There is a school of thought that anything that tastes good on bread should taste good with rice.

Tried and tested ideas from my family for temakizushi are: avocado, smoked mackerel, prawns/shrimp (battered if you prefer), sliced cucumber*, omelet strips, kinpira (esp carrot and gobo - or substitute sunchoke/artichoke for gobo/burdock root, just beware the inulin flatulence.)
Tweaking further I’d add most kinds of soboro: salted salmon, canned mackerel, canned salmon, even canned sardines, and there is pork or beef too - the secret to soboro is how you season it, it’s generally salty from soy sauce/shoyu with sweetness from mirin &/or sugar, oyster sauce is a good secret ingredient for beef and pork soboro. You could fry thin strips of (or shredded) ham/bacon/pork belly with soy sauce, sake and a mirin/sugar to get a “tastes good with rice” result.
Also, rather than going for chicken katsu, I’d steer you in the chicken karaage direction - it’s yelling “hello!” at you.

Now if you want to go off in a completely unfettered, what can I eat with nori and rice direction, don’t get too shackled to the vinegared rice concept.

Take a look with Google images at onigirazu in Japanese おにぎらず or お握らず
hot dog wieners, ham slices, chicken nuggets, cheese, hamburgers - the “anything that tastes good with bread” concept is flying in Households throughout Japan. One only needs to free themselves from the binding dogma of osushi.

Nori rules!

* cucumber: I’ll take the ends off and grind ONE end in some salt for a minute to make it less bitter through the osmosis process. Depending on the cucumber, I might remove some seeds (this pulp can be added to a gazpacho)

Tuna w/ mayo (kewpie if you have it), cooked baby shrimp, imitation krab (formed whitefish), plain cream cheese, or just straight rice are some of the ones I've made and liked. More complex ones like the same ingredients as popular American sushi rolls work also as onigiri.

Almost forgot breakfast style ones with a bit of egg, er tamagoyaki, and diced ham, bacon, or sausage.

Amazing ideas! Thank you both. I'm going to go for it tomorrow for lunch. I have a big gap in my workday so I'll be making the rice and trying out some combinations. Will report back. Pictures will be provided if I'm not too embarrassed at the results.

Would love to see them!
MrLapLap was in Fukuoka and Tokyo in February and brought a hoard of pantry ingredients and ready made products back to London - we already suspected that our April visit wouldn’t happen. Managed to get some cubes of stewing beef yesterday (first time we’d seen non-minced beef for sale in a couple of weeks), so tonight we’re having it with onions and mushrooms (I’ll sneak a bit of frozen spinach in there too) as Hayashi Rice. Our London “fusion” tip is to eat it with a side portion of pickled beetroot.
There’s a Samurai Gourmet 野武士のグルメepisode that revolves around Hayashi Rice and “captures” what it is quite well. The restaurant (Karuizawa) where it was filmed was near Okachimachi station in Tokyo and has since closed forever.
https://www.sbfoods-worldwide.com/pr...earch/054.html
Very unphotogenic though, not worth taking pictures. Takes a professional to capture the appeal!

I think we have S&B products downstairs. Not sure if they have the hayashi rice, I know they at least have the Golden Curry.

Honestly between our grocery deliveries and our family meal orders from one of our favorite Korean restaurants (Hanjan on 26th St in Manhattan for any NYC people) we are almost overstocked for food. I order our beef and pork directly from a ranch in upstate NY so we've got an additional 20 or so lbs of meat in the freezer. We had to reorganize our entire tiny kitchen because we were running out of counter space to hold all our staples.

Cooking has been a fantastic way to distract us and given us a safe topic to banter about in the apartment during our work day.

EDIT: I looked up that Samurai Gourmet episode and I think have actually seen it before. Very sad to hear that the restaurant closed.

