Summer Fun Starts with  Yatai, Japanese street food

by Rose / UmaiLabs.com

Some of the most memorable meals I ever had in Japan were at yatai and yomise. A yatai is a food stall, that can be found at festivals, sporting events, popular parks, shrines and temples on weekends and many other special occasions. Yomise are basically the same thing, food stalls, but they only come out at night and set up near train stations, grocery stores and areas with a busy night life. Food provided by yatai and yomise can vary according to region, season and the occasion. Regardless, the food is always fresh, healthy, colorful and smells wonderful! Yatai and yomise  are also cheap! If you are traveling in Japan on a budget, yatai and yomise are a perfect way to try a variety of popular Japanese dishes without spending much money. Some of the most popular dishes often found at a yatai or yomise include....

Okonomiyaki
お好み焼き

Okonomi means "as you like it" and yaki means grill. Often described as a Japanese savory pancake or pizza, okonomiyaki consist of a thick pancake like batter with cabbage and sometimes noodles too, which is cooked on a grill. Restaurants can make okonomiyaki made to order with additional ingredients of your choice but yatai space is limited and orders must move quickly. So okonomiyaki is restricted to just a few choice ingredients like sakura ebi, tenkasu and green onion. Once cooked, the okonomiyaki is topped with sweet savory sauce called okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, katsuoboshi (dried fish flakes) and aonori (dried seaweed).

Takoyaki
たこ焼き

Takoyaki means grilled octopus. Takoyaki is a popular fried dumpling filled with a few bits of cooked octopus. Takoyaki is so popular in the Osaka area, it can be found all over  at yatai, yomise, restaurants, convenience stores and even family homes. The dumplings are made by pouring a pancake-like batter into a grill pan perforated with semisphere. Once each of the semispheres has been filled with battered bits of octopus, green onion are dropped in. The finished dumplings are served piping hot with takoyaki sauce a sweet brown sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, katsuoboshi and aonori.

Yakisoba
焼きそば

Yakisoba means fried noodles. Yakisoba seems to be the ubiquitous special-event food of Japan. I found yakisoba at sumo matches, baseball games, festivals and even at a kabuki and Takarazuka theater. Yakisoba is a tasty combination of ramen-style noodles stir fried with cabbage, onion, carrot and often but not always, with small bits of pork, beef or chicken. It is seasoned with yakisoba sauce, a rich brown sauce. Before serving, yakisoba is often garnished with aonori, beni-shoga, katsuoboshi and Japanese mayonnaise. Yakisoba has become so popular that it is even in a sandwich called yakisobapan. You can find yakisobapan locally in Belltown at Kushibar. How lucky.

Yakimono
焼き物

Yakimono encompasses any number of food items found at a yatai or yomise. Yaki means “grill” and mono means “things.” When it comes skewered, it’s called kushiyaki. Usually it includes small bits of meat, vegetables placed on a stick and grilled or fresh shellfish grilled until the shells open.  Yakimono can include, yakitori, small fish, cuttlefish, steak, corn on the cob, vegetables wrapped in bacon and much more. The ingredients depend heavily on the region, season, the food stalls' specialty and even the event itself.

With all these savory treats to enjoy, don’t over look the sweet ones!

Taiyaki
たい焼き

Taiyaki means grilled sea bream. Taiyaki is not actually a grilled fish. Instead it is a grilled cake in the shape of a fish and traditionally filled with sweet adzuki bean paste. Sea bream is considered lucky in Japan and often served at special occasions. Like takoyaki, taiyaki is cooked in a special grill pan in the shape of a fish. Other sweet fillings including chocolate and vanilla pudding. Fruit fillings have become popular in recent years. Taiyaki with savory fillings like sausage, curry and okonomyaki have also become popular. So just make sure you know what you are getting before you order!

Kakigori
かき氷

Kakigori is a snow cone by any other name. While some flavors such as lemon, strawberry, cherry and "blue Hawaiian" might be familiar, sweet plum, green tea and melon are unique flavors also found at Japanese snow-cone stands. Sometimes condensed milk is also poured on top of the shaved iced to enhance the flavor. Kakigori is typically advertised with only the last character 氷 of the name appearing on signs and banners of establishments specializing in this cool summer-time treat.

I’ve only listed some of the most prevalent dishes found at yatai and yomise. By no means is this the limit of what can be found.If this article has made your mouth water and a trip to Japan is not in the near future, don’t fret. In Seattle, you can find Japanese  restaurants focusing on Japanese street food such as Kushibar in Belltown and Boom Noodle. Also, there are Japanese-themed festivals coming up where you can have many of these tasty treats for yourself.

ABOUT WRITER

Rose is a blogger of umailabs.com. The blog dedicates itself to seeking out or recreating the food she loved so much when she was an exchange student in Japan. She earned her degree in International Studies: Japan from the UW. Her passion is sharing her knowledge of Japan and her dinner table with anyone who is hungry.

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