- How ya doing, little lady? (Jayka laughs)
Welcome to People Vs Food!
- (PvF) Konnichiwa! - (both) Konnichiwa!
- (PvF) We are headed to Japan today. - Yay!
- (PvF) To try some of the best street food they have.
- Some pretty good street food in Japan.
I've been to Tokyo once.
- Yeah, that sounds really, really, really good.
- I love Japanese food.
- Is that lard?
- And that's just the butter!
- Yeah, right? Even the butter looks amazing.
- It's a very satisfying... Woah, okay.
- I know, right?
- They're so speedy with it.
- I like that there's a bell on the end too,
just in case they get lost. (Jayka laughs)
- Woah! - Getting sauced with it, damn!
- Yeah, that was nice. - Wow!
- Like fish oil. - Oh, that looks good.
- This looks cool, alright. - Ooh!
- Wow!
- (PvF) Takoyaki, or octopus balls. - Octopus balls.
- (PvF) They're a delicious Japanese snack cooked in a special pan.
They're typically filled with octopus or tako.
- Hmm. - (PvF) Tempura, ginger, green onions,
and topped with takoyaki sauce, kewpie mayo, and dried bonito,
or fish flakes. - Oh!
- Mmm, it smells good too. - It does smell really good.
- Octopus balls to start the day.
- Uh huh!
- Oh, that sauce!
- Chewier than I thought.
- I thought it was gonna be like crunchy.
- Mm-hmm.
- What is that TikTok?
The flavors are just melting on my tongue!
- (woman) The flavors are melting on my tongue!
- Like this is so good!
- I would have never guessed it was octopus.
- Mmm. - Very fishy,
very much Finding Nemo in my mouth.
- I really like this.
The fish flakes, I could do without.
- Like, this is really good! Woah, hold on.
- Yeah, I'm going back for more too, yeah.
Ooh. - What is that?
- What kind of fish is that?
- This looks very interesting.
- Watching him prepare the street food is...
- Make it look so easy, damn. - Fascinating!
- What? - It's literally just grilled squid.
Like chicken, but squid.
- Squid? - Oh boy.
(Jayka screams) - Woah!
- Got the whole guy right here. (Ulises laughs)
- (PvF) Ikayaki is a simple grilled squid
topped with soy sauce and served on a stick,
a favorite of street vendors and markets
around Japanese shrines' festivals.
- Aw, he's cute! - I know, I just wanna keep it!
- (George) Yeah!
- (PvF) Have you ever had squid before?
- Not like this. - Not like this, no.
- Do you think if I put him in my fish tank,
he'll come back to life? - It'll come back to life!
- It's weird, 'cause you know, I eat calamari, so it's fine.
- I feel like you're just stalling.
- I'm very appealed by this char we got going on here.
- Tastes just like seafood.
- It's very, it looks very unappetizing.
I think it has to do with the tentacles at the bottom.
- Not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical,
but this is really good! - Yeah.
I was in the same boat, but yeah.
- Oh my gosh, I'm like shook. It's so good though.
It's actually really yummy.
- You seem like you're suffering right now.
- I don't like it. (laughs)
- (PvF) Could you imagine just walking around the street,
like eating this?
- Yeah, I think it's chic, I think it's cool.
- If you like it, more power to you.
- Right! - Not really sold on this.
- I'm just imagining myself in Disneyland, like walking around,
but instead of a churro, I've just got one of these.
- Ooh! - Eggs?
Okay, those are for sure eggs.
- The way he was like throwing those out there, that was cool.
- That looks like a pancake type.
- Ooh, this looks good.
- Oh! - Is that more of that brown sauce?
- Yeah, more sauce.
- Oh, I could, this is about to be so good!
I could just tell. - Yeah, that's looking bomb.
- Oh, it's like noodles, not lettuce.
- If your good comes with a spatula, you're doing A-OK.
- (PvF) This savory Japanese pancake called Okonomiyaki
is cooked on a teppan, or flat griddle,
and is often topped with cabbage, meat, eggs, Okonomiyaki sauce,
bonito, mayo, and ginger.
- Oh! - Mayo and ginger.
- I mean, we're like checking off all the street food boxes here.
Like, we got the eggs. - Yeah.
- We got the flakes.
- This is street food?
This is like what you pay for a whole gourmet meal.
- In L.A., yeah, mm-hmm.
- Okonomi means how you like, or what you like,
and yaki is obviously to griddle.
So it's really just like whatever you like on top of the grill,
in a savory combination.
- Like it's chicken sink, right?
They could call it everything but the chicken sink.
(PvF clucks) Right?
(PvF clucks)
(both laugh)
♪ (tense music) ♪ (clock ticks)
(bell rings)
Did I say chicken sink? - Mm-hmm.
- Oh my gosh, what a big weirdo.
I sure did. Kitchen sink!
- This is like really worthy
of a 10 out of 10, mm-hmm. - 10 out of 10, for sure.
