Dining with Darryl: From Sushi and Chicken Wings to a Home Cooked Meal

An izakaya (居酒屋) is a common kind of Japanese bar or restaurant. It's very popular in Japan for after-work drinking. A definitive feature of an izakaya is that it serves food as well as drink. Patrons typically sit on tatami mats and dine from low tables in the traditional Japanese style.

This izakaya was in Nagoya. The chicken wings were marinated in japanese spices and were very good. Also ordered some sashimi. The fish in the picture is extremely fresh, so much so that the tail was still moving. Also had some very good black sesame tofu and local flat noodles that are a specialty of Nagoya.

This izakaya was in Tokyo. Ate Sashimi, cold tofu salad, grilled octopus, yakitori skewers of chicken and fish balls. Also had tempura, and other japanese dishes that I just can't remember

A quick lunch in Tokyo at a small local restaurant. You need to order when you walk in the door. I was given 4 options. I ordered fish and sashimi. They give you a little colored token to take with you. Had no idea what I was going to get. Turned out to be a bowl of miso soup, some fried Fugu nuggets (I think this is that poisonous blow fish),3 pieces of amaebi (raw shrimp) and 3 pieces of maguro (tuna), and a bowl of rice. It was very good.

When in Hiroshima, you have to eat the local Okonomiyai.
I forgot my camera when I went to a local Hiroshima Okonomiyaki restaurant, so you will need to use your imagination. It was run by 1 japanese women behind a grill. Restaurant had about 7 stools at the grill and no tables.
Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, Okonomiyaki?) is a type of Japanese pan-fried batter cake with various ingredients.
Okonomi means "what you like" or "what you want," and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked". The batter is made up of flour, grated yam, water or dashi.
In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, bacon, fried noodles, topped with a fried egg and a generous dollop of okonomiyaki sauce. People from Hiroshima tend to claim that this is the correct way to make okonomiyaki.
When the women finished cooking, you were provided a plate and spatula. The Okonomiyai was placed on the grill in front of you. Each of our orders was at least 8" round. You cut it and moved it onto your plate or directly into your mouth, both were acceptable.

We had the opportunity to stay with Robin's cousin in Hirsohima and were invited to another cousin's house for dinner. One of the main courses was a "build your own" hand roll. They had plates of different sashimi, sushi rice, shiso leaves, and nori. You took the nori, put the rice in it, added a shiso leaf and cucumber slice, and whatever fish you wanted, then rolled it up. I think I ate at least a dozen hand rolls, filling them up with either salmon, maguro, squid, ground tuna w/green onions, or shrimp.