One of the things I tend to take regular pictures of in Japan is the meals. Most of them are at the center we train at and are served buffet style.
Curry and Rice: The curry is a bit spicy but manageable for me.
You will notice the soup and rice at almost every meal.
My guess is this is a breakfast. We regularly had salad for breakfast, which is quite different for me.
Beer with the meal, so probably dinner.
As with last year we went to a traditional soba restaurant in Tokyo.
Udon, rice, and gyoza (and beer, of course).
Breakfast in our hotel. They were all similar to this. Japan has excellent baked goods.
During one of our days of training, we grabbed lunch from a mini-market. They are quite upscale, especially compared to the average American one.
We took a morning trip to Asakusa and had lunch at a stand up sushi bar that had about 10 places to stand.
Udon:
Udon with tofu.
And dessert! Coffee ice cream.
Breakfast the day we left - because you should always try something familiar when far away.
Everything but the sushi.
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter was in Israel, she said salad was common for breakfast. Interesting Japan is similar.
Was their McDonald's truly identical to what we're used to over here?
And black chocolate. I'm curious about that!
I can't speak for Japan but the McDonalds in all the other countries I have been forced to go to by others have always been different. For example, in the Philippines, McDonalds happy meals are rice and fried chicken or rice and spaghetti. There are very few options for a burger involving cow.
DeleteLeigh, I can understand about the sushi - not everyone likes it. I will say that Japanese sushi in general is among the best due to its freshness.
DeleteThe salad is interesting - and it was not just at the training center; the hotel had the same.
I am not a partaker of McDonald's breakfasts here very often so I do not know that I am true expert, but the breakfast sandwich was arguably better (the hash browns were probably equivalent). I need to take a picture of the menu next time; as Ed suggests, in other countries I have been in the menu is "regional" as well.
"Black" chocolate was simply more dark chocolate percentage, as well as a pretty cool marketing ploy. In my experience, Japanese made chocolate is quite good.
I would lose weight on those portion sizes.
ReplyDeleteERJ, somehow I always gain weight on these trips, even though we are training heavily 6 to 8 hours a day. I will note that for the training center, it is buffet style and thus one can go back. Some do; I would occasionally go back for extra pieces of protein (fish in particular) or another serving of rice, which is a weakness of mine.
DeleteUnlike Leigh, the sushi has my mouth watering! I have only been to a truly Japanese inspired restaurant maybe a couple times. Most of my experiences have been Americanized sushi places or flying on Japan Airlines. The latter has always been good experiences though compared to the meals served on American based airlines.
ReplyDeleteAll your meals look good and looks to have a bigger variety of dishes with each meal than American cuisine typically does. I also like the sizes, which despite the variety of dishes, still looks smaller than your typical burger and fry meal at mid tier sit-down chains popular here.
Ed, funny you should mention U.S. versus foreign airlines. I would say in general foreign airlines, at least the international flights, have better meals. I also noticed on my most recent flight that the general tone of the announcements had a slight edge of almost anger on them - I do not know if the person was tired or had a bad day, but it was consistent through the flight.
DeleteThe meals were, I found, always tasty (not all of my fellow trainees agree in the sense they felt the quality had fallen since the early 2010's, long before I went). And while generally there was variety in dishes or within the dishes (such as the udon), I would be remiss in noting that for the soba meal, it was only the noodles (but also quite filling).
The portion sizes are generally smaller, although as you probably know too a simple bowl of Ramen can be quite filling!
Good timing on reading this post TB, breakfast is just about done....:) Japan is experiencing a dramatic rise in the price of rice along with shortages according to the NHK broadcasts on the the local public tv station.
ReplyDeleteThat is me, Nylon12. I am a helper.
DeleteI had not heard of the rice shortage but I will check into it (NHK is a very reliable news source in my experience). It is a the heart of Japanese cuisine as it is with all Asian cuisines. Such an increase would be truly catastrophic. The only comparison I can think of is wheat here in the States.