Mince Cutlet Burger - Yokoji Hamburger Utsubo Koen

Even Osaka, despite its size, doesn’t have a very large selection of authentic burger joints. As my local informant was reluctant to give up too many details, I was quite keen to check out Yokoji for myself and see how it measured up to Awajishima and the other burger joints in our series so far (#2, #3, #4).

Something hit me in the face about Yokoji, the moment I walked in the door. While the outside is a little dreary, the inside feels surprisingly like a happening Roppongi style café. I guess the owner decided that, given his location in the middle of the Osaka CBD, he has to be more than just a “burger joint” to appeal to the OL crowd who patronise the place during their lunch breaks. Apparently it turns into a bar (open until 5AM) at night but I’m not really sure who it would appeal to, especially with so many other bars nearby in Umeda (梅田) and Shinsaibashi (心斎橋). The daggy exterior is designed so that part of the restaurant is open and people with pets can bring their dogs along with them for lunch without actually going inside the restaurant itself. While I don’t have a pet, I imagine that it would win a few brownie points amongst the stylish pet owners of nearby Minami-Horie (南堀江).

Inside the shop - Yokoji is frequented by local OLs during the week

Yokoji has a little too much variety on the menu for my liking. Take your pick. Would you like a “Juicy mince cutlet” hamburger?, a “Dangerous spicy” hamburger?, a “pepper demiglace” hamburger? Or a “spicy teriyaki” hamburger? They even serve a “Vegetable potato” hamburger. (Please don’t ask me why it would still be called a hamburger even though it is made out of vegetables.) I don’t know about you but I just want a plain old hamburger with the lot! After at least 5 minutes of stewing over the menu I decided that if I was to judge the quality of their hamburgers then I should keep things simple and so went for the “original demiglace hamburger” for 650 yen. Apparently they spend three days preparing the demiglace sauce so I figured it must be worth trying.

The one thing that they have got right is the list of “extras” that you can whack on your hamburger. They recommend adding egg (ネッカたまご, Eggs from Nekka), bacon (石狩川ベーコン, Bacon from the Ishikari river) and red cheddar for an extra 350 yen. If you’re really keen, you can lash out and add a piece of foie-gras for 900 yen. I couldn’t go past the egg and bacon but decided to try some blue cheese instead of the cheddar. That set me back an extra 450 yen on top of the price of the hamburger.

All in all, I was a little disappointed. The egg and bacon was fine, but I came home without any more idea as to what “nekka” eggs and “ishikari river” bacon were than before. The patty was perhaps slightly above average but once again, nothing to write home about. And to top it all off, I didn’t even notice the demiglace sauce until I was 2/3 the way through the burger. The “signature sauce” was sitting in a little plastic cup next to the mayonnaise as if it had just been squeezed out of a bulldog sauce bottle. To top it all off, the sauce was cold, there wasn’t a lot of it and it certainly didn’t taste as if they’d really been stewing it for 3 days. (It probably didn’t help matters that I’d just cooked up a wicked demiglace sauce at home the night before, but I’m just a novice, they’re the ones that decided to include it in the name of the damn burger!) Oh, and perhaps my expectations were raised a little too much by the tasty looking photo out the front. Can you guess which one was mine?

Demiglace Photo on Menu

My Demiglace Burger

For people who like fries with their hamburgers, you can get a bunch of different flavours of salt sprinkled on them: garlic, pepper, chili, curry, and funnily enough, “salt”. I guess the manager has visited Spuds down in Nanko (南港) before. Once again, a little too much choice for me. It’s things like this that made me get the impression that Yokoji is targeted more toward your typical group of OLs on a lunch break. Whereas a guy just wants a piece of meat between bread, I guess OLs want a nice atmosphere and plenty of choice so everyone in their group is satisfied. In their defence, it does make eating a hamburger a bit of a fun experience. I guess it boils down to whether that is what you wanted or not (I don’t need no fun in my burger).