Today was supposed to be our departure day.
So instead of a tedious tube journey to Heathrow Airport and a long flight in Economy with a ten year old across my lap for most of it, I’m going to relax in First Class luxury with my choice of films and entertainment.
Today I’m gong to have takikomi gohan with ham.
https://translate.google.co.uk/trans...98&prev=search
Will use ham/gammon pieces, chopped lotus roots, carrots and green beans (used up my mushrooms in last night’s Hayashi rice)
Other ingredients are ginger, sake and dashi concentrate instead of konbu kelp powder*. Recipe doesn’t demand it but I will add a little mirin too.
I would usually substitute gobo/burdock root for Jerusalem Artichokes/Sunchokes, but lotus root/renkon should be fine.
Once done (hoping for a good okoge crust) I’ll stir in spring onions/scallions. Am using a big clay rice cooking pot for this, not an electronic rice cooker.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a15af65904.jpg
Here's my mise en place, the chicken wasn't used sadly. It didn't finish cooking until the rice was already made.
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The rice! Properly washed, drained, and cooked. The temperature held really well in the pyrex. I still can't believe how much vinegar is used for just 2 cups of rice.
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First attempt
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c5e789571.jpeg
Tuna with kewpie mayo and some chili sauce
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Rolled! Came out pretty ok for a first time.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5918aee89.jpg
Made a few more and experimented with my rolling technique. One wet hand, one dry hand seemed to work best.

That’s a very generous amount of filling, but looks good. That’s calrose rice, isn’t it? You definitely gave it a good gloss!

I completely forgot to photograph the finished ham takikomi gohan, but it was a big success. I ended up adding a tiny amount of garlic also, but it did taste just like Japanese home cooking. Here it is before the cooking stage (left it to soak for 20 minutes first).

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4806497f4.jpeg

That looks delicious.

This is the rice I'm using:
The first few ended up being somewhere between a temaki and a small ice cream cone in shape and they are definitely overstuffed.

I made a few oversized maki rolls with egg and a bacon strip afterwards that was surprisingly well-packed considering I don't have a bamboo sheet to form with and no idea how to do it.

I have a lot of improving to do but it was very fun and the rice was the star of the show.

Nishiki is very similar to calrose, which is just a little longer than what I use, Yumenishiki (like a koshihikari). I’d suggest using just a smidge less water as the longer shape makes it “wetter”.

Used the rest of the ham, a bit of diced frikadellen, cheddar cubes, and the golden toasted part is sliced mochi, for okonomiyaki tonight. Here it is naked:

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Wow. That looks incredible. I've been making a mix of korean kimchijjeon and okonomiyaki for a few weeks now. Here's an example before adding katsuobushi and the usual toppings.

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Drool....! The dilemma for this must be whether to go for okonomiyaki sauce or a Korean vinegar dipping accompaniament.
Because I have a child who’s not too keen on chilli, I didn’t add kimchi this time, but Korean pancakes are a world unto themselves - so much to explore. Great thing about okonomiyaki is the sheer quantity of cabbage (and leeks/scallion) you can get through with a single serving and yet it still tastes like junk food!

What's the trick making the perfect rice for temaki?

My rice usually gets either not sticky enough, or too wet (so that nori gets wet too quickly - and I like it crispy). I am just using "sushi rice" from the local supermarket. Do I need to learn a lot about different kinds of rice, or is it just a matter of a proper cooking regime?

I should have guessed LapLap can identify rice varieties based on pics. Now I know who to send my "traditionally cooked rice" onsen ryokan meal pictures to. I think I've even been served a few bowls of wood fire cooked rice.

cockpitvisit I'll leave the sushi rice tips up to those who cook more regularly. I usually refer to Maki at Just Hungry who explains Japanese cooking in detail https://www.justhungry.com/handbook/...-japanese-rice https://www.justhungry.com/handbook/...-chirashizushi

Sakura + Snow from last weekend :

That’s my cue!

I present my tried and tested rice cooking method - works with “sushi” rice types, Spanish (non “bomba” rice, particularly the kinds from Calasparra) and Korean rice.

1. Rinsing.
Rinse rice. This in itself is contentious as there are folks who insist it isn’t necessary (and it isn’t a process that forms part of making Spanish arroz/rice dishes), but rinsing DOES remove heavy metals - significantly so - from rice, making it safer, and particularly so for children. It also helps with the absorption task (more on this in a moment).
Everyone rinses differently, I’d suggest a gentle hand. As soon as rice gets wet it becomes progressively more brittle and easier to damage. So a quick rinse, a bit of grinding (I count to 30) and then rinse by changing the water a few times until the water becomes clearish (doesn’t have to become crystal clear).

Things to watch out for - work fast! If you grind rice slowly, the water it is sitting in will become re-absorbed into the rice. So try not to let this stage take more than a minute. If your rice is a bit old, leftover rice bran oil in the residue (which goes a little rancid and has an unwelcome aroma) will get sucked into the rice as well as those heavy metal residues. So grind quickly and rinse immediately, don’t become distracted by a phone call at this point! The next couple of rinses can be more leisurely.

