Japanese Food Question?

Question

I just got back from Tokyo and I ate a lot of tasty food. Does anyone know the following...

1. What are those balls made out of batter and octopus called that you can buy on the street called?

2. I had some sort of plum wine that is very popular in Japan, very nice, any idea what it's called?

3. Ramen type noodles in a bowl, a soup base, nori, spring onions and nice big slices of meat on top, any idea what that might be called?

4. Fish roe, do the little orange (not so keen on the large ones) eggs that you get on some sushi have a name?

Thanks in advance, I need to go to my local Japanese deli and see if I can buy some of this stuff.

Answer 1

1.

Tako-yaki 　たこ焼き

Tako （たこ）means octopus.

2.

Ume-syu　梅酒

ume 〈梅） - plum

syu　（酒） -  wine, liquor

ume-syu is made of plum and syouchuu, which is a kind of liquor.

3.

chaa-syuu-men  ÃƒÂ£Ã‚ƒÂÃ£ÂƒÂ£Ã£ÂƒÂ¼Ã£Â‚·ãƒ¥ãƒ¼éºº

chaa-syuu　-  ÃƒÂ£Ã‚ƒÂÃ£ÂƒÂ£Ã£ÂƒÂ¼Ã£Â‚·ãƒ¥ãƒ¼ - slices of meat of pork , which is Chinese origin.

men -  ÃƒÂ©Ã‚ºÂº  - noodle

4.

kazunoko  ÃƒÂ¦Ã‚•Â°Ã£ÂÂ®Ã¥Â­Â

Herring roe, yellow or pinkish, having a firm, rubbery texture and appearance, usually pickled. The roe is in a single cohesive mass and so looks like a piece of fish.

This is quoted from Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe

I love all of them, too !

And I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed Japanese food fully !

Come to Japan again !!

Answer 2

If you live near Japanese stores/restaurants then it's no problem as this is very common food. Takoyaki however tends to be a street food so perhaps you can find a frozen version but more likely you'll have to go to a Japanese restaurant run by Japanese, not one of those chains by Westerners. (Since it's a street food it's kinda like finding hot dogs at a restaurant.)

The ramen could be anything as there's various meats you could get on top. Every region of Japan has their own version of ramen/soba that they are famous for such as Hakata Ramen (Fukuoka), Okinawa Soba (Okinawa), etc. Ramen is always a pork-based broth unless the name of it implies otherwise such as Miso. You could get instant ramen packages or fresh soba packages, make it at home, and top it with whatever you like. I've seen plum wine in regular American stores if they also carry sake. Maybe you could try an alcohol speciality shop if yours do not carry it.

Answer 3

1. takoyaki

2. ume-shu

3. niku-ramen or niku-udon

4. I think it's tarako, those little orange-pinkish eggs

Answer 4

The octopus balls are takoyaki, the plum wine is umeshu, and I'm pretty sure the fish eggs are tarako (that would be cod roe, other respondent's examples for this one seem correct too). As for those noodles, I'll have to scour my brains a bit more... I didn't eat them too much...

Here's the wiki on takoyaki- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki

Wikipedia also has an umeshu recipe! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeshu

Here's a list of the different kinds of roes for ya too- Ikura (イクラ): Salmon roe

Kazunoko (数の子, 鯑): Herring roe

Masago (まさご): Smelt roe

Tarako (たらこ, 鱈子): Alaska pollock roe

Tobiko: roe of Flying fish

Uni: (雲丹, 海胆) Gonad of Sea urchin; may come in different colors.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sus...

and a page with a picture of tarako- http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl...

I think that the noodles will simply be 'niku ramen', ie, meat ramen- here's a link to an example of a Japanese menu with some names of stuff you might have eaten- http://www.edoya.co.uk/soup.html

Answer 5

1.  The octopus balls are called "takoyaki".  

2.  The plum wine is "umeshu".  Popular brands include Choya and Takara Shuzo.  

3.  The ramen is you are talking about is "chashuu ramen".  Chashuu are the tender pork slices on top of the bowl of ramen.  The soup base was mostly likely "shoyu", or soy sauce, also though it could have been "shio" (salt-based) or miso.  

4.  The small orange fish roe are called "masago".  The large ones you're not a big fan of are called "ikura".

Answer 6

Answer to your question~!

1. Tako-pachi

2. In my country, there is only one brand..it call Choya..its a wine with plums in the bottle...

3. Like what you say..it ramen..but there alot of different base for the soup.. from i only know 2 which is soy(soy sauce) and miso..

4. Big fish roe is Ikura( trout roe, salmon roe)...small one is tobbiko( flying fish roe), or ebikko (prawn roe)

Hope it helps~!