending machines noodle shop all over Japan town, train station, etc.

How do this work?

Though they are called vending machines noodles but they are not made by the vending machine. Most of the noodle shop in Japan, there have this vending machine infont or inside their shop.

1. know that you want to order

2. put in money to the vending machine

3. choose what you wish

4. the machines will print out a receipt of your purchase

5. get your change

6. bring this receipt inside shop and pass it to the chef

7. 5 minutes later voila....noodle is served

Alot of Japanese like to visit this noodle shop for a quick bite before catching the next train. 10 minutes is all you need. It's filling, soupy, yummy and it's cheap

vending machine noodle shop @ Mishima station

our favorite ramen shop...Arashi. found this place from an App. Ramen App. With this App one can find all the Ramen shops in Japan with ratings and reviews from other people. This Ramen chain shop is among the best with  good reviews.

I couldn't agree more!!!!

Arashi Ramen shop menu. There is 1 chain in Asakusa, Tokyo near the Sensoji temple. MUST TRY!!!

the condiments. My favorite this chili chives......it's AWESOMELY delicious with Ramen

the anticipation look on Boon's face. The thick soup base was simply delicious.

When we 1st found this ramen shop, we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at this Ramen shop, all in a same day....that was how much we loved it :D

Mos burger! the burger size is a little small but it's yummy....try the Teriyaki chicken rice burger

another MUST TRY is this Kaiten Zushi or Shion sushi, literally means sushi on a conveyor belt.

Our friend Paul brought us to this 100yen Kaiten Zushi shop @ Mishima. Almost all the sushi cost 100yen/ plate. only some special dishes with difference prices. Overall it's really nice to try many types of sushi and only cost 100 yen/ plate

we even tried the sushi @ the food section Takashimaya in Kyoto. There are alot of choices there. The price are quite resornable. We found some cheap stuff like fish (the left over parts, after the nice parts are cut out to make sushi) cooked with sweet soy sauce...it's yummy and cost only 300yen enough for 3 person.

there are also bento sets, tempura and lots more. Interesting thing that i found out in Japan is that, all of their fruits are perfect... i mean really perfect. the grapes, strawberries, mangos and the rock melon... and some of the price are crazy. 1 rock melon can be sold easily for like 10,000yen ...i mean we are talking about 100Euro for 1 freaking melon..... CRAZY!!

1 apple for 200yen.....2Euro for an apple....and they taste like any apple but it's big and juicy though but still....

In tokyo town there are many small local food shop with reasonable price and most of their prices are state outside their shop. So you can check our the menu and price before you decide

there are also alot of choices for a snack, like takoyaki (ball shaped Japanese snack with diced octopus filling)are okonomiyaki(savoury pancake, cooked on hot plate, okonomi means what u what. Yaki means grilled or cooked). Gindaco is one of many food chain that sells these snacks

price for 8pcs of takoyaki about 600yen. It's enough for 2 person

another yummy must try snack is Yakitori (sticks if grilled meat)

cost from 70-100yen. I saw alot of these Yakitori shops in Osaka

doner kebobs(Doner kebab), there are all over the world and one can even find it in Japan. Cost 500yen

for a more fancy dinner

sashimi, one of the must have in Japan. For a nice dinner meal in Japan can cost about 2000 yen/pax. It's always nice to go in a group where u can order more variety and share it

I forgot this restaurant name but it's in Tokyo @ somewhere near Shinagawa Station

in Kyoto there is a nice alley with alot of nice restaurant called Pontocho. Most restaurant are quite small that can only fit about 10-15 people but it's a nice place to dine like a Japanese though this place is crawling with tourist

dinner @ some restaurant in Pontocho. Our 4 course meal cost about 2000-2500yen . pax. Starting with a dessert, Daifuku(literally means great luck) is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round mochi(glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most common is the sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans,  then came the appetizer, cold tofu with fried bonito flakes....yum, then followed with sashimi

and my main course is chicken and vege comes together with a bowl of rice

group photo @ Pontocho :)

In kyoto, we were being introduced to a nice izakaya(izakaya originated from sake shops that allowed customers to sit on the premises to drink) style restaurant, Apollo (located somewhere along Sanjo-dori)

it's a cozy little restaurant with great food and friendly staff

we had sashimi, pumpkin spring rolls, dumplings

beef with fried garlic, deep fried prawn head and of course Miso soup :)

Thanks to Heike and Ehrenfried for inviting us along to this nice restaurant :) 

my hot coco macchiato after a lovely dinner :)

* some cafes in Japan do have cover charge, in our case we were charge 300yen/ pax ya...it's quite expensive

the Japanese are really proud of their Green tea....who can blame them...it's really good. Like my cold milky green tea.....nice for warm weather

hot green tea latte......yummy

all good must come to an end...just like my Japan trip. Though there are many yummy stuff that we didn't managed to try like Shabu Shabu(Japanese Steamboat or hotpot),Tempura...and lots more ...maybe next trip. Nonetheless i'm very happy with my 1st visit to Japan and i end it with a happy memories and a bowl of sizzling hot Ramen @ the Airport before leaving...hehe

ending Japan trip with a slurp :)

~ sayonara ~