Grinding - some people grind rice with the heel of their hand against the bowl/sieve. That’s fine if you work quickly and have a round short sturdy grain, otherwise I’d suggest rubbing rice gently between two hands - particularly with the US calrose types (such as Nishiki) as the longer shape makes it less robust.

2. Draining
Once rinsed, leave the rice to drain, ideally in a sieve, for at least ten minutes - 20 is perhaps optimum.

Why? The initial rinsing, draining and soaking stages serve an important function. If you add dry rice to water it cooks from the outside in. As water penetrates the rice, the outside is cooking faster than the inner core. Rice has a greater tendency to crack or remain undercooked (that “chalky” texture failed rice might have). The rinsing and soaking stage encourages water to penetrate right into the centre of the grain so that when it cooks it does so evenly; inside out as well as outside in.
The pro tip (which I don’t do) is to rinse the rice the night before and soak it in very cold water overnight in the fridge.
If you look CLOSELY at my ham takikomi gohan you may see horizontal lines forming across many of the grains of rice - this shows that water is being absorbed unevenly.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bd30fdfc1.jpeg

The night before rinse and overnight cold soak slows down the water absorbing process and avoids this - but my fridge is tiny and I’m not picky enough to require this attention to detail.
But it is worth knowing and you may value the improved quality.

As the rice drains you will notice how it changes colour/opacity as the water is absorbed. The goal is for it to change from translucent to a solid white - ideally without too many lines and “cracks” as it makes this transition, but no need to get too precious.

Tip - don’t wash rice in an electronic cooker pan as the bran residues (as well as friction from the rice) will erode the non-stick coating and give it a shorter life span. This is also why I make things like takikomi gohan and brown rice in a separate pot - our Zojirushi inner pan is like new after 8 years of near daily use for this reason; white rice only and never used for rinsing.

3. Soaking
For every measure of rice used, you will need 1.15 or 1.1 of water (the takikomi gohan had 1.0 because the vegetables introduced moisture).
Soak the rice in the water/liquid you are to cook it in. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes. Rice will be solid white when it’s ready. For convenience, soak rice in the cooking pot.

Unless you have a super-duper rice cooker which will allow you to cut corners, I can’t stress enough how important it is to let rice drain and soak before cooking. The minimum you need is 10 minutes draining and 15 minute soaking, but I’d suggest 20 + 20 minutes.

4. Cooking
You’ll need a pot with a lid. If the lid has a hole in it, or a gap for a pourer, stuff them with something heat resistant. The point is to keep the steam inside.

First step is to crank up the heat - let it rip! You want the water inside the core of the rice to get to temperature as the outside does. Use your ears and eyes and listen and look for signs that the water has reached a boil. Once it does, turn down the heat to a gentle low (my advice is to change from a larger cooking burner to a smaller one) and let it simmer gently for 10-11 minutes. Do NOT take off the lid.

5. Resting.
After 10-11 minutes, take the pan off the heat and let it sit for a further ten minutes. You can (do it quickly) put a tea towel over the rice at this point to stop water from the lid dripping back on the cooked rice, but it’s not necessary. Just let it “rest” in the residual steam for another ten minutes. This is a vital part of the cooking process, don’t skip it!

And that’s it - done!

Trouble shooting

Rice browned/stuck to bottom? Lower the simmering heat a little next time. If rice making is to become a habit you might want to put a small sticker/bit of masking tape by your cooker dial to remind you of the optimum point (or where it was when it didn’t work).

Too wet/dry? Take very careful note of how much water you added and adjust for next time. Different bags of rice (even of the same kind) can have different requirements, depends on variety and if it is older or newer.

Making sushi rice? If adding seasoned vinegar, consider using just a little less water for cooking than usual as the rice needs to absorb the vinegar as well.

I know this is long, but it is a simple process. I find that understanding why things are done makes it easier to remember to do them.

You’re too kind - but my speciality is solely on what’s available outside of Japan. I’ve gone through scores of different japonica types grown in Europe and North America. Italy and Spain both have some excellent examples - The Yumenishiki brand is from Italy and is a kind of Koshihikari, tastes very good at room temperature, a perfect bento choice. Minori from the Ebro river delta in Spain is a kind of Akita Komachi (although you need the right kind of sieve for Minori - the grains are a tad bit smaller than others I’ve used).
Saying that, the one we get through the most is Haruka from Italy as it has the best cost performance ratio, we usually get it in 10kg bags at half the price of our favoured Yumenishiki, but I can’t tell what variety it is, just that it doesn’t elongate like the American sushi rices do.

