Behind the Counter at a Local Japanese Menchi Katsu Restaurant

Sponsored by SQUARESPACE This is what it's like behind the scenes At a local Japanese Restaurant ♫ Intro Music Playing ♫ So today i'm in Oimachi Tokyo And i'm doing something a little bit different I'm taking you behind the scenes at a local Japanese restaurant so it's going to be in a little bit different style than the videos that I normally do so let me know in the comments whether or not you guys like this type of video If so then I'll do more that said before I start If you guys want to see what I'm doing on the daily Then definitely check out my Instagram account If you guys want to help support the channel definitely check out the Japan merch and if you have any questions about japan or your japan travels Then check out my Discord Community Alright let me take you inside So here we go with a new series "Japan behind the counter" Where I take you behind the counter of local mom and pop style Japanese restaurant And first on our list is 'Bulldog' A traditional Japanese western influence style restaurant that usually has customer lines almost longer than its history just a three minute walk away from Oimachi station This shop was opened post-war in 1949 In what was considered a black market area but evolved over time and now it's situated in this historic hidden backstreet alley known as "Higashi Koji Shotengai" Amongst other bars and restaurants with a similar history so we're starting this video just as the store opens This is the owner - Suzuki san or as everyone refers to him 'Sensei' Which means teacher in English He's a second generation shop owner as it was passed down from his father What time do you open today ? Oh Thank You !! He gave me an ice cold tea That's so nice of him ☺ Rainy days are not so great in general for the restaurant business Especially in Tokyo since most people commute by train Sensei.. How much does rain make a difference ? Before the store opens, food vendors come to deliver the shop's regular orders There are about three to four vendors who come to deliver various food and ingredients in the morning but some also come in the afternoon Oh !! Here's some of the meat delivery Two hours before the store opens sensei starts to prepare the shop usually there are other staff right at the open but since its raining today the shop expects less customers so it's only him to start off ♪ First thing in the kitchen he prepares the rice How much rice are you gonna make today ? Okay... I guess he decided sensei how much rice do you make on a busy day ? No. I have a Wife !! Oh. He has some advice for me Cool !! I appreciate the lesson sensei What's that ? Can I ask you a question about the food ? sensei definitely has a one-of-a-kind personality which I'm sure helps attract many of his customers to be honest I think I'll be hard-pressed to find someone like him in future videos Now he's making a special demi-glass sauce and warming up curry for his workers sensei so what's so special about your food ? Okay !! He says that he makes all the efforts to make customers happy in terms of taste and price if he didn't he wouldn't still be in business and what he does is nothing special so he prefers not to discuss his food today So what do you think about ? Let's get back to the food Apparently he's only using six heads of cabbage today But normally he uses 20 ♪ Music Playing ♪ Cool !! Two other chefs are here now just before 10 a.m to help with the food prep Both seem to have worked here for a long time ♪ Music Playing ♪ He's mixing eggs and flour What are you making now ? Bulldog's most popular menu item is the Menchi Katsu Which is a Japanese breaded deep-fried ground meat patty But they also serve many other fried items So they need to prepare a lot of batter before the day starts and now... sensei is making the shop's white sauce Okay !! Here comes another life lesson Ah. It's Music ? He used to be a guitarist in a progressive rock band when he was young which apparently greatly influences how he runs his business and what's led to his success over the years Sensei, you've got lot of paintings Sensei, you've got lot of paintings But, why do you have them here ? Before he was running the shop when he was in a rock band he was in a long distance relationship he was sending his girlfriend his own paintings as gifts and after sending many paintings she called him one day and told him that she had gotten married The painting that is up on the wall were the ones he never got to send While sensei continues to share his life philosophy another chef prepares the meat used for the Menchi Katsu Oh wild !! They use Nakaya Panko The old wooden box was for the flour and panko The system looks so efficient That miso is for the miso soup served during lunch Seems like they're mixing different kinds of miso That's a lot of chicken What's it for ? I see.. He is stir frying the chicken for the Omurice dish Now, he mixes ketchup in the rice common for an Omurice dish