Don't know your tamari from your toro? Have no fear. Whether you're dining at a five-star hotel restaurant or a traditional ryokan, our guide to Japanese food terms will arm you with the necessary culinary lingo to negotiate any menu.
Amaebi: sweet shrimp
Anago: sea eel
Awabi: abalone
Azuki: dried bean; azuki flour is often used
for confections
Bento: meal served in a box with different compartments
Daikon (Mooli): long, white radish, usually grated
or cut into strips
Donburi: bowl of boiled rice with different toppings
like chicken, egg or beef
Ebi: shrimp
Edamame: fresh soy beans boiled in their pods
and sprinkled with salt
Enoki (Enokitake): delicate mushrooms with long
stems and small caps
Gohan: rice
Hamachi: yellowtail, often used for sushi or
grilled
Hashi: chopsticks
Hibachi: small, open charcoal grill
Hirame: flounder
Ikura: salmon roe
Kaiseki: multicourse menu of luxury dishes reflecting
the seasons with the use of seasonal foods and artistic dinnerware
and presentation
Kani: crab
Kappa: cucumber
Kobe beef: cattle raised in exclusive conditions
(frequent massages and a diet featuring large quantities of beer),
which results in an extraordinarily tender, very expensive beef
Konbu: dried kelp; used in soup stock, for sushi
and as a condiment
Maguro: tuna
Maki: rolled
Mako: shark
Mirugai: giant clam
Miso (soup): soybean paste from which a savory
broth is made, usually served with cubes of tofu or strips of
seaweed
Ono: wahoo fish; a relative of the mackerel often
compared in taste to albacore
Ramen: Chinese soup noodles
Saba: mackerel
Sake: salmon
Saké: traditional rice wine served hot
or cold
Sashimi: thinly sliced raw fish on rice, usually
served with soy sauce and wasabi
Shabu shabu: similar to sukiyaki; beef and vegetables
cooked tableside in a broth
Shiitake: prized cultivated mushroom, dark brown
with a large cap
Shoya: soy sauce
Soba: buckwheat noodles
Sukiyaki: braised beef and vegetable dish with
broth added after cooking
Sushi: rounds of vinegared rice wrapped in dried
seaweed with a center of raw fish or vegetables, served with wasabi
and soy
Tai: snapper
Tako: octopus
Takoyaki: a round dumpling filled with octopus
Tamago: egg
Tamari: dark sauce similar in composition and
taste to soy; often used for dipping
Tempura: deep-fried, batter-dipped fish or vegetables
Teriyaki: a marinade of soy and sweet saké
used on meats, fish and poultry
Tofu: bean curd, processed into a liquid and
then molded into large cubes
Toro: fatty belly cut of tuna
Udon: wheat noodles
Unagi: freshwater eel
Uni: sea urchin roe
Wasabi: a hot, spicy condiment made from the
roots of Japanese horseradish, chartreuse in color
Yakitori: a dish of pieces of chicken and vegetables,
marinated in a spicy sauce, skewered and grilled
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