I favor the okonomi sauce. It hits me in a BBQ sauce way that I love. Also, I use a little less water and more kimchi brine than most recipes call for so it ends up with a very nice sour tang throughout the cake. I even sneak it in when I'm not using the kimchi itself.

As for rice, LapLap has given you the way that will yield the best possible result. I don't soak and I use an instant pot. Those are to save time and thus my rice isn't the best it could be.


We received our family meal delivery from my favorite Korean restaurant last night. 4 mains, 4 bibimbap kits, and a bunch of banchan. I am going to take a day or so off from cooking because I just realized I've made 18 meals in a row. This week's looks pretty interesting. A beef seaweed stew and dak dori tang are lunch and dinner respectively. We seem to be eating too well for there to be a crisis going on in our city. It's very surreal.

Japanese Curry
 

I was not planning to post this, because I am not a cook. But now stuck at home, nothing to do, and start pretending to be a cook.... Decided to make Japanese curry, but not from scratch, obviously. initial thought was this does not belong to this thread because I am not doing "real cooking", but...

Obviously, I used pre-packaged, pre-made store bought curry rue or curry block. :p Told you I am not a cook!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3eea0e9e79.jpg

Ingredients are: beef, potato, carrot, and onion.

What I do is that I want onion to remain crunchy and potato to remain in shape rather than all mashed up.

First saute beef in a pot. Optional salt, pepper, ground cumin seed, ground nutmeg, and powdered turmeric as saute beef. Can also use curry powder instead. :p
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Add water to the pot, simmer the content to tender the meat. For beef I usually simmer for 1 - 1.5 hrs. Optional to add bay leaf (laurel) during summering.

Adjust the water in the pot to the appropriate amount as indicated on the package of curry rue. Add carrots and simmer another 20-30 min. to cook carrots.
Same time on separate pan saute cut onions. Again, option to flavor onions, saute till desire consistency (for me I like onions to remain little crunchy).

Turn off heat on the pot, add curry rue or curry block. Stir till curry block dissolve completely.
Then add sauted onions an uncooked cut potatoes.
Simmer for another 10 min, or so till potatoes are cooked.
Curry is done.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0037a53dbf.jpg

As for rice, yes key ingredient of Japanese curry!, I am not try to make Japanese rice in a pot. I was told to learn to cook Japanese rice in a pot is one of difficult task in Japanese cooking. I simply use rice cooker, reliable. Told you I am not a cook. :p
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On a plate my style is place curry and rice side by side, not curry over rice. Another key ingredient, fukujinzuke (福神漬け), I think it is another key ingredient for Japanese curry. :)
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As far as I am concerned, it is as good as CoCo Ichibanya. :D;)

That looks amazing! Golden Curry is the best starter for curries.

What is that paddle in front of the rice?

Wow, thanks a lot for such detailed instructions - will try it out.

At the risk of being banned on FT - is a pressure cooker an option for making rice, or is it an absolute no-no?

I use it every single time I make rice unless the recipe absolutely specifies cooking in a pot or pan.

I think a pressure cooker is ideal for brown rice. But for white rice - that might be a question for someone with in depth knowledge of Korean cooking (I’m under the impression that Korean rice cookers are more akin to pressure cookers than the Japanese kind are).
I’ve personally never made white rice with a pressure cooker - and (being Spanish) I use my pressure cooker a LOT.

Pressure cooker is required for Kosogenmai / nekasegenmai - brown rice with Azuki beans (preferably the smaller harder variety) and kept warm until color change (3 days)
https://kawashima-ya.jp/contents/?p=438

さやいんげんの胡麻和え (Sayainngenn-no-gomaae, Japanese style green been with sesame dressing)
 

Being stuck at home and making Japanese curry from a store bought curry block started to get me going. I used to do more "cooking" at home when I was younger but these days. Needed something to do.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e6eb103f4e.jpg

Green beans or string beans. Can either boil in water or steam it, I chose to steam it.

