When talking about Japanese food, many people think of sushi.

Indeed, sushi is Japan’s iconic food.

However, Japanese food is eclectic and cultural, with a wide variety of varieties. Although the following delicacies are not all unique to Japan, they still have strong Japanese characteristics and are also very popular among Japanese celebrities.

The website reveals the Japanese food rankings for you.

1. Tempura It is said that tempura is an imported dish introduced to Japan from Portugal during the Edo period. After hundreds of years of improvement, it has become the most representative dish in Japanese cuisine.

In addition to eating it in izakaya and seafood restaurants, there are many restaurants specializing in tempura across Japan.

Good tempura has a crispy texture and does not feel greasy at all. The main ingredients are shrimp, shellfish and various vegetables, and the dipping sauce and radish puree prepared by the store are used to adjust the taste.

The fastidious restaurants will serve the fried tempura one by one in order, allowing customers to enjoy the dishes like nigiri sushi.

2. Okonomiyaki If Osaka cuisine is not involved, Japan’s top ten delicacies will definitely have some flaws.

Osaka is known as the kitchen of Japan and is a paradise for gourmets.

In Japanese, Okonomiyaki means grilling as you like, which may be one of the reasons why okonomiyaki is so tempting.

A cross between an omelette and a savory pancake, okonomiyaki is made by adding cabbage and your favorite vegetables or meat, such as kimchi, pork or squid, to the egg batter and grilling the okonomiyaki.

Once it's ready, you can spread it with barbecue sauce or mayonnaise, add some seaweed and bonito meat.

3. Rice balls Rice balls can be said to be the most portable delicacies, and sandwiches cannot be compared with them.

The process of making rice balls is very simple: first put some ingredients such as marinated plum meat, tuna or salmon salad, salmon roe or bonito flakes inside the rice ball, and then roll it up with seaweed and other seaweed.

In the izakaya, diners can put the rice balls on the grill for grilling. The rice balls will become very crispy on the outside and full of sauce flavor.

When you go out, you can put the rice balls in the lunch box, which is very convenient to carry.

Some convenience stores use cellophane to separate the rice and seaweed, which keeps each rice ball fresh.

4. Octopus balls In addition to Japanese okonomiyaki, octopus balls are also a street delicacy in Osaka.

The fried octopus balls are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, full of flavor.

At the same time, you can also sprinkle some seaweed, bonito meat and green onions on the fried octopus balls, and apply some barbecue sauce and mayonnaise.

When tasting, you can pierce it with a toothpick, but be aware that the octopus balls may be very hot, so be careful not to get burned!

5. Cold Soba Noodles If it’s summer, you can enjoy refreshing cold soba noodles in Japan.

To date, the most enjoyable way to eat this type of soba is to join in the Nagashi Soumen ceremony.

There, the soba noodles slowly flow out of the half-split moso bamboo tube under the power of cold water. You can stand next to the bamboo tube, holding chopsticks and a bowl of sweet and sour noodle soup, and pick it up from the bamboo tube.

noodles, dipped in sauce and eaten.

Delicious noodles and tons of fun!

6. Japanese hot pot: Most Japanese restaurants abroad will provide miso soup. This miso soup is actually a simple soup of soybeans, seaweed and tofu, often served as a side dish.

But when you really want to drown your sorrows in soup, Japanese hot pot is a great choice.

Japanese hot pot is a winter public meal. People will set up a large pot, add meat, vegetables and seafood, and slowly stew it.

After the stew is cooked, the ingredients are scooped out and distributed to each diner. After finishing the meat and vegetables, you can add noodles to the soup and continue enjoying the broth.

7. Japanese skewers In Japan, izakaya is a typical Japanese gastropub. It is a very important part of Japanese social life. It is an ideal place for friends to gather and a resting place for tired businessmen.

The most common food served in izakayas is skewers, which are meat skewers coated with a thick layer of barbecue sauce and then grilled.

The ingredients of skewers are very rich, including pork, beef liver, chicken heart, etc. Among them, offal is usually the most important raw material in Japanese skewers.

Those who like traditional flavors can choose chicken and green onions or beef tenderloin skewers.

8. Yakiniku Yakiniku is a popular delicacy in Japan that combines Korean barbecue and Japanese flavors.

In addition, the barbecue atmosphere of Japanese yakiniku also attracts many customers. Almost every BBQ restaurant has a barbecue grill built into the table, and diners can grill it by themselves.

There are many ingredients for barbecue, including various vegetables, pork, beef, chicken and seafood. At the same time, just like in an izakaya, there are also various types of offal, such as beef tongue, chicken heart, tripe or liver.