Čtvrtek 28. března 2024, svátek má Soňa
130 let

Lidovky.cz

There is more to savor than just raw fish

  16:59

Reaching far beyond sushi, other Japanese delicacies may be more suited to Czech taste buds

Základ japonské lidové kuchyně. Rámen, silný vývar s nejrůznějšími ingrediencemi. foto: Foto: Denisa Kasl KollmannováČeská pozice

The notion that Japanese cuisine means cold rice and raw fish may have caused a profusion of new sushi bars in the Czech Republic. The availability of a fuller range of more interesting Japanese meals is still limited.

Meat or fish based broths (ramen) with noodles and various other ingredients (egg, vegetables, meat, seaweed, soy sauce and many others) are among the staples of Japanese cuisine. It’s not only their taste and ingredients that differentiate the various types of broth, but also the type of noodles — either udon or soba. Udon are thick white noodles made from wheat flour while soba noodles are thinner, beige to light brown and made from buckwheat flour.

A good Japanese chef will prepare fresh noodles every morning, cutting them with a large knife by the shop window. Although ramen is Chinese in origin, the Japanese have made it their own.

Although ramen is Chinese in origin, the Japanese have made it their own, just like the equally popular tempura. Tempura came to Japan with the Portuguese, who sailed to Nagasaki in the 16th century. It consists of pieces of vegetables, seafood or mushrooms and other ingredients dipped into batter and deep fried. Tempura is served with a soy-based sauce and grated daikon, a type of white radish.

As far as fried food goes, the Japanese also like ordinary “Czech” schnitzel. Only, they call it tonkatsu, cut it in strips so that it can be eaten with chopsticks and then serve it with rice and sometimes soy sauce. Another dish popular in Japanese eateries and fast food outlets is kare-raisu, originally just an Indian curry but quite unrecognizable in its Japanese form.

To find these specialties in the Czech Republic, you have to go to places frequented by Japanese residents. There, you can sample dishes like fried agedashi tofu, grilled fish, cold zarusoba noodles, or home-made desserts like a pudding from a green tea called matcha.

A number of Japanese restaurants are located in Prague 6, where many Japanese residents live. Restaurant Katsura operates in the basement of Hotel Diplomat and Mash Hana sits opposite the Israeli Embassy in Badeniho street. They both have Japanese chefs and staff, shelves full of bottles with the names of their regular customers, and they only open for lunch or dinner.

What’s on the sumo wrestlers’ plate

A popular meal item for sumo wrestlers to eat is nabe, a big pot of mixed ingredients in broth or sauce, which gives them strength and energy. This kind of dish can be sampled in restaurant Hanabi by Petrská věž (Petrska Tower in Petrská Street), which offers exotic sounding shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. These are two of the many variants of a traditionally Chinese hot pot, a one-pot dish that is shared amongst a group of people who often even cook it together at the table.

The name shabu-shabu translates as “swish-swish,” a metaphor you will soon decipher as you start fishing around in the pot with your chopsticks to get individual morsels of food. The base of the dish is nicely marbled beef from wagyu cattle, vegetables, and sometimes noodles and other ingredients. The Japanese blanch the meat so that it is still almost raw and, in the case of sukiyaki, dip it in raw egg. While one pot of shabu-shabu can easily feed four people, a sumo wrestler can sometimes finish the whole pot alone. Even the most authentic Japanese restaurants in the Czech Republic definitely fall short in their choice of beverages.

Even the most authentic Japanese restaurants in the Czech Republic definitely fall short in their choice of beverages. Mostly, they offer a few types of sake, a rice wine; shochu, a distilled alcoholic beverage from barley that has about 25 percent alcohol; or Japanese beer brands such as Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo; and Japanese whisky, such as Suntory; but rarely anything else like chuhai, a kind of carbonated alcoholic beverage that is very popular in Japan.

Sushi bar at Újezd sells cocktails made with sake, but rice wine is best consumed straight. With the exception of Miyabi, the choice of teas isn’t great either. In Japan, on the other hand, chilled water and warm green tea are served in unlimited quantity for free even in the smallest of establishments.

If you are new to Japanese cuisine, start in a smallish well-established restaurant, where the staff will be able to explain what’s on the menu. To experience what the Japanese really eat, try going to Dejvice. The best Japanese food, though, is in Japan. The city with the most Michelin three-star restaurants is Tokyo.

Témata: Česko, Asahi, Izrael, Nagasaki