At one stage 15 out of the 16 patrons in the shop were female

Yokoji is located about 5 minutes walk to the North of Honmachi station on the Osaka Subway. It’s a little bit hard to find if you’re not familiar with the Honmachi area so make sure you seek out the Hanshin Expressway (阪神高速) as soon as you leave the station as it is virtually underneath the Expressway (on the East side). Yokoji is located right next to a very randomly named bento place called “Hotto Motto” (here is a photo of Hotto Motto, you cant miss it!). There are actually a number of pretty tasty looking bakeries nearby (between the express-way and the Midosuji road) which are definitely worth stopping by on your way home.

Beer: Budweiser, Heineken, corona, zima (600~650 yen). No hawaiian beer.

So all in all, what did I think of Yokoji? The atmosphere was a little cool for a burger joint. The taste of the patty was not particularly memorable. I liked the fact that you could add egg and bacon to your burger and a variety of cheeses although I was disappointed with their famous demiglace sauce. Given that they are a hamburger joint, it would have been nicer if they could have put a little more effort into getting their English spelling on the menu right. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high after the roaring review I got from my hamburgerer friend, but this time, Yokoji only gets one stippy.

Yokoji Hamburger Utsubo Koen
Where: 4-7-6 Kawaramachi, Chuoku, Osaka.
大阪市中央区瓦町4-7-6船場竹伊ビル1階

Phone: 06-6204-4548

Hours: 11:30AM-5AM

URL: www.yokoji-hamburger.com

Locomoco Burger at Pocke Farm in Okinawa - Not as nice looking as the one on the menu but the wholemeal buns made up for it

Unfortunately, it is a long drive up to Churaumi and there isn’t a lot to do along the way. When I was visiting there last we decided to stop by the “American Village” in Chatan (北谷) to break up the trip. It’s just to the south of Camp Foster (キャンプ瑞慶覧) and Camp Lester (キャンプ桑江).

Although I didn’t see too many Village People (or Americans for that fact) there, “American Village” is a low rise shopping mall that was developed on the site of an old American air-force base runway. I suppose it is Okinawa’s answer to Odaiba (お台場) only a little more compact. While my ladies were walking around the fashion outlets there, I decided what better way could there be to kill the time than by munching down on a hamburger. Low and behold, within the section of the village called “American Depot” there was a quaint looking little hamburger joint called Pocke Farm so I decided to pay them a visit. (This is the 4th in our “Japan’s best burger series – here are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in case you missed them).

Shop front of Pocke Farm in Okinawa

Pocke Farm is like one of those little huts run by Filipinos that you’d expect to find in a Hawaiian parking lot. The shop itself is just a small box adjacent to American Depot but it does have quite a spacious deck “out the back” for customers to sit down and enjoy their hamburgers so it actually pulls off a high score when it comes to atmosphere (especially on one of those rare Okinawa sunny days).

Open deck seating at Pocke Farm scores high on atmosphere points

The menu is a bit of a mix of American, TexMex and Hawaiian fast food. I’m not sure why that doesn’t really strike me as strange but I guess it is a bit of a common theme across Okinawa. Apparently they recommend the Spam Thick’n Chunky Egg Sandwich (スパムチャンキーエッグサンド 580 yen or $5.75)

Pocke Farm - Thick 'n' Chunky Spam Sandwich

I decided to try their “locomoco burger sandwich” (photo at top of article – 680 yen or $6.75). Why not? Okinawa was the closest I was going to get to Hawaii for a while. In addition to the standard lettuce and tomato, the locomoco burger has a fried egg, sunny side up, and home made demi-glace sauce (if you dont know what locomoco means click here). I’m a sucker for words like “original recipe” and “home-made” when it comes to my burgers and having demi-glace sauce on my burger sounded a whole lot better than some runny gravy. While it might seem like a strange thing to say, the buns were pretty good on the burger. The buns are the same on all of their hamburger sandwiches and are baked freshly every day using a secret recipe that contains cereal. They have quite a whole-meal flavour to them so you almost feel as though you’re eating a health food.

