I took this photo in Japan in 2010 and ever since it has been sitting in my drafts awaiting a lewd caption. Let this be an object lesson in my abject failure to craft a worthy pun.
Tag: Japan
Takoyaki
I don’t understand the attraction of takoyaki. They’re balls of octopus and gluten served fresh on the streets of Japan, coated in a three types of umami: mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and their own special barbecue sauce. They turn out of their aebleskiver-like pans with a gluey consistency, a barely formed crust holding the octopus within,… Continue reading Takoyaki
Asahi Style Free: Happoshu and Beer of the Third Kind
It is a strange quirk of history and economics that a nation’s taxation regimes change the beer that each country drinks. In the US, beer needs to contain at least 25% malted barley and so mass market brewers push the lower limit using rice, corn or anything else that can contain sugars and is cheaper… Continue reading Asahi Style Free: Happoshu and Beer of the Third Kind
Beer and Chocolate: Sapporo x Royce Chocolat Brewery Bitter
This limited release from Sapporo and apostrophe’d Japanese confectioner Royce’ is a strange Belgian nightmare; multiple vices backsliding into a brown can of depravity. Hops bitterness and cacao bitterness are perfect partners, malty and chocolate-y sublime and congruent combinations. Beer and chocolate works together. But these two really don’t. The pour is black with a… Continue reading Beer and Chocolate: Sapporo x Royce Chocolat Brewery Bitter
Eating Japanese food like a complete jackass
Katsu kari don at Narita International Airport. I cobbled together the last few yen on my Suica transit card and a fistful of hundred yen coins to buy the above breaded pork cutlet in sweet and acidic curry gravy, washed down with a bland as a mountain stream lager. I could have taken a parting… Continue reading Eating Japanese food like a complete jackass
Crossing Kappabashi-dori
The streets around Kappabashi in Asakusa are filled with nothing but kitchenwares and restaurant supply stores. If you were ever keen to fit out a Japanese restaurant with the full complement of ye olde traditionalia, this is the suburb to hit hard.
Izakaya under the train line
There is nothing as inviting as a restaurant that builds its furniture from empty beer crates. Update, 24 June 2011: Commenter Nathan identifies the location as Under JR Yamanote line at Yurakucho Station. I’ve added the map.
Asahi Strong Off
I’ve noticed that one of the first beers that I drink in any country is the one whose advertisement I see first. The ads for Asahi Strong Off on the subway platforms around Tokyo depicts your average businessman with an expression on his face of either drunken jubilation or gaping in a rictus of groin-tearing… Continue reading Asahi Strong Off