I've blogged before about breakfast, Japanese style. But after going through some photos tonight of our incredible, wonderful, amazing, life changing honeymoon in Japan, I found some photos of another early morning meal. This one was on the island of Miyajima (home of the famous torii gate), in our inn, the Yamaichi Bekkan.
I just love these photos - they bring back so many memories of trying to wrap my head around eating crazy food.... at seven in the morning.
Yudofu (meaning hot tofu - look, I can write it in Japanese - ゆどふ) was kind of like fondue. They brought us this very hot ceramic bowl with a lid, heated by a tea light. Inside was water, with cubes of tofu! After letting it boil for a few minutes, we dipped it in a sauce made of dashi. Simple. Tasty. Not what we would ever consider eating here for breakfast.
The next dish was even weirder. Garden salad with Thousand Island Dressing?!? And for breakfast?!? I thought the hostess was just trying to make us Westerners feel at home or something, so I politely ate it. (And it wasn't that bad for breakfast actually). Turns out it's not Thousand Island, but a near clone Japanese salad dressing with totally different ingredients! Miso, mirin, soy sauce..... we sure couldn't taste the difference.
I loved Japanese food in Japan. Real Japanese food. Not the stuff that comes from Yo Sushi or Wagamammas. I was really surprised at how different food is over there, compared to what the Japanese restaurants here sell. I am pretty sure there are more sushi restaurants in London than in Tokyo. Real Japanese food is so varied, and so bonkers. We were in for a huge surprise at every meal. (Even the night we found ourselves drunk at 2am sitting in McDonalds having a "Volume Matten"!)
Note the whole fishies in the background. After I took the photo, I got brave and ate them - face and all. No kidding. One of the best breakfasts I've ever had.