That is it for green beans. Now to dressing. Use sesame seeds, specifically white sesame seeds are used here. If bought sesame seeds from stores, first you have to dry roast sesame seeds on a pan at home before uses. It is commonly used items in Japan that if you go to Japanese grocery stores, you can buy pre-roasted sesame seeds even in the U.S. If you do not find one at Japanese grocery stores near you then it is not a real Japanese grocery store. :p

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I use Japanese cooking mortar and pestle, suribachi (すり鉢). First grind sesame seeds.

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Will smell of sesame seeds. On some other dishes ask to grind sesame seeds till it become paste, like peanut butter. However, on this dish you do not want to do that. It is perfectly alright to have few seeds which did not get grind. Then add sugar.

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Continue grinding till seeds and sugar are evenly mixed. Then add soy sauce little at a time.

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Continue grinding by adding soy sauce little by little. Once all soy sauce is added, finished with the dressing.

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Then add cooked string beans and the dressing together

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.
You can do same using spinach, which is another popular dish in Japan. One nice thing about this dish is you can pre-make this and keep it in refrigerator for few days, green beans do not become soggy, remain crunchy.

鳥手羽先の煮もの (Toritebasaki-no-nimono, Japanese style simmered chicken wings.)
 

Get chicken wings. If it is whole wings then cut a wing at a joint and make it to two pieces. Cook both side of wings in a pan till both side is brown.

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Once both side of wings are browned nicely, transfer wings to a pot. Add chopped ginger and chopped hot chili peppers, followed by water and let it boil once. Then add sugar, mirin (味醂, Japanese sweet cooking rice wine), and soy sauce.

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Let it simmer for least 1.5 hrs., till chicken get brown color from simmering liquid. Let the lid on a pot loose, and let liquid evaporate slowly to concentrate the flavor.

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Finish! Once finished meat on wings are so tender that meat will easily come off the bones. That is so nice about this dish, you can actually eat with chop sticks because meat will come off that easily. Do not have to eat like fired chicken.

That looks great! And I have some green beans that need to be cooked up.

Lots of good Youtube channels and videos, but I particularly like the ones from 岡奈なな子 (Okana Nanako). There's a very ordinary, non-recipe seeming method to her cooking. The chopping and knife work makes me cringe though!

肉じゃが (Nikujyaga, Japanese style simmered beef and potato)
 

This is another popular dish at Izakaya (居酒屋). For this dish use thinly sliced beef, that is why cooking time is very short for this dish, do not have to cook beef that much. If beef is not thinly sliced then need in improvise cooking of this dish.

In a pot brown thinly sliced beef with oil. Since beef is thinly sliced, beef will be cook fast, once beef is brown in color then that is it.

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Then add onions, potatoes, and shirataki (しらたき, Japanese semi-transparent yam noodles). Recommend cutting shirataki noodles to shorter before adding to the pot. Add sake (酒, Japanese rice wine) and stir the content once or twice.

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Then add sugar and soy sauce. Let it simmer. All you need to do is cook potatoes, which will be 10 min. or so. Beef is thin slice so it does not take time to cook. At the end add Naga-negi (長ネギ. Japanese large green onion (scallion)) . Simmer just a minute after addition of Naga-negi.

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Dish is done! It is easy dish. Can keep in refrigerator for few days and warm it in a microwave oven for easy dish!

Izakaya at Home!
 

It is dinner time now after all these cooking! It was nice to have something to do stuck at home.

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Addition to what I cooked, hiyayakko (冷奴, cold tofu) with chopped scallions, grated ginger, and katsuobushi (鰹節, dried thinly sliced tuna flake), add soy sauce over for flavor. Yes, store bought tofu.
Store bought Edamame (cooked soy beans), sprinkle salt for flavor.
Smelt tsukudani (ワカサギの佃煮) from Akita region (tsukudani, 佃煮, simmered and cooked in sugar and soy sauce) Old Japanese cooling method, food can be kept at room temperature. Used to preserve foods in old days.

Drink was Sapporo beer and Takashimizu sake from Akita brewing.

Why I need Wara-Wara or other chain Izakaya places if I can do this at home! :D

P.S.
After cooking and nice Izakaya dinner with nice sake, I treated myself. :D

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Gotta cheat once in a while. :p But stuck at home, gyms are closed, I am getting fat! :td: 14 hrs. flight to Tokyo become more unbearable! :eek: :D

Thank you AlwaysAisle , that’s as close as I could hope to get to to getting a home cooked meal by my father-in-law. And no need to wash the dishes afterwards!
The “manly” meal inspiration is very welcome. Have just found a new source for beef, just occurred to me that if I freeze it a bit, I might be able to slice it thinly enough for this kind of nikujyaga. Hadn’t considered adding shirataki, but that’s perfect for us as I tend to eat less carbs/potatoes than the other members of my family - an ideal way to cater to us all with one dish.

