So, I’ve just moved to Seattle after spending the last 3 years in Japan and am missing some of my old favorites. Can anyone recommend some good Japanese restaurants in Seattle? I’d be particularly happy if there are places where its possible to get decent okonomiyaki, takoyaki, tonkatsu, nabe, yakiniku, etc. Sushi is easy to find and doesn’t interest me very much but if someone knew of a particular good place with a more “traditional” take on sushi that would be appreciated as well. Also, I’ve heard that there is a decent izakaya in Seattle, but have no idea where it is. Supplies from Uwajimaya and cooking at home can help satisfy the cravings, but I’m longing for the real thing
Oh, I also have to somewhat related questions :
What’s the English/Korean name for the Korean pancakes the Japanese call ‘chijimi’?
What’s the English/Chinese name for the Chinese dumplings the Japanese call ‘shouronpou’?
I live up north in Shoreline, but am a grad student at UW so I head into the city often. I’ll try the places you’ve recommended. I’ve only been to the International District (btw, is that just a PC name for Chinatown?) once, but was thrilled that there was a Kinokuniya bookstore there.
The International District (ID) is a PC-sort of name, I think, but it really is rather pan-Asian compared to most other Chinatowns I’ve been to. There are some pretty authentic Japanese restaurants in the area, but I can’t remember any names.
Let me know if you ever find Japanese curry in Seattle. I’ve been looking for it ever since I left Los Angeles. Please don’t tell me it’s only a Los Angeles thing, and doesn’t exist in Japan.
I don’t know what sort of stuff they sell in LA, but curry is indeed one of the staples of modern Japanese food. It consistently ranks on the top of children’s favourite food. There are actually many different types of Japanese curry, from the very Japanese, made with dashi broth, to “European”-style seater curries to quasi-Indian recipies. There are probably as many different recipes as there are mothers.
I said it before, I’ll say it again: the web is a wonderous thing. Bobby Suetsugu, sushi-meister at Sushiman, at his best, was ranked 24th of the Makushita division, the third highest after Maku-no-uchi and Juryo. He fought under the name Shoryuzan. That was in 1984.
As for the question on the Intl. District. Seattle actually had a larger Japanese population than Chinese during WWII, mainly because of the internment camps. After the war was over the people settles in that same area. Now there are also chinese, vietnamese and other pan-asian immigrants in the area as well.
Also, if you like malaysian food, make sure to check out the Malay Satay hut.
The stuff I ate in LA definitely had some sort of Indian-style curry spice in it, and was served with one million little condiments. I can’t even remember what sort of meat-and-rice presentation it was; the important part was the astonishing variety of little picked things. Perhaps I’m easily amused.
Just to be sure, that wasn’t meant in the sense of “you could’ve googled it”. God I hate that attitude. I just meant that I never cease to be amazed at the amount of trivial information one can find out there.
By the way, that should have read “sweater European-style curries”.
Japanese curries were one of my favorite foods while living in Japan and, as jovan said, is one of the more common foods there. It’s probably served weekly by most mothers because of its popularity among children.
I’ll be on the look-out for restaurants serving it, but I would be massively surprised if Uwajimaya didn’t sell a wide variety of both instant and non-instant curries.
I lived in Seattle briefly about 12 years ago and visit frequently. The International District (Just south of Pioneer Square, IIRC) has a variety of Japanese restaurants and a big Kinokuniya book and grocery store.
They stopped calling the I-district “Chinatown” because there’s plenty of non-Chinese Asian stuff there. I remember one year the big “Chinatown” festival was advertised with a poster of Astro Boy.
DC has a Chinatown that nearly all of the Chinese residents moved out of years ago, although the restaurants, the Chinatown Arch and the streetsigns in Cantonese remain.
There is a japanese restaurant on either Jackson or King in the I.D. that has some curries. I can’t remember the name, but it has a big smiling pink octopus on the sign and you can’t miss it if you drive down the street.
