sponsored by squarespace this is cheap
food under two dollars that japanese
people actually eat in izakaya
restaurants in japan
[Music]
so a lot of you commented that you liked
my video about food under five dollars
at a japanese food court so today i'm
taking you inside of a japanese izakaya
and sharing with you food that japanese
people actually order all under two
dollars so relatively speaking this is
ultra cheap food so not all izakayas
have these prices but the cool people at
here in tokyo have just the menu
to meet the requirements i'll be sure to
leave a link in the description if you
guys are interested in coming here like
always before i start if you want to see
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you have any questions about japan or
japan travels check out my discord
community all right let's get a cheap
izakaya food on for the uninitiated
izakayas are known as japan's drinking
restaurants but it's a lot different
from standard western bars and pubs
people go here to drink but also to
enjoy a wide selection of food served in
small dishes so you can get your drink
on but not completely fill your stomach
on food and japanese love it today i'm
at the bampaya musashi koyama store to
give you a quick breakdown on some older
japanese food that's oh so good but
won't break the bank so here we are
inside i finally made it there's just so
much food that i want to show you today
so
let's begin number one Chikuwa No Isobeage
age fried fish cake coated with a
seaweed tempura batter so this one
definitely has that fried loviness
written all over it this is chikuwa on
the inside again it's kind of like a
fish cake the isobeage itself uses like
a seaweed and a fried batter so you
often see Isobeage with seafood and
fish cake and for japanese itself like
the word isobe means beachside with a
lot of rocks to it and looking at this
itself you can see it kind of feels like
maybe the ocean and having like a rough
rocky beach definitely not a sandy beach
you can put soy sauce on it so let's do
that boom
cheers everyone
[Music]
wow because of the Chikuwa itself it's a
little bit sweet then you have a tempura
crispiness to the outside and then on
top it has aonori which is a seaweed and
like a bitter seaweed taste to it oh but
it is so nice and then just having that
soy sauce on there it adds a little bit
of savoriness to it you cannot eat this
with this rice just love it
number two Ankimo -- Monkfish Liver this
one here is ankimo which is a monkfish
liver also known as Foie Gras of the sea
this is definitely probably something
that not a lot of the foreigners order
or even probably know about but this is
a very very common japanese
dish first of all you have onions here
you have some seaweed on the side and
then you have the monk fish liver right
there i prefer to use some ponzu this
guy right here basically it's kind of
like a yuzu and vinegar mix is it kind
of like that spritey tangy refreshing
taste just throw it on a little bit like
so
now take a little bite of this guy
well that is such an interesting texture
and flavor definitely has kind of like a
rich taste to it it melts right in your
mouth and it's like a really smooth
texture but the most interesting thing
about it is that it doesn't have like a
lot of taste it does have like a little
bit of a fishy taste but that's why you
put soy sauce on it or you put Ponzu on
it just to give it that extra flavor and
washing it down with some sake or even
beer is probably like the best way to
eat this i mean i can definitely see why
they call it the Foie Gras of the sea it does
kind of resemble Foie Gras the difference to
it though is that it's not as oily as
Foie Gras and to be fair ankimo is one of
those things i never really ordered when
i first came to japan because i really
didn't know about it there's a lot of
food that japanese people order on the
regular that you know foreigners that
come here for the first time or maybe
even several times or even live here for
a few years don't get to experience so
again this is why we're doing this video
so i can show you when you come here
that you can eat real japanese food have
that japanese taste and not break the
bank number three Age Shio Ginnan fried
salted Ginko nuts definitely a fall
seasonal specialty so here we go with
the Age Shio Ginnan have you ever been
to japan and we walked in a park that
has lots of Ginko trees it has a very
very like strong not very pleasant smell
but when they cook it like this and
takes away a lot of that smell it does
have the salt right here in front just
dip it into the salt like so take a bite
this is like the perfect drinking snack
in terms of like texture it's kind of
similar to edamame like a bean but it
has kind of like a bouncier kind of more
chewy texture than edamame it has like a
stickiness to it as well definitely does
have like a little bit of a bitter taste
to it that's like another reason why
people like eating it when they're
drinking is because it pairs really well
with alcohol it's super light it's one
of those like things that you order in
the beginning gives you something to
chew on while you're drinking while
you're like talking to friends one thing
though a lot of japanese people know of
maybe a lot of foreigners don't know
about visiting the country is that
Ginko -- if you eat too much of it it can
make you sick so you do have to be
careful you don't want to eat too much
of this but again something different
than what you would normally order
number four Motsuni -- intestine stew Motsumi
nikomi is actually one of my favorite
things to order an izakaya basically
nikomi means stew and then Motsu means
intestines as you can see there's like
all sorts of different things in here
daikon radish onions and then you also
have some tofu throw some peppers before
i start give it a little bit more kick
so much flavor very very savory soup
there's just different textures of all
the intestines as you can see right here
basically the stew like all of the meat
the tofu all the ingredients is slowly
cooked for many hours everything picks
up all that miso flavor and it makes it
sweet and juicy you can see even in this
tofu it's not just like a white tofu but
it's really like darkened by the miso
definitely perfect for winter months
number five natto omelette oh you can
definitely smell the natto which is a
fermented bean basically this is your
regular omelette that you probably eat
at home but it does have natto in it
which makes it a very japanese dish that
