Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Western Foods Are Popular In Japan?
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omiya
Posts: 1842 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Omission from the article - McDonalds hasn't been doing so well in Japan recently.
From what an Italian friend has told me, the pizza at places in Japan that I showed him were closer to Italian pizza than what I'm used to in Australia: This is the closest that I came to a McDonalds in Japan: After watching Shirobako, I had to have Mont Blanc in Japan: |
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Fenrin
Posts: 702 Location: SoCal |
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I didn't know there was such a thing as "regular crepes" lol, I've only ever had rolled up crepe icecream that's popular in California these days. The only other use of crepe I've seen is layered crepe cakes. Continuing the talk about Denny's, around here it's pretty popular with teens as a late-night meal hangout spot after prom or some other event. It's great for when you get a craving for breakfast food at 2 am. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Japanese pizza, what an oxymoron. You're better off trying some local food instead of tasteless hyperprocessed homogenized industrial US food. Damn it, do you want to travel to Japan and end up eating at a McDonalds ? |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Well, some people will travel to other countries and have no interest in that country's food or even consider it gross. In the case of Japan, it being an island nation, its cuisine is highly seafood-based, and if a tourist dislikes seafood, their options are rather limited. When one visits a McDonald's, they at least know what to expect when they walk in. I mentioned McDonald's in Thailand earlier--every time I'd visit Bangkok, I'd see their McDonald's restaurants full of white people. So if what I saw in Thailand is anything like in Japan, then yes, a lot of people do want to eat there. I also have no problem with processed foods. There is nothing inherently unsafe about them. Every argument I've seen against processed foods use the "appeal to nature" and "appeal to authority" logical fallacies. Same goes for GMOs. If you don't like the way certain foods taste, that's fine with me. But I do encourage people to do their research on the processing of food before making opinions about it. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I most certainly did not do that. Perhaps I was being sarcastic or something. I haven't eaten Little Caesar's in 15 years. Hell, I don't even eat at Olive Garden. Yes, I am a gigantic snob, but at least I live in a city where I can be. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Shabu-shabu is "hot-pot" (you boil your meat & veggies in water), you're thinking of Yaki-niku (grill your meat and veggies on the table grill). Both have their merits, but I definitely enjoy going by a Gyu-Kaku and getting Yakiniku.
I think Zac took over their marketing dept at one time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMc87KsRA1w |
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GVman
Posts: 730 |
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Man, I never knew about this whole "racist Denny's" thing. Maybe this speaks to the amends they've made since then? I know my local Denny's is almost entirely filled with brown folks of all persuasions whenever I go, including the staff
You said something about how you used to be the guy that could eat two Little Caesar's pizzas in one sitting in an ANNcast. I feel like if you mention that, you must think they're at least alright. Olive Garden is bland on bland, though. There's no comparison between it or Little Caesar's and Denny's. It caters to a demographic that prefers cleaner tables and mood lighting to taste.
Pfft. City folk.
Truly, that is one area that they cannot be beat. |
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SrkSano
Posts: 205 |
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I had the McTeriyaki Burger when I visited Tokyo in 2002. Very tasty! Yes the portions are smaller than what we get at McDonalds in the US.
They are really good imitators too. There were stores that were carbon copies of Starbucks and Subway's in Tokyo. It was cool that the 7-11 stores sold manga and Japanese video game magazines. |
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher Posts: 10448 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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It's an entirely different pile of sadness. Stay the F away from Japanese "family restaurants." Justin should have talked about his experience at Royal Host... but then, I heard he has a thing for Jonathon's. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Did I? I must've used that comparison for scale. The last time I had Little Caesar's was the afternoon I left from my one semester at Michigan State University. I ate an entire Medium pie, which was $4 from the student union. That was December 1998. I mean, I didn't used to be so discerning. I used to eat 10 White Castle burgers in one sitting back in my early 20s. But once I had to start watching what I eat, I began eating for quality over quantity -- no sense in wasting calories on stuff that isn't truly great, right? You only get to have x number of meals in a lifetime. So nowadays the only chain restaurants I eat at are local farm-to-table chains like Tender Greens and Lemonade, or conveyor belt sushi. When desperate, though, I'll hit an In 'n' Out Burger. I do have a bizarre love for Jonathan's whenever I'm in Japan though. |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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If my memory serves me correctly, that is the second time you have admitted this in the last six years. As we have both Shake Shack and Five Guys over here now, may I ask if In-N-Out* Burger compares favourably?
I shall admit that is the case. But the resulting dish is treated as between intermediary between a condiment and a side-dish, and in its most upmarket variations it is delicately flavoured. Conceptually it is quite similar to frijoles refritos, to give a ready example. *It pains me to abbreviate the word 'and', especially as it is already monosyllabic. Sadly I am forced to adhere to the foul dictates of corporate branding. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Ah, okay. I get the two confused; I see way more shabu-shabu places than yaki-niku places.
I suppose it depends on what one grows up on. I was raised on two things: To save every penny, and to not trust anything that isn't well-established. To that extent, my parents did not trust anything that wasn't a chain, under the idea that if a local non-chain place was truly successful, it would already be a large chain by then. That mindset I have discarded upon watching Food Network and seeing highly successful non-chain restaurants whose owners are very happy, though because my income is still rather low, I must hoard coupons and seek out deals wherever I can. (That, and huge nationwide chains are still my comfort food.) For instance, yesterday, hot dogs at Wienerschnitzel were 55 cents, limit 10. So I got ten to share with other people. There were definitely better-tasting hot dogs I could've had, but this was my one chance to get ten hot dogs for $6 even including tax.
Don't worry, I wasn't being entirely serious regarding mushy peas, as I know they'd have to be seasoned. I do hear it's something of a local joke that only the natives would eat them with fried fish though. But mushy peas are something I ought to try sometime. Back to the original point though, boiled bacon is definitely a strange concept. But I'm certain they, too, season the water in which they boil it, and that they don't just throw a strip of bacon or two into a pot of pure water. |
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Fenrin
Posts: 702 Location: SoCal |
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That's an odd mindset to have, the success of a business doesn't necessarily speak for the quality of the food and often large chain restaurants aren't the highest of quality establishments. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Either you have a ridiculous memory or people are paying way too much attention to my dietary whims. I haven't had Shake Shack yet (LA locations near me won't open till winter, but most people I know are lukewarm on it. The general consensus is that their burgers are worse than In-N-Out, but the fries are better. Five Guys is about even quality-wise with In-N-Out on all fronts, but subjectively the things they do to burgers are not quite as crave-able, in my opinion. Also, as I am watching my weight, I go protein-style (no-bun), which is an In-N-Out specialty. However, I live 1/2 a mile from Eden on Brand, which features the best gourmet burgers in Los Angeles, so unless they're closed, it's none of the above for me. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Agreed, usually once a restaurant starts to have multiple locations more than driving distance from each other, quality really starts to slip, as ingredients can no longer be sourced from one place, and prep can't be closely supervised by the chef who designed the menu. Mega-chains like Olive Garden are especially known to use cut-rate ingredients and cooking practices, making up for the poor food quality with the money and size to advertise nationally instead of relying on word-of-mouth. Quite a few dishes are even factory-prepared and frozen, and are literally just re-heated at the restaurant. If you respect chefs as artists in their own right (and I do), chain restaurants can never be all that great because the chefs simply don't have ownership of the recipes, and can't try stuff, or change out things that aren't working. They're unable to tailor a menu based on the best available ingredients, or tweak things based on customer feedback. At that point a chef loses all creativity and becomes a line worker. And with things like food, you can really tell when someone puts their heart and soul into it. |
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