Just realized I never had edamame at home. Is it difficult to make, or just quickly cook it and then put some salt on?

That's beautiful, but does anyone know what happens to the fruit from cherry trees growing in parks and on the public places, for instance in Tokyo? I've observed gardeners pruning trees very precisely, but I've never noticed cherries being picked, nor many cherries on the ground.

Thanks for comments. It was good way to spend time. I just had to move my behind off the couch and do something. I am lab chemist by training and how I arrange cooking is similar to how I work in the lab. Cooking will keep me standing, rather than sitting down so that was also good.

Japanese grocery store in Boston sell thinly sliced beef so I decided to do Nikujayga. I never asked it, but likely if I ask at local grocery stores they will thinly slice beef for me. Another dish I though about is Tori-no-karaage (鳥の唐揚げ, Japanese style fired chicken) where pretty much any white meat part of chicken boneless usually in small bite size, marinate in soy sauce, sake, and ginger. Sprinkle with potato starch (片栗粉, katakuriko) and deep fry. But that requires good amount of oil for frying. I really do not do cooking much lately and did not want to ended up with that much of used cooking oil.

Usually sold frozen in bags. I never seen edamame sold fresh as produce in the U.S. grocery stores, although that is nothing unusual in Japanese grocery stores. In the U.S. these days some grocery stores have Edamame at frozen vegetable section, does not have to be at Asian grocery stores.

Just read the cooking instruction. Some cook in boiling water for few minutes, some cook in microwave for few minutes. I saw one which supposed to thaw at room temperature、which take time. Once I did not read the direction on the bag at the store and bought a bag of frozen edamame which you thaw at room temperature. It takes time so I improvised and tried in microwave and boiling water, did not come out well...

They have "cherry" festivals everywhere, lots of jam, pies etc. are sold ! I gather this year the birds will be happy without the competition .

You are talking about Ebisuya? If so, do they seem to be doing well business-wise?
I was going to the Japanese market in Central but they closed and then even Kotobukiya closed in Porter, so there was no Japanese-run grocery store for a short while. Then Ebisuya opened but you couldn't get there without a car so I remember there being like almost no customers each time we went. Was worried about their viability, but I see that they're still open which is great!

For those of you who live in North America, Trader Joe sells really good frozen KAKIAGE. They call it "bird's nest."
I don't understand why they call it that, but it's literally kakiage like in Jpn and it tastes good.

Yes, it is Ebisuya at Medford. Wow, you know the Japanese grocery store used to be located at Central? I lived at Boston long time ago, then moved to Los Angeles (Hermosa Beach, yes, I was a beach bum :D ) for 15 years, and now I am back at Boston. Japanese grocery store at Central dates back to when I was at Boston pre Los Angeles time.

Yes, Ebisuya is doing well. Pretty much it is weekend if I go there but always busy. Once I read an interview article about the owner of Ebiisuya on local Boston newspaper, the owner said when the Japanese grocery store at Central closed Boston was in a situation of not having Japanese grocery store at all. The owner started Ebisuya then. I never thought about Medford location of Ebisuya not accessible by T, true if no car then it is not easy place to access. Selection at Ebisuya is good, pretty much can find what needed. Ebisuya now has made to order sushi and bento stand. Sushi is make your own selection, bento listing are tonkatsu (pork cutlet), aji fry (fried mackerel), chicken karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and Japanese curry rice. Those are all made to order. I think sushi made to order is good, even if I include ikura (salmon roe) and uni (sea urchin) sushi with 10 pieces come out to be around $25. At local so called "sushi restaurant" sushi regular will likely be repeat of salmon, tuna, salmon, tuna, salmon, tuna and California roll...:rolleyes:

As far as Japanese grocery stores and restaurants scene at Boston is concerned today, beside Ebisuya at Medford this February Japanese grocery store at Hartford, CT called Maruichi opened at Brookline. Maruichi Brookline is right at Coolidge Corner of Green Line C, Cleveland Circle Line. Maruichi is accessible by T and selections look like not much different from Ebisuya. Maruichi has small food court setting with Brooklyn Ramen.

