I chanced upon these crumbed potato cakes in the frozen foods section at my local Japanese grocery store. I’m a big fan of potato croquettes, and I took a fancy to these particular ones because of the ingredients – seaweed and cod roe. I’ve never tried potato cakes with this combination of fillings before, so I bought them for yet another taste test at home.

These would make a good snack for those peckish moments, or served as a side dish with some hot rice. Not very good value for money considering their size and amount though.

Nattō, or fermented soy beans, is a very popular Japanese breakfast food usually eaten with rice, sometimes with a raw egg broken on top. They say it’s highly nutritious and is a rich source of protein, but whether it is palatable or not remains to be seen…

I’ve eaten my fair share of stinky cheeses and fermented shrimp paste, and I usually have a high tolerance and adoration for pungent foods (such as Durian) that most people stay away from. I first heard of Nattō while reading Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour and how repulsive he found it to be when he had it in Japan. The chapter on Nattō in his book contained so much profanity that I simply had to venture out and buy some of this to try. The beans are fermented with Bacillus Subtilis bacterium; I’m scientifically challenged so I won’t go into further detail on the fermentation process, but you get the drift.

I’ll be honest. I have never eaten anything so foul in smell, taste and texture in my entire life. Nattō smells like 1 week old wet socks left in a dark corner of a room, previously worn by a person with severe fungal tinea, which is then sprinkled with a generous helping of Stilton cheese, and then slightly baked for effect.

It tastes exactly like how it smells – rotten feet. Not that I know what real rotten feet taste like, but that is the best description I can give you. Not only that, the aftertaste lingers. However, this was fixed with a tablespoon of Nutella, and it dissappeared straightaway. But having said all that, the worst thing about Nattō is the unfortunate texture. The fermented beans are covered in a very sticky, slimey, slippery goo that very much resembles regurgitated saliva, phlegm and nasal snot (plus that lingering aftertaste of feet). Needless to say, it was an assault on the senses and I recoiled in terror upon tasting it.

Nattō is definitely an acquired taste. I’ve only had it the one time, and after my horrific experience I’m not sure if I will attempt to give it another go – just yet. I still have 2 containers left in my freezer… So you never know!

During one of my weekly grocery shopping trips to my favourite Japanese food store, I was browsing through the condiments isle and right next to the pasta sauces I saw a packet of this “Spicy Cod Roe Spaghetti Sauce” by S&B (Makers of the popular ‘Golden Curry’ range and wasabi sauce). This was a new concept to me, and the thought of some ‘caviar’ infused pasta excited me so I bought it.

A quick glance at the ingredients and cooking instructions:

The instructions were very simple, just like preparing instant noodles. There was one minor problem though- I didn’t have any pasta in my pantry but I had some Udon, so I used those instead. How could you go wrong with Udon anyway? It’s Japanese as well so I figured a happy marriage would be the outcome of the two ingredients together.

The Spicy Cod Roe Sauce packet contained two separate servings which meant I could save the other serving for a rainy day. =) There are two different seasoning sachets; the red and silver contained the cod roe sauce, while the black and silver contained shredded seaweed garnish.

Here is a closer look at the Spicy Cod Roe Sauce when applied onto the cooked Udon – It’s bright orange, has thousands of tiny egg sacs, and a tart, fishy smell. It would put some people off but I didn’t mind it.

I mixed the sauce in well with the Udon, then sprinkled the seaweed garnish on top. So here’s the verdict: Delicious. It tasted EXACTLY like Taramosalata. It’s both salty and tart, and very fishy. As for the ‘Spicy” factor, maybe a 1/10. I have to say it’s an acquired taste. But if you like Taramosalata then you’d love this. The Udon matches the sauce well, and it absorbs more flavour than regular pasta so I’ll probably use Udon next time, but I’m also open to trying it with regular pasta. Although the egg sacs were visible, the sauce itself wasn’t grainy. This dish was a winner, and I’ll definitely be buying more “Spicy Cod Roe Spaghetti Sauce” in the near future. =) Tasty!

It was over 35 degrees, humid and hot as hell. These factors were hard to avoid while walking down a street in Kyoto in the middle of a Japanese summer, but as the below photo demonstrates, the sheer joy of one finding the ultimate in edible coolants:

We came across a stall outside a tea shop selling green tea ice cream floats – With a Japanese twist of course! Soft green tea ice cream dunked in a cup of chilled green tea! It was the perfect summer coolant. Yet another brilliant idea by the Japanese!

