The Japanese Influence Part 3 - Eating out

Although eating out is always a pleasant treat, there is often an underlying feeling of anxiety that you won't find something on the menu that you want to order. The more picky you are as an eater, the worse this feeling. It is even harder when you visit an establishment that you have not been to before, and more so when it is a type of cuisine that you are unfamiliar with. It is for this reason that I think it is important to take my girls out to various places to experience the menu. This includes everything from KFC and take out pizzas to world food buffets and international restaurants. Sometimes they are places I am very familiar with myself and other times I am just as unsure as they are. That's not to say that we eat out often - actually probably less than 10 times in a year, but it is nice to vary their experiences so that if they go out somewhere with friends or when they are older they will know how a place works and what they like from the menu. How good it feels to walk through the door of an eating establishment, confident that you will enjoy your meal and looking forward to the evening ahead.

So, when my step-daughter asked me if we fancied going out to try a Japanese restaurant in Wolverton, I was keen to give it a go. A few years back the thought of eating in a Japanese restaurant would probably have terrified me, thinking it would all be weird dishes involving raw fish, octopus and unpronounceables.  However, having been re-educated as to what Japanese cuisine actually involves I am more open-minded and also confident that my girls would be enthusiastic too. A quick look at the menu online and I picked out words that I recognised - sushi, gyoza and ramen soup - so I knew I could find something to order amidst the largely unfamiliar words.

It was last Sunday evening when we drove up to Wolverton to visit Akasaka. It is a small place on Stratford Road, not far from the Bath House. I can't believe how often I have driven down this road on the way to Buskers or Wolverton Farmers' Market and I have never noticed the place - or any of the other little shops and takeaways down there. We had rung up to book a table for Saturday as it happened but it had been fully booked so had booked for the Sunday instead so it is obviously a popular place. The reviews on TripAdvisor are favourable too.

As small as it looks from the outside, it is equally as small on the inside, having only a handful of tables so I can see why it gets booked out. However, that evening it was busy but not packed out, which created a nice atmosphere. The staff greeted and seated us pleasantly and efficiently and served us in the same manner all evening. The menu that I had seen online was presented on the table in an attractively bound way and we spent some time reading it, trying to accustom ourselves with largely unfamiliar food. It was handy having my step-daughter there who is more au fait with Japanese food and was able to expand on the menu descriptions.

As the desserts seemed to consist exclusively of some odd flavoured ice-creams, we decided that rather than worrying about ensuring we had room for afters, we would go for a starter and a main course. I decided to start by seeing what their gyoza were like and how they compared to the ones we had made at home and soon I was presented with 5 pretty dumplings on a plate with a neat little corner divided off for dipping sauce. My girls both chose tori karage,which seemed to essentially be battered chicken pieces with a dipping sauce. This looked tasty too so I swapped them each one of my dumplings for a piece of their chicken. Steve went for takoyaki, which is indeed octopus, and my step-daughter had something with tofu. She also ordered some salty edamame beans for us to share. These are cooked soya beans still in their pods and you eat them by squeezing the pods and popping the beans straight into your month. They were like a cross between peanuts and peas and we all enjoyed them, which was pleasing as any vegetable that goes down well is something to celebrate. As it happened I spotted a bag of frozen edamame beans when in Costco a couple of days later so decided to buy some to have at home. They are pre-seasoned and just heated in the microwave for 4 minutes before serving so couldn't be simpler.

The main courses were equally as well presented and tasty too. One daughter went for a plate of chicken sushi, the other for teriyaki chicken. I didn't know what teriyaki was at the time but, having tasted some from her plate, I decided I liked it. Since then I have looked it up and the sauce seems to be easy to make from soy sauce, sesame oil and honey so definitely one to try at home. I ordered tonkatsu, which sounded very Japanese and a little scary but turned out to essentially be a thin pork cutlet, coated in breadcrumbs, deep fried and drizzled with some kind of fruity brown sauce. It was served with rice and a small but tasty salad, nicely dressed. Steve ordered seafood yaki udon, which was noddles with various bits of seafood in it, not a million miles away from the seafood pasta he normally orders in an Italian restaurant. My step-daughter ordered vegetable tempura and gave my girls little pieces of it to taste to broaden their horizons. I asked her if she thought the food was authentically Japanese and she said it was certainly like the food that is available to eat out in Japanese these days, even if not necessarily what might have traditionally have been eaten.

By the time we got to the end of our main course we were surprisingly full and decided that we really couldn't manage dessert too so we asked for the bill and headed home. It had been a pleasant evening out and had introduced us to a restaurant we will undoubtedly return to in the future. It had also re-enforced my understanding that Japanese food isn't weird and is just as acceptable to our western tastes as Chinese cuisine has become. It has also given me a few ideas and I'm raring to try out teriyaki chicken, tonkatsu and maybe even something with octopus!