Top 10 Most Famous Traditional Japanese Foods

1

Sashimi

Referring to Japanese food, Sashimi is a dish that you should not ignore. Similar to sushi but sashimi does not include rice, sashimi is raw fish that is easily cut into pieces. The quality of fish meat caught throughout Japan's major seas makes sashimi slices always taste fresh and sweet, making them a great choice for travelers visiting Japan.

Like sushi, diners can enjoy a variety of sashimi. Some of the most popular and favored varieties are maguro and other types of tuna, salmon, mackerel, and white salmon. You can also try oysters, uni or sea urchin, and salmon roe. Sashimi is often served with soy sauce to enhance the flavor. You can also add a little wasabi on top of the sashimi to enhance the spicy flavor, but it's not mandatory. Some, such as restaurant squid mackerel, will be able to serve ginger instead of wasabi.

2

Unagi

Unagi, or eel, is a fish commonly found mainly in rivers. In Japan, it is a typical specialty in high-end Japanese cuisine. There are also many casual restaurants specializing in unagi dishes. At unagi restaurants, you can enjoy kabayaki, where the unagi is placed on skewers and grilled with a special amount of sauce containing soy, mirin, sugar and sake.

Hitsumabushi, a specialty from Nagoya, is a must-try traditional dish. It may seem unexpected with sliced pieces of kabayaki on the basis of white rice, but can be eaten in many ways, such as with spices such as green onions and wasabi, or used to make ochazuke by pouring warm green tea or broth on top. Unagi is also loved as a nutritional food against summer heat stroke because it contains a lot of protein and is good for digestion.

3

Tempura

Tempura is a dish cooked from ingredients such as seafood, meat, and vegetables that are coated with flour and deep-fried in cooking oil. Fried dough is usually mixed between wheat flour and eggs. Often tempura is soaked in a special sauce called tentsuyu before eating. Tentsuyu is a sauce made from a broth made from kombu or dried fish, mirin and soy sauce, mixed in a 4:1:1 ratio and cooked. You can add pounded ginger or white radish to the sauce for a refreshing flavor. 

4

Soba và Udon

Soba is a noodle dish made from buckwheat flour cut into thin fibers with a width of 1cm to 2cm. After boiling the noodles in hot water, it is common to eat cold sauce noodles or pour boiling water into a bowl and enjoy. Soba sauce (tsuyu) is usually made from kombu or dried tuna broth, seasoned with soy sauce and mirin and is important for a delicious soba experience. Soba, which can be enjoyed hot or cold, is ideal all year round.

Udon is a typical noodle dish with thick noodles, which is a very popular traditional Japanese dish. Wheat flour is made from wheat flour and cut into large noodles of great thickness. After boiling the noodles in hot water, udon is enjoyed along with seafood broth and ingredients such as tempura to taste. Like soba, you can enjoy hot or cold udon depending on your preferences and choices.

5

Onigiri

You may have come across Onigiri, aka rice balls, in many Japanese movies before. Onigiri may seem like simple white rice but are usually filled with meat inside and wrapped in a sheet of salty seaweed. They are made in home bento and are often sold at convenience stores and supermarkets. This is a popular choice as a snack or half-time snack.

Common flavors for Onigiri include algae, sour apricots (umeboshi), salmon, and tuna paste. There are so many flavors and options, you can find homemade ingredients or instant rice balls at many convenience stores or supermarkets everywhere.