You can see the photo of my actual “locomoco burger sandwich” at the top of this article. It was nowhere near as pretty as the photo at the cash register but it tasted fine. The salad was fresh and the pattie was a normal size. At the time I was very tempted to give them two Stippies for the home-made bread and demi-glace sauce but in retrospect I think it is probably only worth one. Perhaps if the weather was better and they sold beer from the Kona brewery instead of just corona and Budweiser, I might have been fooled into giving it the extra stippy. To put it in context, this was the first hamburger that I ate in Okinawa after being pretty disappointed at Jef and AW so I was pretty easily pleased. That said, the place was very popular and I would definitely recommend grabbing a quick bite there if you’re visiting American Village around afternoon tea time.

Pocke Farm - All prices in JPY and USD (spelling?)

As with nearly every hamburger joint I’ve visited so far in Japan, for some reason they can’t spell English that well. Albeit it was only one letter but you would think that a hamburger restaurant in a shopping centre called “American Village” that was built on an old American air-force runway right next to two existing American bases would be able to spell HAMBURGER! (My Engrish photo of hamburger spelt “hanburger” at a hamburger shop didn’t turn out so well.. so you’ll have look for it when you visit!).

Pocke Farm [ポッケファーム]
Address: 9-4 Mihama, Chatan, Nakagami, Okinawa (沖縄県中頭郡北谷町字美浜9-4)
Telephone: 098-982-7790

Hours: 11AM-10PM

Website (Japanese only): http://www.depot-abc.com/pockefarm/index.html

Contrary to popular belief, I believe the best hamburgers are definitely a slow food. Just because McDonald’s made hamburgers into the archetypal fast food, it doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice the concept of a real high quality burger. While it’s rare to find a burger joint that is willing to keep their customers waiting 15 minutes or more after ordering, T’s★Diner (T’s Star Diner) is and is proud of it.

To be honest, the first time I visited T’s, I baulked at their “slow food” sign (pictured). I was in a hurry and all I wanted was my fix. Even takeaway was fine. But the clock was ticking away and so I had to suppress the urge, swearing to come back again another day. After all, this guy seemed serious about his hamburgers… How could I continue my search for the ultimate Japanese hamburger without trying one of T’s. (If you haven’t read the previous installments then you might like to read my reviews of Awajishima Burger and Okinawa Jef Hamburger.)

At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of T’s. After all, it wasn’t really a burger joint, it was a diner right? And the menu seemed to be filled with a bunch of typical Americana (that you’d expect to find in your typical diner). But I was pleasantly surprised. It turns out that the owner of T’s (who is also probably the guy you’ll see standing behind the counter most of the day) is a devoted connoisseur of hamburgers. When I asked him why on earth he bothered to open up a diner in the middle of Takatsuki (高槻, near Osaka), he gave it to me short and simple:

ハンバーガーが好きだから (’cause I love hamburgers)

As you’d expect, he has traveled the US to get a sample of the real thing but I really liked his story of how he trained after he got back to Japan. It turns out that there is a town in Aichi prefecture (愛知県) near the headquarters of Toyota (in Toyata City) that is famous for its diners.

I must own up and admit that I have never been there. (If any stippy readers out there have, I’d love to hear more about it in the comments section below.) Apparently you’ll see more diners there than in downtown Chicago. It seems the owner spent several years learning the trade here before starting his own in his home town of Takatsuki. While you may laugh and say “Who on earth visits a burger joint in Takatsuki?” (I certainly did) you might be surprised to hear that he receives a regular flow of international clientele who come to get a swig of the cool-ade we know as Americana.

Ts Diner, Takatsuki Osaka - My hamburger and beer

So what’s so good about his burgers. At first sight, the menu looks pretty low key actually. While you can order a burger with two patties, there are no extravagant toppings to be seen here. T’s prides itself on the flavor of the patties and rightly so. While I’m usually a fan of a burger with plenty of other toppings between the pattie and the bun, I enjoyed sitting back and savouring the texture and juiciness of the beef in the bun. I think I’d almost forgotten how important a high quality pattie was until then. Even so, I couldn’t quite settle merely for a plain old hamburger and went for the cheese and bacon burger (900 yen). Yum. Quite to my surprise, the bacon was thickly sliced premium bacon (厚切りベーコン) and balanced the beef in the burger perfectly. I’ve also had the chili burger at T’s which I do recommend for any chili con carne fans out there.