not a lot of foreigners or people
visiting japan would order but in fact
it's one of those home made dishes that
gets a very very japanese whoa
look at that drip take a bite
[Music]
that is it so fluffy what i just love
about when you mix natto inside dish
like this it just takes away sometimes
like natto is really really strong it
really mellows it out and just adds
another kind of gooey texture to the
omelette in fact there are many
different versions of the recipe for
natto omelette you can add cheese shiso
mayo green onions the list is endless
throw the peppers on just like this just
to give it a little bit of that spicy
kick you know what i'm saying i love
that spicy kick so oh
that looks great if you want you can
also add some soy sauce to it just like
that
so again if you want to try natto for
the first time and you do like omelets
and this is actually not a bad bet
because it just makes that natto not so
strong and it's just so easy with the
egg omelet so before we continue on i
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number six -- Itawasa
fish cake with wasabi okay so here we go
this is itawasa it is a japanese kind of
fish cake served with wasabi this is
fish cake it's called Kamaboko and
what's interesting about it is that it's
served on a wooden plate and then scrape
the kamaboko off of it and they chop it
up and then they serve it with wasabi
and that's what we're having right now
just take some wasabi right there throw
it on kamaboko
[Music]
wow that wasabi will clear out your
sinuses that is a strong wasabi wow i
generally like a kick to my food so
that'll get to the back of your throat
inside of your nasal cavity and just
wake you up so the kamaboko itself very
very kind of standard food item here in
japan it's one of those like side dishes
that you find in a lot of drinking
restaurants izakayas interestingly like
this whole dish originated with soba
shops they had a thing called Sobamae
Sobamae is an old edo culture to enjoy
drinks while waiting for the soba to be
served and itawasa was one of the
appetizers served along with it back in
the day now it's like you can find in
all izakayas and everything also throw
some soy sauce as well
that is brilliant i love it it's simple
it's good it's something that a lot of
people don't order because they just
probably don't know about it but again
this is why we're here let me take you
on to the next food item number seven
Ara Jiru -- fish soup so this is arajeru and
Ara Jiru -- fish soup. So this is Ara Jiru and
it's basically a soup made from the
parts of the fish that you cut off for
that you don't use so you have the bones
and the head and all the other remnants
and you use all that to make a soup like
this um obviously you have some onions
as well oh and it just smells so good
you can see the steam just coming from
it a lot of these izakayas they go
through so much fish they just have so
much remaining look at these like thick
pieces of fish in there i mean like
usually it doesn't have a lot of fish
meat but this place has a lot of fish
meat
that is an a umami explosion umami's
right there such a deep and
flavorful taste the onions are pretty
good too like if you take a bite of the
fish you can see the fish bones as well
like so you have to be careful the
reason why i wanted to share this one is
because you know you have all of the the
lighter foods in the beginning then you
have like things like the nikomi that is
a little bit heavier and this is
something that a lot of japanese people
will have at the end of the meal just to
help like wash things down at the end of
the night it's perfect it'll help settle
your stomach maybe you know since it
does have a little bit of that saltiness
it'll probably help you rehydrate a
little bit for maybe drinking too much
and just like a perfect way to finish
things off number eight Ham Katsu -- ham
cutlet okay so i know this one and the
next one are just a bit over two dollars
but i love them so much that i had to
share all right y'all so now i'm
bringing one of the hardest hitters out
there the Ham Katsu basically you have
ham and then you have panko on the
outside they give you some mustard and
some cabbage with it i feel like there
are western versions of this i
personally like to throw some of this
sauce on here makes it a little bit
sweeter oh there we go
a little bit of sauce on there maybe put
a little bit of mustard on there and
just take the first crispy bite
that is just phenomenal this place uses
like one
piece of ham but sometimes you also get
several slices of ham as well depending
on the izakaya you go to but it's not
going to be this thick it's going to be
like two or three thin slices of ham in
fact a lot of people here in japan when
they think of hamkatsu it's like a very
very like nostalgic dish it's one of
those post-war foods that if you didn't
have a lot of money back in the day this
is what you would make because it only
just took bread crumbs and ham you fry
it and that's when like a lot of the
western influences started coming into
japan can you beat fried food like this
i don't know it is so delicious
[Music]
and number nine maguro yamakake tuna
sashimi with grated yam topping so
basically it is like a tuna sashimi and
on top of it it has a grated yam and
then you take soy sauce drip it on top
like you would normally do the yam
itself as you can see has kind of like a
gooey and a slimy texture but the reason
why it's really nice with sashimi is
that when you pair it with the soy sauce
it picks up a lot of that soy sauce
flavor to it you have the sashimi right
there
and then you have the yams coated with
soy sauce
again another Japanese dressing -- just adding
a little bit more texture than something
that you probably normally have in
western countries everyone is familiar
with sashimi and that's what a lot of
people will order but they
probably don't venture off and go with a
grated yam on top more than likely
i would assume you haven't had the grated yam
because when i first came to japan
i don't remember having it myself so
again a lot of this is based on my
experience overall it's good for your
health it's easy on the stomach and it's
good for your skin so that's why a lot
of japanese like having it so there you
go those are some cheap foods under two
dollars that you can get at a japanese
izakaya that japanese people actually
order let me know what you thought in
the comments if you guys have liked this
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guys in the next one