As for Japanese restaurants at Boston, small Japanese shops at Porter Exchange building at Porter Square is still there. Popular izakaya style restaurant Ittoku used to be located at Brighton moved to Porter Exchange end of last year. Santouka (山頭火) is at Harvard, there is also Totto (鳥人) ramen, is this also from Japan? I know there is Totto ramen at New York City. Udon restaurant Tsurutontan from New York City opened at Kenmore Square. Also, FuGaKyu restaurant at Brookline used to be popular with Japanese, what I heard is that about ten years ago there was Japanese TV drama and actress Hitomi Kuroki's character lived at Boston and Hitomi Kuroki's character worked at FuGaKyu restaurant in the drama. But looks like this "boom" has die down now and there are far less Japanese tourists at this restaurant today.

Talk about kakiage, this is frozen kakiage I bought at Ebisuya Japanese grocery store at Medford (just north of Boston).

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7b89b12eff.jpg

And the label on that back says...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...40f5102325.jpg

Yes, it says "Not For Retail." Looks like this is supposed to be for restaurants and such, not to be sold at grocery stores to public... And it came all the way from Thailand...

Glad to hear that Ebisuya is doing well. You know the one at Central?! That was where I went the most!
I spent some time in Boston, until 8-10yrs ago. When I got there, we had the Japan center (with Kotobukiya market) at Porter, Cherry Mart on Newbury, that Japanese market in Central, Reliable Market in Somerville (Korean owned, but the items there were mostly Japanese) and also the one in Central.
During the time I was in Boston, I think every single one of those grocery stores closed except for Reliable.

I have not heard of Maruichi, but Coolidge Corner is a great location for Jpn grocery store. I think Coolidge Corner is the absolute best urban area in all of Boston with lots of foot traffic. Tons of Japanese people there, many of them doing things at Longwood Medical. Plus everyone who lives in Coolidge Corner are health-concious and culturally savvy, so I bet Japanese store would do great there. But I hope it doesn't take business away from Ebisuya too much. I cannot believe that a japanese grocery store existed in Hartford, as I wouldn't have thought there're many Japaense living there.

I don't know any of the restaurants you mention, except Santouka is a chain that definitely did not exist in Boston when I was there. And I know Fugakyu... they were not very good back then. I don't go to Japanese restaurants in USA much at all, but we did used to go to Minado buffet in Natick and then there was also Oga Restaurant in Natick that I'd take my parents to when they'd visit. Have you been to Oga?

Oh there was a restaurant called Shiro way out near Hudson/Marlborough. It was actually owned by Japanese people. Oddest location for a Japanese restaurant owned/operated by Japanese. I didn't think they were that good, but other Japanese people swore by that place. Do you know that one?

(sorry to others for this trip down Boston memory lane)

I don't know if the one I mentioned from Trader Joe's is any better than the one you bought from Ebisuya. But I bet it's cheaper.
I'd like to recommend you try the one from Trader Joe's. Again it's in the frozen section and it's called Bird's Nest.
Trader Joe's Vegetable Bird's Nests Review ? Freezer Meal Frenzy

jeez, I remember the store at Central Square from childhood. I was sad when it closed. Same with Kotobukiya/Porter Square. I still haven't managed to get to Ebisuya but glad to hear it is still going strong. If you are near the south shore at all, Kam Man in Quincy operates as mostly a pan asian supermarket and also has a fair selection of pantry staples but fewer good fresh options.

LapLap, I am sure you may know this but Japan Centre in London does delivery by post and, while they are expensive, they also have a reasonable selection of essentials.

I am on lockdown right now in coastal Scotland so am relying on what things I have managed to bring home from my last trip to Japan in February. Trying to eek them out as long as I can...but I am loving looking at everyone's photos.

Our usual go to point is the wonderful Rice Wine Shop in Brewer Street, but we have a fantastic Korean store just a 10 minute walk away, so if this lock down does continue we can still get most of our staples.

I had this Guardian recipe pointed out to me recently. It’s hilarious. I happen to be the kind of person who does have all the ingredients needed in their store cupboard - but I have them there for a reason! * No way would I waste them on whatever it is this recipe is for.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/202...kake-fried-egg

I figure that if there was a Venn diagram of people who’d have these ingredients in stock and people who’d like to follow this recipe it would consist of two separate, non-overlapping circles.

*I buy Mirin/Mirim regularly, a bottle never lasts longer than 6 months.