For some reason there is a 500 yen minimum charge at T’s but it includes a free drink so if you’re happy to augment your hamburger with a jockey of nama (生, on the tap) beer then you don’t really notice. It might be a bit of a sore point for cola drinkers though. Perhaps it’s because he can’t make money out of the hamburgers charging only 7~900 yen (although the double pattie burgers cost 1,500). At the moment the diner is only open for lunch and dinner but it closes very late (5AM) and the owner hopes to be able to open it 24 hours a day at one stage (in true “diner” style). I’d personally prefer him to stay open all afternoon as I’ve been passing through more than once between 3~5PM wanting a burger only to find that they are closed. And, quite frankly, how many people are gonna come and have a hamburger at 3AM in the morning at Takatsuki? Although being very close to Highway 171 probably guarantees him a bit of late night traffic. To T’s credit, you can order a hamburger anytime up to 4AM in the morning. Not many bars stay open that late and offer food much past midnight. Please keep that in mind next time you’re wandering in Takatsuki in the wee hours of the morning.

There’s something about T’s that just doesn’t feel quite like the diners that I know from back home. The music is great (he has some really golden oldies music videos playing in the back) but perhaps it is the atmosphere. It is “Japan size” as far as a diner is concerned (It can probably only seat 10~15 people) and lacks in buzz: I’ve never seen more than one customer (beside myself) there. I’d hate to see him go out of business so all the more reason to visit more regularly, I guess! I’ve decided to give T’s Diner two stippies. Just like Michelin is very kechi (ケチ, tight) with their stars, we here at Stippy don’t take our hamburger ratings lightly. Perhaps if there was no cover charge, the option of an egg in the cheese burger and a little more buzz then I might, just might, have been tempted to consider three. All in all, I can highly recommend a feed at T’s.

T’s Star Diner
Tel: 072-672-0721
Web: http://www.ts-star-diner.com

How to get there:
T’s Diner is located between Highway 171 and Hankyu’s Takatsuki-shi station (阪急高槻市駅). There is an arcade heading out on an angle to your left (the one before Centre Rd センター街) and T’s is a couple of blocks walk down it. Look out for the blues brother statue or the Betty Boop holding a hamburger that they have out front. From JR Takatsuki it’s a good 15 minute walk and easiest to cut through the Osaka Medical College Hospital (大阪医学大学病院). (It’s just the other side of the Hankyu railway if you sneak under the line in front of the hospital.)

Address:
2-11-5 Johokucho, Takatsuki, Osaka
大阪府高槻市城北町2-11-5南園ビル1F

Hours: 11:30AM~3:00PM / 5:00PM~5:00AM

Map:

大きな地図で見る

Okinawa: The JEF Goya Burger - How many stippies did it score?

Review #2 – Jef Burger, Okinawa:
For some reason whenever I visit Okinawa I find myself expecting to land in a mini-America and see American signs, restaurants, customs, etc all over the place. Then I arrive and remember that the locals have done a pretty good job since 1972 of reversing the American influence gained (if any) during the 27 years of occupation. Naha isn’t really that different from most other marginalized regional cities in Japan. I personally don’t find the beaches there to be all that attractive, so besides visiting the Aquarium, there is only one thing left to do: eat! And If there was one part of American culture that must still be alive and well, I figured it had to be the hamburger.

As soon as I had a spare moment, I rushed to the front desk and asked the concierge where the best hamburger in town was. Without any hesitation she recommended that I tried out a hamburger from “Jef”, Okinawa’s only local, home-grown chain of burger restaurants. This had to be good. Going back to our rent-a-car, I consulted my guidebook and noticed that it was indeed Jef that I’d subconsciously circled when I was doing my pre-visit research before I left home. With a Goya Hamburger and Goya Rings on the menu, how could I miss it?

