yes, Ive had that and its very similar but Yakut isn't it. Yakut is very expensive for like a 2 ounce bottle

perhaps this is the closest they could come up with in order to ship it and stock it because what I had in Japan is a dairy product (I think) that would spoil

Definitely agree with what mrw is saying. One other thing I would add is that for the splurge meals (Sawada, Ryugin, narisawa, etc....) make sure you have your hotel concierge call the restaurant well ahead of time (1 month).

Also on the casual side, definitely try out some of the expensive fruit and also take a stroll through the basement of department stores.

El D,

I'd probably make room for an unagi restaurant too. As a person who in generally preferred anago over unagi from my (almost entirely US based) sushi experience, I was skeptical and convinced I was in for a meal entirely coated in cloying sauce. I was really taken back by how much different simple grilled unagi served over rice (I guess frequently served with a couple other sides or courses) was from that expectation. Just really, really good. Maybe other people already know this and have it in the US, but aside from sushi at the fish market, this was he most "oh, wow, ****, that's totally not what I expected, and awesome" moment of my time in Tokyo. Googling makes me believe the thing I ate was called "Hitsumabushi."

yim to me that all sounds like you had some brand of drinking yoghurt/ yogurt drink. maybe try ayran and report back if that is similar to what you are looking for.
japan travellers you should absolutely try these layered japanese omelettes if you havent yet they are ****ing delicious

Thanks for the tip, it wasn't Ayran, (I spent several weeks in Turkey, my favorite of all the countries visited), this stuff is sweet and sour and think it must be some twist on yogurt. I've tried tons of yogurt drinks and none of what I've tried so far are what I had in Japan.

If someone hadn't told me (without tasting it), I would have thought it was milk. It was sold next to the milk in the same size containers. Yakult is the closest tasting thing I've ever found to it and think thats probably someones attempt to bring whatever I had to the US with the constraints of shipping, etc.

Also, I've been practicing making the omelette part of the omurice every morning this week and while I haven't figured out the technique to flip it, the flavor has been fantastic. Maybe I would like that dish.

Anyone got a recipe for that gravy looking stuff?

It's basically heavily reduced beef and veal stock with tomato paste and bacon fat. The classic recipe calls for making a sauce espagnole from stock and then mixing with more stock and reducing further and is a huge pain in the ass.

Yim - what did the bottle look like? Was it Yakult sized? It wasn't some Calpico variation was it?

No it wasn't Yakult size, it was package like milk, looked like milk and had the consistently of milk but was sweet and sour. Its not thick like the yogurt drinks you can find in grocery stores everywhere nor as thin/watery as the Calpico appears to be.

When I first drank it, it shocked me because I think I was expecting milk and told my buddy I wasn't sure I liked the stuff. Then the aftertaste kicked in and it was oddly really good, so I had another sip, then finished the glass, then had another, then went and bought a quart and another and then a gallon and another, etc, etc (over 3 weeks)

I was like a friggin' addict and I think it even irritated my buddy I was traveling with because I got so obsessed with the stuff. Obviously still am considering this was 1988 and I'm still thinking about it.

It looked and was packaged like this:

thx, sounds time consuming, not to mention how hard it is to find bones, especially veal bones, at grocery stores these days

Yim - fairly sure I've had that before. It's called "spoiled milk".

This is probably a stupid guess but buttermilk?

El D,

Definitely just stay in Tokyo - it's so freaking huge. Was there for 4 days last year and could have easily spent another 4 days just in Tokyo. Besides getting engaged in the Shibuya Scramble the best part of our trip was Menya Ramen in Shinjuku, where we ate twice. Ordering ramen from a vending machine and having no clue what the differences are is surprisingly awesome.



I'm headed to Toyko for work in two weeks and I'm legitimately excited for this ramen.

Unrelated but if anyone is ever in Shanghai, I can't recommend Kagen Teppanyaki enough. And then a walk around the corner to Cotton Club for live jazz. Perfect way to spend a long layover in PVG.

not buttermilk, not spoiled milk

its sweet and tart and AWESOME!

(& unavailable)

Now I really want to find out what the **** you were drinking!!

I don't know... sounds like yimyammer was lucky to get away before he became a fat blob, albeit a fat blob with an amazing gut flora.

was it any of these weird milk flavors?

http://japanistas.com/en/archives/40467

lol, you got that right, thats what my buddy was giving me **** about. I was like a damn addict swilling down that stuff every chance I got

probably a blessing in disguise I cant find it because I have no self control with food I like.

me too, been looking for 28 years and cant find it. I had a long chat with a guy from Japan that worked for Caesars and he couldn't figure out what I was talking about either

funny thing is if I ever found it, I'd probably wonder what the hell I was thinking

unfortunately not

BTW, this was in Osaka (if that matters)

Post it on reddit someone has hot to know

I think its Yakult but the version in Japan is just much better than what is sold in the small bottles in the US.

Like I've said, its likely because its a dairy product and isn't the same when packaged so it can be shipped to the US vs coming from a Japanese dairy and stocked at Japanese grocery stores

Yeah it probably is but I would like to believe there is more to it. Some kind of fabled exotic dairy product only available in Osaka.

I'm sure whatever I had was readily available all over Japan, I only went to Osaka so I cant confirm for sure but Osaka isn't some po-dunk city

Maybe the cost to make the stuff got so expensive they quit selling it in pints, quarts and gallons. Everything is so expensive in Japan, that seems possible but still odd if people were accustomed to buying it in large quantities

I am pretty partial to Kappo Yu in Shanghai for Osaka Kappo style Kaiseki.

lol wow dude, seriously? after you posted a picture of a piece of cardboard that some bum would write on with a marker? with that kind of reaction i find it hard to believe that your bit about "having friends" wasn't pure projection, but its cool, i dont take it personally. was only trying to help you refine your technique a bit