Learn Japanese Menus

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A hard fact to swallow when I went to Japan was that, well, I wasn’t very good at ordering food at restaurants. This is because I didn’t do what very few people realize to do before they come, and that is to learn how to read food kanji like those found on dinner menus.

Although this menu to you may seem easy to read and order off of, the truth is that MOST Japanese restaurants did not offer pretty pictures like these with their menu, and that was especially true for ramen shops.

Not only that, but if you could read the kanji it might not make any sense to you or give a false impression of what the dish actually is. Although it’s a learning experience, it’s not a very happy one since you would have to eat whatever came to the table.

To prevent this from happening, learn some names of the basic dishes and ingredients before you go to Japan. Namely, vegetables, fruits, and meat would be a very solid starting point.

And as the owner of Iron Chef would say, “A la Cuisine!”