Okinawa Goya (ゴーヤ)

Disappointment Number One. The Goya burger (ゴーヤーバーガー, 282 yen) wasn’t a real hamburger (click on photo at top of article). It was more of a Goya Champuru burger (Goya Champuru, ゴーヤーチャンプルー a famous Okinawa stir-fry dish that includes egg, Goya and spam amongst other things). In fact the Nuuraru burger (ぬーやるバーガー, 314 yen) was closer to a “Goya burger” as it had a slice of spam included in it. I just got the Goya Champuru burger as I’m not a plain spam straight out of the can fan so my burger was more like a Goya omelet slapped between a bun. The buns were plain and there wasn’t anything else in the burger besides the (lukewarm) omelet so I must honestly say I was quite disappointed.

Jef goya rings - too thin, no taste

Disappointment Number Three. Run by a local entrepreneur, Jef prides itself on being local and procures 100% of its produce from within Okinawa. Then again, I doubt they could afford to keep their prices so low if they had to import everything from the main land. Because the Goya is procured locally, they also offer 100% freshly squeezed Goya juice (300 yen). I don’t know about you but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that anywhere else before. But… And you guessed it… The juice is only available through the summer months and so I wasn’t able to quench my curiosity. While I’m picking at nits with their Goya menu, I have a sincere question to float about it. How exactly do you spell Goya? I’ve heard before that the last vowel of Okinawan words (like the dash at the end of Champuruu チャンプルー) are often shorted when they are (mis)used in Honshu but this restaurant manages to spell Goya in two different ways on its menu! While the burger is called a ゴーヤー burger and the drink is called ゴーヤー juice, for some reason the rings are called ゴーヤ rings. Any ideas?

Jef Goya Burger Okinawa - The inside of the store

The verdict: 0 Stippies

How to get there: We visited the Sunrise Naha Branch because it was closest to the main strip in Naha. If you are walking away from the airport down Kokusai Rd (国際通り), take a right at the market and walk straight through to the other side. You’ll hit Heiwa Rd (平和通り) and its on your right.

Tel: 098-867-4941

Address: 1-1-5 Tsuboya, Naha, Okinawa (沖縄県那覇市壷屋1-1-5)

Hours: 8:30AM~9PM (the Yonabaru (与那原) and Tomigusuku (豊見城) stores are open 24 hours a day.)

Map: Click here

Website (Japanese): http://www.yonabaru.jp/kigyo/jef.htm

If this review wasn’t enough to turn you away from Jef then I’d recommend that you jump in your rent-a-car and try one of the other branches as this one doesn’t have a real car park and is shoved in the back of a cramped strip shopping center (商店街). Apparently at the other branches they operate the store as a “drive in” hamburger restaurant. You know the old fashioned kind that you would expect to see in Back to the Future (or the Flintstones) where the waitresses whiz out of the shop on roller skates to serve you at your car window. I’m not sure if they really have roller skates but it might add just that little bit extra piece of novelty value to your visit to make it worthwhile. (And while you’re at it print out this JTB coupon for a 10% discount).

By the way, the other hamburger restaurant that my concierge recommended (as a backup) was A&W. A&W is supposed to be famous for their root beer but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between it and the root beer that I drank at Jef. Because A&W doesn’t even have the goya novelty value of Jef’s menu, I’ve decided not to include it in the Stippy.com quest for Japan’s finest Hamburger. You’ll see why by clicking on this link to the AW burger that I ate (the Mozza burger).

Have you found a more authentic burger in Okinawa? They must exist somewhere! Let us know about it in the comments section below?

Awajishima Burger: Possibly the best in Japan

Update: We like hamburgers so much, that we are going to turn this article into a multi-part series called, “The Quest for Japan’s Best Hamburger”.

