Japan is famous for their cuisine. Everyone who comes to Japan always wants to try authentic or Japanese-style cuisine. In Japan, every prefecture has its own style of cooking a particular menu.
Here are our recommendations you have to taste when you travel to Japan.
1. Ramen
Ramen is a noodle soup, consisting of wheat noodles, a savory broth (soy sauce, miso, and tonkotsu pork bone), topped with sliced pork, nori seaweed, spring onions, bamboo shoots, and others.
Nowadays, ramen becomes one of Japan’s favorite culinary, and widely available in restaurants. There is also a ramen-themed museum/amusement park in Tokyo.
2. Sushi
The word ‘sushi’ refers to any dish made with Japanese rice, seasoned with rice vinegar.
There are many varieties of sushi, such as: makizushi (rolled up in nori seaweed sushi),
nigiri sushi (bite-size mounds of sushi with a slice of raw fish or others, draped over the top),
and inarizushi (sushi stuffed inside of inari; a seasoned fried tofu).
3. Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is a Japanese nabemono hot pot dish, commonly enjoyed during the winter season. Sukiyaki hot pots are consisting of beef slices, sukiyaki broth (soy sauce, sake, mirin rice wine and sugar), varieties vegetables, noodles, and proteins.
‘Sukiyaki’ means ‘cook what you like’, and the joy comes from being able to prepare the dish with your friends/family, at the table, using ingredients you like.
4. Yakiniku
‘Yakiniku’ means grilled meat and also can be referred to Japanese barbecue. Yakiniku restaurants are very popular, from budget-frendly restaurant, and also the high-end ones, that serves wagyuu beef; beef from Japanese well-treated cows.
In yakiniku restaurants, after you order the meat, you can grill it yourself on a grill, usually embedded within the table. You can also add sauces such as lemon, bbq, and others, or simply just salt and pepper.
5. Yakisoba
Yakisoba is a fried noodle dish, made by stir-frying noodles, cabbage, pork, carrot, and vegetables, with barbecue style yakisoba sauce. ‘Yakisoba’ means ‘cooked soba’, but unlike other soba noodles, yakisoba uses non-contained buckwheat noodles.
During the summer festivals, there are many who sell yakisoba on an outdoor hotplate and barbecued. Buy you can also made it at home by yourself using a large frying pan.
6. Soba
‘Soba’ is a Japanese word for ‘buckwheat noodles’, one of the most frequently eaten noodles in Japan. Unlike ramen, soba noodles are made partially from buckwheat flour. This gives soba a distinctly earthy and slightly nutty flavor that works well with garlic and sesame.
Soba can be served hot in soups, with spring onions topping, agetama tempura flakes, kamaboko fish cakes, and grilled mochi, or cold with a side of tsuyu and green onions, shredded nori seaweed, and wasabi.
7. Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is made by mixing together batter, sliced cabbage, and other savory ingredients; spooning the mixture onto a hot plate; and then pan-frying like when you make pancake. Okonomiyaki originated in Osaka, and Hiroshima.
Specialised okonomiyaki restaurants are easy to find around Japan, because of its popularity. In some restaurants, you can cook the okonomiyaki yourself.
8. Kaisendon
Kaisendon is a traditional Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice, topped with a variety of raw and fresh seafood (kaisen), known as sashimi. The origin of Kaisendon is unknown, though it is thought to have first originated in Hokkaido and Tohoku area by the fishermen.
You can enjoy Kaisendon by dipping the neta (seafood) in soy sauce, adding wasabi, nori seaweed, and move things around any way you like.
9. Sashimi
This one is possibly one of the most controversial dishes in all of Japanese cuisine. Sashimi is raw fish or meat that has been expertly cut into thin slices and served with daikon radish, pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.
Sashimi is different from sushi, when sushi is made with vinegared rice and does not always contain raw fish, sashimi is an exclusive raw fish and not served with rice. The fish used to make sashimi must be as fresh as possible, to minimise the risk of contamination, and the fresher fish makes the tastier sashimi.
10. Katsudon.
This is another popular Japanese food and often neglected (by foreigners) dish that is cheap, fast, and tasty. Katsudon is a bowl of rice, served with a topping of deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and condiments.
Katsudon is perfect for those who are busy and on the go, you can enjoy it in specific restaurants and all Japanese-style fast-food chains. You can find several kinds of katsudon, like the one served with tonkatsu sauce, the demi katsudon (a specialty of Okayama), shio-katsudon (flavored with salt), and the miso-katsu (originally from Nagoya).
Source: https://www.japancentre.com/en/page/156-30-must-try-japanese-foods