Forget energy drinks – Collagen-enhancing drinks are all the rage, only in Japan! And I thought I’d seen my share of the bizzarro. I was wrong. All the pharmacies in Japan have a ‘health drinks’ section – and that’s where I found this Collagen beverage.

In fact, I have even seen this particular bottle for sale at some everyday convenience stores like 7-11. I would give you more detail, but I can’t for the life of me read Japanese. From what the bottle says, one of my assumptions would have to be that it contains 1000mg of Vitamin C. Who knows what the other 3000mg is!

I am assuming that this product would somehow  increase one’s collagen intake? Improve skin texture? Decrease wrinkles? Improve your overall wellbeing? I didn’t want to risk having a trout pout during my trip, so unfortunately I didn’t sample this! It was still an intriguing find though, I must say!

I wasn’t really sure what to call it, but that’s exactly what it was – Soba Noodles in a bun!

We found this interesting combination of carbohydrates at a cafe in Tokyo. It was pretty much a white bread bun sliced open and slathered in thick mayonnaise, then topped with Bolognaise-flavoured Soba noodles and some pickled ginger!

As the noodles were dark brown, we thought it would have been flavoured with soy sauce or something. But strangely enough, it tasted like Bolognaise, albeit artificial.

My friend Josh didn’t like it, so I snatched the bun off him and wolfed it down. I enjoyed it – I figured I wouldn’t see or taste anything like this often so what the heck – I couldn’t let it go to waste!

The Japanese are full of quirky ideas when it comes to, well, everything. Especially pre-packaged food. One of my favourite convenience store purchases in Japan was none other than a quick fix of ‘pocket’ sandwiches! Each time I stepped foot into a convenience store, I just HAD to get a bag or two – sometimes even sneaking them into my bag quickly after I paid for them. It was getting embarrasing that I had some sort of fetish for these and had to hide it from the group!

At 200yen a pop (around $2.50), these cute little bags of fresh and fluffy white crustless sandwiches are just simply a genius idea. They are widely available at various Japanese convenience stores like Family Mart and 7-11, and come with different fillings – Egg mayo, tuna mayo, peanut butter, strawberry, blueberry, chocolate (gasp!), and custard (double gasp!). They were always fresh when I bought them – even after leaving them in my bag for a day or two! Japanese technology…

I nicknamed them ‘pocket’ sandwiches because of the way the fillings are ‘sealed’ shut between two slices of bread, sans the crusts. I never like crusts, so the discovery of this sandwich ‘niche’ changed my life forever. The white bread they use is very soft and fluffy – my favourite pocket sandwich has to be the egg mayo, while the tuna mayo comes a close second! The perfect sandwich, satisfying in so many ways…

A stroll through a supermarket in downtown Tokyo was a fascinating experience! The quality and variety of the fresh produce was top notch and I was surpised to find that they weren’t too ridiculously expensive. Here are some photos I took of a few items at the supermarket:

One of our missions while in Japan was to try as many kinds of confectionery as humanly possible. We came across this adorable box of treats called ‘Every Burger’ at a convenience store. Naturally, we were curious. We found them in the sweets and chocolate isle, so they couldn’t have been savoury mini burgers complete with meat patties? Didn’t think so.

Inside the box lay 8 mini burgers. They ‘buns’ were actually biscuits, while the ‘cheese’ and ‘meat patties’ were a combination of milk and white chocolate that melted in our mouths. The verdict? Sweet, crunchy, chocolatey and gooey with no burgery aftertaste. A pretty tasty snack and for 200 Yen a box, not bad at all! Definitely satisfied the sugar and chocolate craving…

One morning during a stroll through a convenience store in Kyoto in search of a hearty breakfast, I bypassed the rice balls, bento boxes and sandwiches and decided to get a bit creative with my meal. Japanese convenience stores never cease to amaze me when it comes to variety!

Four easy steps on how to create the ultimate D.I.Y. convenience store meal:

1. A packet of cooked rice – readily available from the cold food isle.

2. One serving of pickled cucumbers, seaweed and white bait.

3. A can of smoked sweet Mackerel.

4. Bring purchased items to a nearby park, combine ingredients and serve.