Last weekend was Uwajimaya's Natsu Matsuri, summer festival if you will, and I got to try a lot of the yummy Japanese foods the vendors provided there! It is a great way to sample a lot of items for a fairly cheap price! They want to promote their items and get it out there so the lower pricing helped with that incentive. This will be a quick/food heavy post - be warmed!
Curry tofu stew with white rice with fukujinzuke-a type of red japanese pickled combination of daikon, eggplant, cucumber that is usually paired with curry. For $1 this was definitely worth it and it was tasty too. I've never had curry with tofu and it was a nice change.
Classic karaage-or fried battered fried chicken with sweet chili sauce and spicy mayo. What's not to like about this dish? The sauces worked well with the deep fried chicken and it's especially good while its extra hot. $3 (I think)
Gyoza-or Japanese potstickers. They're a little crunch on the outside with a moist meat filling. Comes with a dipping sauce. Easy to eat and almost everybody likes these! It was $2 for 5 pieces.
Ramen burger for $6. I really wanted to like this and wished it was better, but I'm honestly glad I didn't buy this myself. The noodles had no flavor and would've been better if there was a little more in my opinion. The burger was overly dipped with the sweet teriyaki like sauce. It just wasn't my thing. A bite of this was enough and I was honestly disappointed.
Nothing like a fresh young coconut with the freshest juice. I know coconut water isn't for everybody but i'm glad I love it!
Poke bowls for $5. I'm glad I got to try a little sample of this since Tuna dishes are always a favorite. If you like the mix of raw ahi tuna, soy sauce, onions and ogo with rice, then poke is a must.
Yaki Onigiri-grilled rice ball with salmon flakes. So simple, yet so good! The salmon flakes definitely added a nice flavor element to the rice and the crispy outer parts of the rice added a nice crunch. Definitely a good snack for $2.
Okonomiyaki-a type of Japanese pancake if you will loaded with cabbage and egg topped with Kewpie (Japanese mayo) okonomiyaki sauce, and bonito flakes. If I liked cabbage, I'd probably enjoy this a lot more, but this had way to much cabbage for me. $5
Probably my favorite thing at the festival was this Tonkotsu Ramen-pork broth ramen noodles. For $5 you received a decent portion of noodles, a thick rich broth, a piece or two of pork and onions and other condiments. The broth was flavorful and the noodles were just right, not too soft and not too chewy.
To cool off, shaved ice is a must! This is actually my friend's but he let me share, of course. He choose a root beer flavoring, loaded it with condensed milk and topped it with mochi (chewy rice balls). This tasted like a root beer float! The only problem with this is that the mochi wasn't soft enough so it had more of a gritty than chewy taste. Shaved ice by itself was $3. Toppings were 50cents each so $4 total.
Another favorite and the last thing I tried was the pork udon! Probably my second favorite dish after the ramen and of course it is noodles again. This one had udon noodles with fatty pork on top, onions, tempura flakes and spicy garlic condiment on top. So fatty but so good! I'll definitely be trying to make this at home myself! $4
There were also other things going on but these are just the few food items I personally tried myself. Don't worry, this wasn't just eaten in one day, it spanned over two! There were also fun games for the kids! I love events like this, especially in the summer time, and especially when there's so much food to go try. I have been going to this festival almost every year, mainly because I work the event, and it is just fun to see a bunch of people gather together and try some new (and old) things!
Readers, have you tried any of these dishes above? Do you like Japanese foods? What are your favorites? Let me know!
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