Japanese food

i went to Hoshigaoka today at Lido for dinner; before I went on JET it was considered one of the better affordable Japanese restaurants.

Unfortunately, 2 years in Japan does quite a lot in changing your opinion of what’s acceptable Japanese food and what’s not.

I ordered the tempura udon. The udon was overcooked and perhaps made of lower quality flour too, as it had none of the springy-ness that i’ve come to appreciate in even warm udon – the cold udons are simply the best – and was even a little soggy.

Likewise, the tempura batter was a little too thick and wasn’t light or crisp enough. They were quite stingy on the tempura too – all I got were a thin slice of carrot, one shiitake mushroom, a bit of something that seemed to be a slice of some root vegetable and one slightly mushy (either not fresh or overcooked) prawn.

So sad. No more can I get thick slices of renkon (lotus), satsuma imo (sweet potato), shiso leaf and juicy fresh ebi (prawn). Surprisingly you dont really get shiitake tempura in Japan unless your set is a little pricier or it’s autumn/winter.

Anyway, it’s just a little disappointing on the whole I think, if this can be taken to be the general standard of Japanese food in the affordable restaurants. I was with my mum the other day at Tonkichi and their grilled shio saba was overcooked and dry, when just well-done saba is extremely smooth and juicy. Tonkichi’s pork katsu is ace though, and their curries quite good, so I think I should just stick eating to what they’re famous for making when I visit.

Perhaps the next place I should try out is Sun With Moon – I have had Japanese people tell me that it’s comparable to the quality of food in Japan, so i should go take a look for myself!