we're in Tokyo, Japan the food culture here is incredible and we're making a
ton of food videos while we're here, let's get food hunting
if you love to
eat, Tokyo is the city for you, in this video we're taking you to where the
locals eat, we're eating Japan's most popular fast food, drinking a sake
cocktail for breakfast and hunting down a dish that is a
Japanese obsession you don't want to miss this video get ready for some
mouth-watering food
I'm Thomas and I'm Sheena and we're Chasing a Plate, we hope
you're hungry, let's eat!
we've come to a really local part of town to find this family business which
specialise in oden, oden is Japan's most beloved fast food
it's made up of a number of different ingredients like egg and fish cakes and
they're simmered in a delicious broth, let's go and eat
hello
we've both got our bowls of oden, oden is usually served in a
big like stainless steel vat so you've got this really hot bubbling broth
and then all of the ingredients simmering away in it so all the
vegetables, the fishcakes they're all popped in the broth and they're heated that way and they soak up that
broth so let me talk you through what we've ordered, I have got an egg, some daikon
radish that white piece underneath there a fish cake and then also what the lady
called a stamina ball and then it's all wallowing in this broth and then also a
splodge of mustard and to wash it all down we've got a cup of sake which has
been brewed from the local brewery which is only about 15 minutes from here
we also ordered some hanpen
which is this is white triangular surimi fishcake which they make in house in
fact they make all the fishcakes in house, you can see the chef slapping the fish paste into a mould
my favourite oden item has got to be daikon so this huge slice of radish here
I'm gonna just break it up, and then pop a tiny bit of mustard on there, give that a go
mmmm, mmm, mmmm, mmmmm, ohhh that mustard is really really strong
it went right at my nose whoa that daikon is amazing, it's soaks up
all of that broth and is really super juicy and soft
and that broth is delicious they actually use a fish based stock here and
then they flavour it with soy and it's really light that is amazing
let's grab out this stamina ball so we're not really sure what's in here it's such an
interesting name
whoa oh it's packed with stuff so it is a fish cake in there I can see dark
sesame seeds or black sesame seeds, I can see carrot, I think spring onions
that's got a beautiful flavour and it's soaked up that broth really nicely, the broth is
really light actually
gonna try this hanpen so it's very soft and quite
bouncy in texture, I might just pick the whole thing up and pop it in my gob
mmmm, whoa, it's so
soft, it almost is the texture of
marshmallow, it's really, really beautiful almost foamy, like a really soft
foamy texture and that's the one that's made out of the surimi fish paste, let's
give this broth a go
that is amazing it's so clean tasting, there's a beautiful flavour of
fish, slightly savoury, that's delicious
let's give this egg a go you can
see the yolk spilling out the side
mmmmm
oh that's good, that's really simple that just tastes like an incredibly creamy
beautiful egg, slight taste of that broth from the outside, the yolk is super creamy
so we're washing this all down with a sake so the sake comes in a little jar
sake is rice wine, really good way to start the day with a rice wine and
this oden, it's going down really well
that's nice, a little bit harsh but
not in a bad way, that's that's a good good wake up drink
I've just bitten into
this last one that we thought was another fish cake but it's actually a
tofu cake so it looks like a fish cake in shape but it's all tofu
the broth just burst out of it, beautiful soft tofu flavour and then some greens and some
carrot in there as well, this is awesome, it's so cool I love standing here as well
everyone's like zipping in lots of locals everyone's drinking beers and
sake, it's pretty early in the day so it's quite neat everyone having a
drink, smashing back some of these to get
sorted for the day
when you've finished about 3/4 of your sake you can take the rest of your
glass or jar up to the counter and there they will fill the rest of the jar with
the dashi or the broth from the oden so that's what we're going to do now
this is the dashiwari so it is made up of about 50 mls
of the sake and then the rest is a ladle full of that broth so the
oden broth and then there's also a sprinkling of spice powder on the top so
I can see sesame seeds, there's some chilli flakes red pepper flakes and whatnot
let's give this a taste
whoaaa oh yeah, it's like an alcoholic soup, so it's very savoury from
that broth and then it's got this undertone of alcohol so the heat that
you get after sipping alcohol that's in there as well it's really tasty
there's a bit of spiciness from that spice mixture as well it's really good
whoaaa very savoury very more-ish
that was delicious, thank you
that was a breakfast of champions, oden and sake we are ready to start
the day, I feel really good after that, the food is incredible and then obviously
that sake just gives you a real hooha a little kick to get you going and we're
now heading off to another part of town for one of my favourite foods to eat
here in Japan
we're in Ikebukuro which is the area in which we're staying and we walked past this
restaurant the other day and there was a line out the door and it is an unagi
restaurant and unagi is freshwater eel, it is a Japanese obsession and so
that's what we're gonna go and have for lunch
there's a vending machine in which
to order your meal, we're going to go for the unadon which is just the unagi
the eel on rice
Thank you very much
Our food's arrived and it looks delicious!