In fact, it's their second most popular menu item so they need to prepare quite a lot ♪ Music Playing ♪ Oh !! The servers are here !! ♪ Music Playing ♪ What's that ? Finally. It's time to fry the Menchi Katsu 15 minutes before the restaurant opens The chef starts frying their famous Menchi Katsu anticipating that most customers will order that On an average day they sell about 50 dishes The chef press the meat right before frying and flattens it on the bed of panko with his hands It's so BIG !!! ♪ Deep Frying Sound ♪ How much meat do you use ? Alright !! And this one ? So that means that these are the regular lunch sized Menchi at 130 grams and these giant ones are for the single dish orders at 300 grams more than double the size of their lunch time sale ♪ Deep frying sound ♪ But look at that size It's the size of my iPad I can see why their giant Katsu is their signature dish How many pieces do you fry before opening ? The rain has let up a bit So I want to quickly step outside real quick and give a shout out to our sponsor for this video SQUARESPACE If you don't already know squarespace is the number one way to build your online presence In fact I use it for my site Tokyo Zebra Here are just some of the reasons why I love using squarespace so much Whether you're starting your passion project or building a business squarespace has all the tools to get it done While also looking ultra sleek and professional at the same time They support numerous portfolios and gallery designs which you can customize and even password protect so the right people see your work Use its fully integrated blogging tools and commenting features such as threaded comments, replies and likes to help engage your community and my favorite.. built-in analytics to see how your visits unique visitors and page views trend over time so go to squarespace.com today for your free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com/paolofromtokyo and get 10% off on your first domain or website All right let's go back inside ♪ Music Plays ♪ Finally the restaurant is open for lunch time !! and just as the store opens a customer enters despite the weather Hi !! Do you come here often ? What's your favorite ? Oh why ? Just before the lunchtime rush, another life lesson Damn !! He never told me the rest I guess I'll never know Before noon the seats are almost filled even though it's raining today I can see now how busy the kitchen can get on a nice day Time to get busy That's the Chicken Katsu and now a moment of silence for this fried goodness Okay. Now, I got to ask What's that ? In addition to serving customers in the shop They also make delivery orders Using services like UberEats which is quite popular in Japan these days It's just after the lunchtime rush so let's ask sensei some questions When was the store opened ? So how old were you when you became the owner ? Did you think you would be a chef when you were a kid ? So what's the hardest part about being an owner ? Was it hard to manage the restaurant during COVID ? What's your favorite food ? ♪ Jazz Music Playing ♪ What's that ? around 2 p.m between lunch and dinner hour staff have a lunch break and eat Makanai food which is a special staff meal that's usually not on the menu and today sensei is cooking for everyone it looks like a giant Menchi Katsu and fried shrimp with tartar sauce dish Oh and with a fried egg on top It's probably fair to say that many restaurants in japan close between lunch and dinner But Bulldog is open straight through so while staff eats lunch, sensei covers the shift After lunch the Chef's prepare for the dinner time which has a slightly different menu In Japanese it's called Shikomi What's that ? What kind of meat is that ? Oh he's adding flour into the pot of boiling butter What's that ? So..there you go This is japan behind the counter at a local Japanese restaurant in Tokyo called Bulldog If you want to visit the restaurant I'll be sure to leave a link in the description But be warned Come early as chances are there's going to be a line of locals outside Especially on a sunny day Now I'm gonna close it out here So if you guys like this video help me out and hit that like button also since this is a new video let me know what you thought in the comments If you guys want to see more videos about Japan or anything related to Japan Hit that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 1,993,998

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, Japan guide, tokyo, tokyo guide, japan food, japanese food, japan behind the counter, behind the counter, menchi katsu, japanese food eating, japanese food tour, japanese food street, japanese food vlog, how to make menchi katsu, teishoku, working in japan, day in the life, japan work life, tokyo restaurant, local japanese food, local tokyo food, japan travel food, japan food tour, japanese restaurant, japan food cooking, food, japanese day in the life

Id: mXU_vdLzqbY

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021