2012-09-13, 08:26 | Link #2441 | |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 35
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As for Ireland, the only good restaurants are ethnic places. Ireland doesn't really have a native cuisine that's restaurant worthy. |
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2012-09-13, 08:38 | Link #2442 |
Salt Levels Critical
Join Date: Oct 2007
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The best Japanese restaurant I've found around here is this tiny hole-in-the-wall place on the local university campus. I guess that shouldn't be too surprising considering it's a very large university with a very diverse student body, but it's kinda sad that it's the only Japanese restaurant among many that serves more than sushi or store-bought udon (even the well-known restaurant actually run by a Japanese guy in the city is heavily Americanized). Can't get curry rice, beef soba, or my personal favorite, oyako-don, anywhere else around here and I still go there fairly often despite having graduated long ago.
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2012-09-13, 08:40 | Link #2443 | |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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If you go to Japan, avoid those, make heavy use of the street food nd small eateries, use the mom'n'pop ryokan or minshuku to stay at. Its a lot cheaper and your immersion experience goes through the roof.
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2012-09-13, 09:02 | Link #2447 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
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Perhaps I'm lucky, as a huge foodie, I've managed to discover fantastic Japanese and other restaurants in both the cities I've lived in here in Canada (Toronto & Vancouver). Many of them are NOT 4 or 5 star restaurants at all.. But some of them definitely are (albeit not Michelin, there's no Michelin guide for Canada). As for Japanese cuisine and sushi.. Of the hundreds and thousands of sushi restaurants here in Toronto, I would go to maybe .. 5 or 6 for the sushi? They have fresh uni and toro! I actually have fewer options when it comes to decent ramen.. OH! And I stayed at this GORGEOUS ryokan in Hakone, definitely busted the wallet, but the kaiseki cuisine was breathtaking.. I actually miss having rice for breakfast since coming back to Toronto.. @Sumeragi - Interesting tidbit.. It's true most of the Japanese restaurants outside Japan are owned by non-Japanese, namely Korean and Chinese, but the chefs at the good restaurants (incl. good ramen places) learned their craft for years in Japan before opening up overseas if they're not ethnically Japanese. Also some of the restaurants do have Japanese chefs, even if the rest of the staff isn't Japanese. I've started to try to not judge restaurants based on the ethnicity of the owner/staff .. but that has bitten my in the butt HARD on a few occasions as well |
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2012-09-13, 09:07 | Link #2448 |
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 35
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I'll add another factor, the age of the clientele. The older the better. Young people aren't as discerning about their food, and are more likely to go to places because they're "fashionable". Older people are generally more discerning.
On the flipside, older people tend to be more set in their tastes, which may not necessarily be the same as yours. And not all young people are such poor judges. But the more fashionable ones definitely are. They'll just go to a place because it look cool, not worrying about value for money or how good the actual food is. The poor student dressed in clothes from Walmart, might be a slightly better judge. He has no pretensions. |
2012-09-13, 09:45 | Link #2449 | |||
勇者
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Tesla Leicht Institute
Age: 34
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2012-09-13, 09:52 | Link #2450 |
( ಠ_ಠ)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
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Korean ran Japanese restaurants are much closer to Japanese food than Chinese run ones in general.
They're still freakin sushi bars though. I wish there was a cheap Matsuya nearby for some good cheap Gyudon, cheap ramen joints, and cheap okonomiyaki and takoyaki places. But noooooo. Yet. Another. Freaking. SUSHI!!! *cries* Last month I bought a deep fryer. And made my own Katsu-curry. Because you know, unless I make them myself, I'll be eternally denied of them! *sobs* P.S: btw, mix Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire sauce with a clump of ketchup, and voila, it taste just like Tonkatsu sauce. Amazing.
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2012-09-13, 09:59 | Link #2451 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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Think of the palette types that are available! Soft and smooth serving dishes can be used for mochi and desserts, brown ganguro types can be used to serve warm barbecue meat, and the endowment levels can be suited accordingly to the food portions, i.e the unendowed ones can be use to serve finger food where no utensils are actually needed....... As compared to the regular food presentations of sushi on normal coloured plates, this would certainly look more appetising, no? With regards to food presentation though, I find that Japanese food preparation processes seem to have this OCD about food tasting AND looking good at the same time. The last time I went to one, the sashimi was so slowly prepared; I went through an entire tray and it is still not refilled, the chef slowly slicing and putting the thing into place.
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2012-09-13, 10:42 | Link #2454 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
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Then again I eat a lot of sushi as well so I'm not exactly complaining.. although I don't go to 99.9% of the restaurants because they're terrible. The sushi place I frequent here gets a thumbs up on using the appropriate rice, super fresh fish and telling me honestly if they get a shipment of ingredients that is subpar! |
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2012-09-13, 11:39 | Link #2455 | ||
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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I don't have aohige's problem at all comparatively, that may be a regional issue. All the things he's crying for are readily available in all the Japanese restaurants I frequent. (though he's dead on about some street food being horribly overpriced sometimes) Quote:
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2012-09-13, 11:54 | Link #2456 |
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 55
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In my area there are quite a number of "Japanese Restaurants", at least 20 in a 10 mile radius. Most of the ones I've been to are run by non-Japanese folks. All are pretty good.
However, my favorite place is a little hole-in-the-wall run by a sweet, old Japanese woman who does all the work herself. Zod, now I can't wait for lunch! Endless "Hungry" Soul
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2012-09-13, 16:21 | Link #2457 | |
勇者
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Tesla Leicht Institute
Age: 34
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2012-09-13, 18:38 | Link #2459 |
うるとらぺど
Join Date: Oct 2004
Age: 44
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So how authentic is this joint ?
I eaten a few times there and while the dishes is tasty enough and the serving isn't bite sized but the pricings ain't suited for consumption on a regular basis. So I want to see if I got my money's worth. |
2012-09-13, 19:14 | Link #2460 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
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If I recall, the only thing I liked there was a braised pork dish, but even then it tasted more like Chinese food that my mother made as a child than anything Japanese.. EDIT: Oh, and it's been a year since I've been to the one in downtown Toronto, but I remember the noodles were all wrong. They didn't taste like ramen noodles at all.. and I've tried a variety of ramen joints in Tokyo, Kyoto, Vancouver and here in Toronto.. |
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culture, discussion, japan, japanese culture |
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