Yeah, I'll give it a 10 out of 10 too.
Ooh! - Woah, we have a lot going on here.
- Oh, can imagine what that smells like,
as soon as you just lift it up. - Oh yeah.
- No idea what...
- I feel like that is the Japanese version of a hot dog vendor.
- You guys are really trying to make me drool today.
- Right. - I have my mouth open.
- What is going on here?
- It's gotta be probably like a savory broth.
- Alright, so what do we have here?
- (PvF) Oden is a warming, inexpensive and comforting street food
often sold through carts in the winter.
Many vendors keep their broths as a master stock
for months and years to develop like a deep, rich flavor.
- There's an emoji for this.
- Oh, it's right there. - There it is, man!
- I had literally no idea that was there.
- No! - That's really funny.
Yeah, they have the exact emoji for that.
- So it has to be a staple in order for it to have an emoji, basically.
- Yeah.
- And it was one of the original emojis.
- Oh wow! - Really?
- That's how long it's been on your phone,
and you've just not noticed it. - Yeah.
- It's been there the whole time! - It's been there the whole time.
What you're eating are fish cakes.
- Looks can be deceiving.
I was a little bit like (gags) but this is rather tasty.
- Are they all different?
- (PvF) Mm-hmm. - Mmm.
- This feels very much like comfort food.
- I feel like I would just let it sit in the broth,
like pretty much all day, and then just eat it.
- That's some good broth.
- The broth specifically might be my favorite thing so far.
- Oh. - That's really good.
- (PvF) This type of street food is also very popular in China,
South Korea, and Taiwan.
- If this was an option for me to eat,
I think I would absolutely eat it. - (Jayka) Mm-hmm.
- (PvF) Sharon, you like it?
- Um, I, mm, ah, no.
- (both) Ooh.
- What is that? - Okay.
- Is that bean paste?
- These look like tiny pancakes almost?
- Oh my gosh, look at it. It's like so fluffy.
- I'm pretty certain I've had this. - Is that chocolate going in there?
- I think so!
- Woah! - These look fun.
- Just by the looks of it, it looks like it could be a McGriddle.
(both laugh)
- (PvF) Imagawayaki are a sweet adzuki bean paste filled pancake
that are a very popular street food dessert
often found at Japanese festivals and date back to the 1770s
during the Edo period.
- Bean paste, I was wondering what that was.
- Yeah, no, I was gonna ask too.
I was like it looks like it could be a red bean.
- It's like a jelly donut, but not so sweet.
- The bean paste is very sweet. - Super sweet.
- Don't let the word bean fool you. - Yeah.
- I wish they served this at McDonald's,
I mean, this is better than a McGriddle.
- I think because I love taiyaki so much, this is a 10.
- Yeah, this one was definitely a 10, too.
(Julian laughs) - That is so cute!
- That's awesome.
- Oh, is that a banana? - It's a banana dipped in...
- Oh, I am so in for this.
- Aw, it reminds me of my boyfriend, oh!
- I mean, look at the detail.
- (gasps) They have faces! - Oh my God!
- Yo, y'all got them big papa. - Yeah, these are massive!
- Bananas!
- That's beautiful.
- Oh wow, this is too familiar for me.
- (laughs) Do you see the hat?
- Is that a Pringle on there? (laughs)
- (PvF) So called either ChocoBanana or BananaChoco,
these fun frozen treats are a delight enjoyed all over Japan,
especially on a warm day.
Plus, because it's Japan,
street cart vendors go all out with their super kawaii designs.
- Yeah.
- How ya doing, little lady? (Jayka laughs)
Welcome to People Vs Food!
- I'm gonna wear that thing. (both laugh)
- (PvF) Have you ever had a chocolate covered banana?
- Uh-huh. - I have not.
- I'm so excited, I've never seen this before.
- I've never had this stack before.
- Oh wow!
- Yeah, no, it's good, [censored]. I'm bringing out the cuss words.
- Yo.
- (Julian) That's some good chocolate right there.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh yeah, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, mm-hmm.
- I'm gonna see how good this hat tastes.
(Ulises laughs)
- No, this one's my favorite. This is a 15 out of 10.
- (PvF) Well, that does it.
Any final thoughts on your trip to Japan?
- I wanna go!
- Final thoughts, this is amazing.
This beats out all the other ones we tried before,
it was fun going down to seafood lane,
but I'm glad we landed... - Me too.
- In banana-rama-land.
- The fish cakes were probably my favorite.
Those were great, the broth was really good.
- The broth was very good.
- Once Japan's borders open up, I'm traveling there right away.
- Yeah, I'm gonna go with you.
- No, please, and we're gonna go to every street vendor there is,
and try everything.
- Thank you guys so much for watching!
- What other foods should we try next time?
- Let us know in the comments below.
- Be sure to like and subscribe to People Vs Food
for more episodes just like this.
- Bye! - Bye guys.
- Bye! - Bye!
- Bye! - Bye guys!
See you in Japan! Konnichiwa!