Keep Warm In Japan With These Hearty Foods For Colder Months!

picture this you're exploring Japan and you're braving the cold weather in order to soak in as many sites as you possibly can but you're getting a little chilly and hungry what do you do well don't worry because I have the perfect traditional Japanese winter foods that are sure to make you feel cozy and toasty and give you just enough energy to continue exploring all of the winter sites of Japan before we go don't forget to subscribe for more Japan Adventures the buttons are right down below go click [Music] I am in gokui it's a quaint little town in Western Tokyo and it's said to be the birthplace supposedly of the maniko or the Good Fortune cat that always has their paw up like this I'm sure you've seen them before and since it's the birthplace of maniko you can find maniko statues and images everywhere and this is the place where I'm going to go to find my first winter food so let's go [Music] explore we're kicking off our winter food recommendations today with a cozy snack that you can even carry around and our first stop today is right here this is yaki IMO Fuji and it's only a 5-minute walk from gotoi station in Western Tokyo and they have a variety of sweet potatoes called y for [Music] [Music] I it's nice and warm oh it was so cold outside it really warms you up just holding them I'm going to start with the the purple sweet potato look at that I think we're going to have to break it in half wow that is a gorgeous color and this is It's remarkable because it's is a 100% natural coloring apparently when you bake it it even brings out the sweetness even more compared to a raw sweet potato oh that is really good M it is remarkably sweet you can even eat the skin it's very soft and tender but it's up up to you apparently there are people in Japan who don't eat the skin they'll peel it off and just eat the sweet inside it's really sweet starchy like it's got this wonderful chewi about it and it's really warm so it's super comforting all right let's try the more traditional one the one that people have been eating in the olden days wow this is completely different not only the color but the texture this one is noticeably firmer it's more like a western sweet potato I think this one is um it's a lot starchier I feel like it's a the type of sweet potato that you could eat with other vegetables it's not as much like a dessert but if you prefer less sweet Foods this one might be for you you can really see the difference in textures and color of course this one if you squish it it just it's good gooey and this one it you can't even squeeze it it's that firm I think I would personally prefer this sweeter gooier variety it's just it really is like a dessert however if you want to try that traditional taste I think it's worth trying this one because they're very rare these days all right so now that I've had something sweet I think it's time to try something Savory so I'm going to head over to one of Tokyo's oldest and most traditional neighborhoods to look for some traditional and classic japanese winter Foods so I'll see you guys over there next I'm going to be trying a classic winter comfort food called Oden it's a warm and very comforting soup that you can eat all over Tokyo nowadays and we're going to be trying it at a restaurant called U just a short walk from the senoji temple in Asaka this particular restaurant has actually been in Tokyo since 1915 it moved from Osaka to Tokyo in that year and when it started out in Osaka Odin actually was not that popular of a food yet but nowadays it's super popular you can even get it at convenience stores in the winter time I cannot wait to try Oden at a restaurant that's over a 100 years [Applause] old wow oh here we are we took an elevator to the second floor but you can see that a lot of the building is still very traditional this is an Oden restaurant although they do have some other side dishes but they specialize in Odin Oden is basically a classic Oden soup base that they have and you choose whatever you want to put inside of it or if you don't know what to put in you can actually get an Oden that's down here so I think if you don't know where to start this is probably the one to get and I'm going to do that today too here we are this is the old in it smells tantalizing and so warm the soup base is made from katso Bushi which is dried Bono as well as kelp and soy sauce look at this it's heavy I also really want to try the shrimp balm the EBY bakan so here it's too heavy there we go and then you're going to put a little bit of soup over top I know it's kind of not really a bowl so I'm surprised that you careful not to spill it this looks so good it smells amazing and you can also add some spicy mustard called karashi I will warn you it is really spicy let's start with the daone it's been stewed for so long it comes apart so easily M you wouldn't expect expect a root vegetable to just be so jam-packed full of flavor it's really sucked up all of the soup so it's really melt in your mouth it's so tasty let's try the shrimp [Music] bomb m m look at that there's really a whole shrimp inside that's been sliced up the fish cake around it is super bouncy and chewy and if you like shrimp it's just jam-packed full of shrimp flavor the mustard adds a little kick to it it's really really tasty all right now let's try the hump in it looks so fluffy it's absorbed so much soup as