Types of Sushi Restaurants

There are various types of sushi restaurants in Japan. The way to order and price range differ therefore it is important to know what type of restaurants you would choose. Here are three types and some tips when using these restaurants.

Sushi Restaurants

This type of restaurant is where you order your sushi to a chef who makes it right in front of you at the counter. This is a traditional style of restaurants which serve great sushi and relatively more expensive than the other types. You can order any topic you want to put on, however, it is sometimes difficult for people with little knowledge of sushi and what's good to eat or what to order. In that case, you can ask your chef to make something for you. And tell him about your budget when you order to avoid exceeding your budget.

Japanese style restaurants serving sushi

This is a type of restaurants where sets of Japanese food such as mainly sushi, udon, soba or tempura etc. are served. They have a menu with prices on and it is easy to choose one within your budget. It is not a single-item plate but several kinds come together in one plate, which you can enjoy sushi without having much knowledge of it. Also you can try tempura or katsudon, pork cutlet rice bowl dish, accompanied with sushi in this type of restaurant. They have inexpensive prices, which is great for tourists for their first visit.

Kaiten-zushi (Conveyor belt sushi) Restaurants

The number of Conveyor belt sushi restaurants has expanded in Japan. The plates with the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. And using your intuition by seeing the plates to choose one you like is a good point of this restaurant. Some restaurants serve all sushi with 100 yen and relatively kaitenzushi restaurants have a very inexpensive price range. Not only sushi but also noodles, soup and dessert are on menu, which certainly entertain you in the restaurant.

Difference between Tempura and Katsu

Tempura represented by "kakiage," shrimp and vegetable fritters, and "ebi-ten," shrimp tempura and katsu, whch literally means fried cutlet, such as menchi-katsu,fried cakes of minced meat, ton-katsu, pork cutlets are both fried. And do you know the difference between them? The difference is their coatings. The coating of tempura is made from water, cake flour and eggs on the other hand that of katsu is from water, flour, eggs and bread crumbs. For that reason, tempura's texture is lighter and soft and it is a great dish to taste a harmony of food and its coating.
In the meanwhile, katsu was born to be a dish for everybody and supposed to be a meat dish with some crispy coatings.

How to eat Sukiyaki

Some tourists from other countries might have an experience where they get confused by seeing a bunch of ingredients, sauces on the table when they order sukiyaki. In Japan, there are restaurants which let you finish cooking your dishes at your table and one of those dishes is sukiyaki. You can ask the staff to make one for you. Or you can follow the process shown below to make one by yourself.

Process to make sukiyaki

1. A shallow iron pot is on the strong fire till a little smoke comes up.
2. Put a beef tallow in the pot and cook it till it melts.
3. Spread slices of beef and cook them light on both sides. Then, pour warishita, combined seasoning sauce, in the pan and put some sugar if you want to add a little sweetness. Later, dip the cooked beef in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs. And enjoy it.
4. Fry light ingredients which are hard to cook such as hakusai, Chinese cabbage, and negi, a type of scallion. And put warishita and some sugar in it.
5. Put ito konnyaku, Jelly-noodles made out of konnyaku corm, and burdock and tofu etc. into sections so the ingredients don't mix.
6. Put the rest of slices of beef in the pot and cook them the way you like. But don't cook too much and see if it is properly heated. Cooking beef near ito konnyaku make beef tougher. So make sure cook them away from each other. When it's done, enjoy your meal by dipping in the bowl of raw and beaten eggs.
7. You can put udon in the soup in the pot for your last dish.

How to eat Shabu-shabu

How you eat shabu-shabu is sometimes confusing to some people as well. Here is a process to eat shabu-shabu.

Process to eat Shabu-shabu

1. Pour water in 70-80 pct. of a pot and put konbu (kelp) and heat it to make broth. *Some restaurants have their broth prepared.
2. After boiling the broth, take the kelp out.
3. Ingredient which are hard to cook such as vegetables go in the pot first. *Make sure to not put the ingredients all at once.
4. The broth should be 70-80℃ (158-176℉) and stir a slice of meat in it.
5. When the meat gets light pink is the right moment to eat it. Dip it in a ponzu (juice pressed from a bitter orange) or goma (sesame) sauce and enjoy it. *removing harshness while your are eating is the best way to eat delicious.
6. After eating most of them in the pot, put a bowl of steamed rice in the soup in the pot and add ponzu and salt and beaten eggs stirred. And put cut laver on top of it. This will be your another way to enjoy shabu-shabu.

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