so this is freshwater eel and you can see it's been grilled so there's beautiful
grill marks on it but what they do with this they actually grill it and then they
boil it no, no steam it, so they grill it and then they steam it and then they grill it
again so it's got a three-stage cooking process and then when they're finished
they baste it with this sauce and you can see the shiny beautiful sauce on there
and the sauce is made up of some sugar some soy sauce but they also use a broth
that they they make with the eel so I think they use all the eel bits to make
a broth so that sauce has a lot of flavour in it as well and you can see the way
it moves it's so soft eel, it's a meat that I absolutely love
and look how some of that sauce has gone down onto the rice and with it we've got
some cucumbers they might be fresh actually they could be pickled but they
look fresh and then we've got the soup with ummm which it just looks like a dashi
soup with some coriander a little bit of seaweed I think down the bottom and some
bean curd skin so a really simple soup to go with it, now this looks like
such a simple meal and it is really but the eel should be absolutely amazing
let's just rip some of this eel off, look how soft that is, so you've got the skin underneath
we'll just peel a big bit off
you know what, I'm just gonna go for all of that
not here to muck about yessssss
Ohhhhhhh
oh that eel, so the sauce that it's been basted in is quite sweet cause it's got the sugar in it and the soy sauce
it's got a sweetness and a saltiness and then the eel itself is the most incredible
texture it's super soft it just breaks apart in your mouth
almost um it's almost squishy so its sort of it's like a paste the way that meat is but that's
just how it is, it has such a nice feel to it
all right
I'm gonna try some of this unagi so besides being really popular
because of the flavour of the meat, it's said that unagi gives you a lot of
stamina after you eat it, oh my gosh this bite just looks absolutely perfect
holy moly
wow
mmmmm
the eel is like butter, it just, the second it hits your tongue and your
mouth, it just almost melts in your mouth and it's a really rich flavour
it definitely tastes like seafood it's got a strong flavour but the texture
of it is just unreal it's like nothing else
and Thomas mentioned that the sauce on top has some soy it also has mirin as well
which is a sweet rice liquor and you can really taste that, it's got a just a
beautiful sweetness just let's get a little bit more, it is just, it is so soft
look how almost fatty it is, it's beautiful I'm gonna get another big bit of rice to
go with it
oooo the rice is quite sticky and soft, it's very delicious
oh man this is so decadent, it's just so simple it's just the rice and the eel
but the meal is so complete, it's just rich, creamy and just a beautiful
taste, I'm gonna get some of this cucumber because that might just cut through the
richness of the eel
like Thomas said it's just lightly pickled ohhh this is a beautiful meal
like we've said, this is just so simple, such a basic dish, some rice, some eel
some sauce, some cucumbers but it's unreal, it is incredible, I love
eating this dish here in Japan and this is a really really great version it's such a good
lunch it's just so simple, I love it, this is such a good meal
that was incredible
so today it's been a bit of a short video only the two things but wow both
of them the first one that oden, that sake, what a cool experience hanging
with the locals, that was a really cool part of Tokyo it felt very outside of
the, where the tourists go there was full local feel that was really neat and then the
eel we've just had, awesome, sensational, remember to hit that subscribe button
we've got heaps more food videos to come from Tokyo and then after Tokyo we head
to Indonesia so plenty more food videos to come
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content check out our Patreon page thanks for watching we'll see you next
time, mata ne (see you)