well it really looks like it's fluffy like egg whites like a mousse or [Music] something it's like it's a very unique texture and it doesn't really have a fishy taste to it either there it's just fluffy all right so I'm going to finish up my Odin and we're going to go try one more must have winter food and it's actually just down the street in a sea too so see you guys over there this restaurant is so cute I just noticed the bathrooms have an Oden skewer as the the bathroom sign and if you look inside um it's a fish it's a grilled fish cake there's an egg and this is the cognac root it actually turns on That's So [Music] Cute I've been walking around outside for a little while now so I'm getting pretty chilly so I actually have a really useful tip for you guys if you travel in Japan in the winter these are called hokido or kaido for sure this one actually says Kao on it so basically they're little portable heating pads there are a couple of different types ppes this one is one that doesn't stick and you shake it and it chemically reacts and turns hot and you can keep it in your pocket all day it lasts for like 16 hours it stays warm and it's got all these this powder inside that you just shake and it's already starting to warm up a little bit but after a little bit of more time it'll get really hot especially if you keep it in your pocket or in your mittens this is legitimately my hack whenever we shoot videos in colder places like Hokkaido I also have one more that I actually just had in my backpack these are sock versions and it keeps your toes nice and warm in your shoes so you can get these at any convenience store in the winter or drugstore super worth trying and I'll probably put some of these on later just cuz I have toasty feet but for now I've got all my heating pads on let's go get some hot winter food [Music] oh here we are now at aexa ichon it's located in Central aexa just down the street from the Oden restaurant and it's a very traditional restaurant that looks incredible and they serve a popular winter dish called naet which literally translates in Japanese to cooking pot and this restaurant was built 70 years ago so it looks really really cool so I'm going to go inside and try an Edo style na dish today let's go inside and check get out what a cool restaurant Oh What a Beautiful traditional room you know what it feels like it feels like you're sitting in a Japanese house and looking out into the [Music] garden [Music] for [Music] for look at that it's beautiful so good okay so now let's start putting our ingredients into the hot pot we're going to start with the green onions called Nei in Japanese put some NIS in there there's a lot of NIS and then next you would put in your Shi mushrooms to cook and after that you'll put in your tofu and your other leafy vegetables and at the very end once everything's cooked through you're going to put your Tuna on top ooh it smells really good good I've just put the tuna in it smells tantalizing but while I'm waiting for it to cook let's try some of our atan Japanese sake atan means hot sake and this is definitely something that you drink in the winter time M oh that really warms you up when it's warm you get all of those alcohol fumes from the Japanese sake there's a little bit of a kick to it wakes you up a little bit but my goodness when it goes down it warms you up so much I've never tried a hot pot with a broth of this color before he says it's darker than normal but it The Taste is not quite as strong as it used to be back in those days M oh that is so good the tuna it's really really tasty and it's got this bouncy fluffy texture all of the ingredients have really drunk up the soup the soup is very Umami Rich a little bit sweet oh and this is the Negi green onion it's a specific type of green onion called senju Niki oh that's really good just so crunchy oh my goodness it really is so thick cut and there are so many layers inside so each bite you just get layers of crunchiness it is very tasty for this hot pot is is amazing I am so glad that I came here today and discovered all of these wonderful winter Foods so definitely come visit these restaurants in Tokyo if you ever want a taste of something traditional in the winter and just a little Shameless plug before we go did you guys know that I have my very own Tour on by food.com where you guys can hang out with me in Tokyo it's a Harajuku tour so if you guys are interested uh you can sign up and we can all hang out in Harajuku together and it's lots of fun so the links for my tour will be down below anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this video and you enjoyed all the cozy cozy Foods in this video let me know which food you guys want to try the most in the comments see you guys very soon in another video and maybe on my tour bye guys and [Music] comine

Channel: Japan by Food

Views: 50,903

Keywords: japan, japan by food, japanesefood, japan travel, japanese winter foods, oden, yakiimo, nabe, japanese winter, tokyo winter, cozy japanese foods, tokyo food guide, what to eat in tokyo, japan food guide, winter foods in japan, japan winter tips, best oden in tokyo, asakusa, gotokuji, japan travel guide, japanese, japanese culture, japan travel tips, japan guide, japan trip, japan vlog, japan food, travel japan, tokyo, japan itinerary, japan travel update, japan expensive

Id: o8hFgmSLE8o

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 04 2024