evergrn

Love napolitan. Grew up eating it. I just love Japanese spaghettis... wafu, genovese (green one), esp napolitan.

Dont love Hiyashi chuka though.
That and tantanmen are the only noodles I just won’t order in Jpn.

5khours

Hey. It was the 70's. Technically I was still a minor. But the steward did raise his eyebrows when I tried to order 生ビール with the kid's plate.

Nagasaki Joe

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5khours

Agree on the wafu and genovese, but I can't believe you don't like 坦々麺 and 冷やし中華

Nagasaki Joe

Not with you on the Napolitan, but totally agree with you on Tantanmen (taste is too しつこい) and Hayashi Rice is a pretty nasty creation too.

Nagasaki Joe

Are you serious? We must have an age gap.

5khours

I turn 13 next month.

5khours

Have you had the Hayashi Rice at Grill F in Gotanda? I'm not a huge Hayashi Rice fan, but it's supposed to be the best in Japan there. Opened in 1950.

Nagasaki Joe

No, I've only had it once. That was enough. I had it a very long time ago at the restaurant of the Maruzen Book Store in Nihonbashi (across the street from the Takashimaya Dept. Store). The plastic representation of Hayashi Rice in the widow looked good, so I gave it a try. I don't know if Maruzen still has that restaurant anymore.

Nagasaki Joe

Japanese Napolitan is very oily, it's really an offshoot of yakisoba, at least I think they modeled it on yakisoba, using ketchup instead of sauce.

jib71

The green one is not a Japanese recipe. That’s from around Genoa, and when the green stuff (pesto) is made by a wrinkled Italian grandmother from fresh basil, pine nuts, and hard cheese from her own farm, it’s the kind of thing that Michelin starred chefs swoon over.
To be fair, when made with a sauce out of a jar in the same kitchen that prepares “Neapolitan,” with ketchup, it may be no more than the green alternative to the red spaghetti.

BTW - First time I’ve seen “spaghettis.” Is that an American thing? It made me realize that Japan has really put the ghetto into spaghetto.

evergrn

Hayashi rice is a weird one. Many people may not mind it but I don’t know anyone who loves it. I’ve only ever had it as school lunch.
Honestly it tastes like puke. Maybe there are better versions but I can’t get over the ptsd.

evergrn

Did not know.
I thought it was a Japanese thing just like napolitan is. Because I haven’t seen that outside of Jpn. I thought it was different than what Americans call pesto because pesto pasta in America is usually more brownish-green, creamier and cheesier... I like the green oily (non-creamy) version that is Genovese in Jpn.

5khours

Americans usually refer to pasta with Genovese sauce as "pesto" sauce. Basically "Sauce" sauce. It's kind of like Shrimp Scampi.

Nagasaki Joe

If you've ever been on the basement floor of a major department store, you'll see gift sets of canned fruit, curry sauce, tomato sauce, etc., often with the New Otani Hotel or Hotel Okura brand (which are considered luxury brands in Japan) that are beautifully packaged for gift giving:
https://www1.newotani.co.jp/hrt/shop...cked/index.asp (New Otani Hotel brand)
??????? | ???????????????? (Hotel Okura brand)

Certainly, there is a difference in the perception of canned foods in Japan and the US. In the US, because canned foods are the favored packaging of food for welfare recipients, have a long shelf life for storage for a needy day (used by survivalists and others), are fairly inexpensive, and not a fresh form of food, I don't think many people would even consider giving ordinary canned food (corn, fruit, curry sauce, etc.) as gifts, let alone luxury gifts, to friends and others (more likely its a gift for those down on their luck). For example, I can't image a Waldorf-Astoria brand of canned corn. Perhaps during the 1930s depression in the US, they may have been welcome as gifts. Although I can believe they were considered a luxury good in early post-war Japan and for a while after, today, when Japanese housewives tend to go shopping almost daily to ensure they have fresh produce, I'm surprised that ordinary canned foods can still be packaged and sold as luxury items, but I think the luxury cache has worn-off some over the years. But, perhaps that helps explain the practice of putting "Hotel Bread," "Hotel Butter," "Hotel Curry," and "Hotel Pancakes" on packaging to give the food a classy cache when marketing to Japanese consumers and lets the maker charge a little more. Yes, I do realize that Japanese perceptions differ, I'm just saying that I'm surprised at how long this perception has persisted.