There is Sure a Lot of Pasta in Japan
Pictured Above - Amazing Shrimp Pistachio Pasta - Squid ink with Local Ginger - Spaghetti with Sausage and Brussel sprouts - The Best Ramen I've ever had.
With all of our Italian group travels (we still have a couple spots open for Sicily this November if you'd like to join us) we sometimes forget to take a family vacation. This January our daughters schedules allowed us to spend a week in Japan together. Some of you may remember we went on a trip with the Paso Wine Alliance a couple years ago so since we had some experience there, our confidence was high we could pull off a great little vacation. Our twin daughters each provided a list for must visit locations (all obtained from social media no doubt) and my job was to figure out how we could visit at least most of them. Luckily they left the food choices up to me.
I was impressed with the quality of ingredients on our last visit and also the relative value in most restaurants. One thing I noticed, and not just because I'm the Pasta King, is that pasta is everywhere. Of course there is a lot of ramen, gyoza, Chinese dumplings and other noodle establishments, but also as much actual pasta as you'd find in any city in the states. Sushi is common in Japan of course, but not eaten on much of a regular basis - it's more of a special occasion meal. It made me think that pasta might be more popular in Japan than sushi. We only had sushi once, but some type of pasta every single day in you count dumplings and noodles. The same was true during my last trip to France incidentally as pasta was on the menu at least once a day.
Italian style pasta grew in popularity in Japan after WWII mostly with Italian American type dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, but has morphed over the years to become something more true to Japan with ingredients like fish roe and other popular indigenous ingredients. Ketchup based sauces with Worcestershire green onion, peppers, mushrooms and Japanese sausage were originally quite popular called "Naporitan" with a reference to Naples. This dish has no similarity to Naples pasta using a mash up of American and Japanese ingredients, but restaurants still exist serving these dishes and they are still quite popular for nostalgic reasons.
As the food scene has continued to evolve in Japan so has pasta as evidenced by an amazing tasing menu at our friend Kana's place. We met her two years ago and her small wine bar, ile de colline, focuses on California wine and Italian type food using the highest quality Japanese ingredients. She has visited Etto before and was a little nervous to serve the "Pasta King" her pasta. We of course loved every bite and my daughter even said the shrimp with pistachio pasta was the best she's ever had in here life (Sorry Dad). Her daughter pictured with our box thinks Etto is the best pasta in the world however.
Beside all the pasta one of the highlights of our trip was getting to visit our designer Anna Takahashi's art show. Any visitor to Etto knows her art, from the amazing wallpaper in the restaurant, the murals on the back patio, our pasta boxes, wine labels and too many other little designs to list here. Her latest collection of work is inspired by her life in Sicily and her love for Italian culture. It was a whirlwind week and we are glad to be back with some new inspiration with a look forward to next week's ramen so I can try to recreate the best ramen I've ever had (good luck with that).
Listen to a new podcast with Stephy and I where we talk a lot about pasta. Click the graphic below or visit Apple Podcasts.
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