We will rank some of Japan’s less known, but more tasty (or not!) burger joints. We will rate each one using the following simple system. How good the burger is earns it between zero and three “stippies” as follows:

• 0 stippies: We’ll never go back to these places, and we’ll let you know why you should avoid them.
• 1 stippy: A hearty feast but nothing to write home about. You’d choose it over most other restaurants in the area but wouldn’t go out of your way to visit the area just to have a hamburger here.
• 2 stippies: you can tell that the owner has spent time considering the balance of his hamburgers. Ingredients are procured directly from farms and other small scale suppliers who care about the taste of their product.
• 3 stippies: ecstasy. You can’t get a 3 stippy ranking without at least one tear of joy being shed by the author.

Review # 1 – Awajishima Burger, Hyogo:
I don’t take my burgers lightly. As a big fan of hardcore burgers and an unforgiving critic of cheap imitations, I am on a seemingly endless search for Japan’s perfect burger for more than a decade. While I’m always hesitant to claim that I have found the Emperor of all burgers (because then I wouldn’t have an excuse to go out eating burgers every weekend!!), I think I have come pretty damn close.

My chance discovery was on the way home from Shikoku the other day. As we were driving over the whirlpools of Naruto (鳴門の渦潮) the road sign to Awajishima (淡路島) triggered a memory buried deep in the back of my mind which had nothing to do with the actual island (which forms a bridge from Shikoku to Honshu) that I was about to drive over. I’d been waiting months for an excuse to try out the cult-like 淡路島バーガー (“Awajishima Burger”) but without a car at home (Awajishima burger is – for some unknown reason – not in Awajishima, but in the heart of Nishinomiya, Kobe) this was the first day I was going to come anywhere near it.

You’d be forgiven for never having heard of Awajishima Burger. There is only one restaurant in the whole of Japan. It is nothing more than a sub 20 square meter hole in the wall of the wholesale market in Nishinomiya. It might be a small restaurant, but they certainly make one colossal hamburger.

The philosophy of the owner, Motoi Koshie (越栄基), is simple: To transform the hamburger from being “just another fast food” in to something remotely healthy. He only uses fresh organic vegetables (picture) from farmers that he has met over the years while traveling in Awaji Island. The concept seems to be working, as there was a semi-permanent queue outside during lunch time. What surprised me even more was that over 2/3 of the clientele that visited his restaurant while I was there were females in their 20s or 30s (here is the photographic evidence: Yes, I did count, because I didn’t believe my eyes!). I have to admit though, that I went there because the sheer volume of their infamous (in some circles) burger appealed to me, but why shouldn’t it – an organic hamburger – be a chic health food???

There are two items on the menu at Awajishima. A large (650 yen) and a regular (500 yen). If you’re anything like me and you grew up in the “it takes two hands to handle a whopper” era then you are gonna want to order the large. It comes with tomato, lettuce and sauteed onions and of course a burger smothered in Koshie’s secret sauce. The hamburger patty is pure beef and Koshie claims that the beef (from his friend’s farm in Awaji) is so soft and juicy that you can eat it raw. While I had my burger “medium”, I can testify that the patty melted in my mouth. For an extra 100 yen per item, you can add any of the following four toppings:

• Smoked bacon (home made)
• Fried egg (free range – damn! I didn’t know they even existed in Japan!)
• Cheese (fresh from the dairy farm)
• Onion Rings (The sweetest onions in Awajishima)

I went for the first three and was more than satisfied. If you add in Onion rings, the burger ends up being 15+ cm tall and even if you can hold the thing, you’re gonna struggle fitting it in your mouth. That said, under no circumstances should you miss out on ordering the Onion Rings. (You can buy a side order for 150 yen.) Order a couple before you leave to nibble on the way home as they are hard to beat. I’m not 100% sure but maybe he sautés the onion rings before he fries them. Let me know if you think you can work out the secret to their flavour.

I can hear you asking… what about the drink menu. Yes. A hamburger wouldn’t be quite the same without an ice cold beer to wash it down with. Although it has absolutely nothing to do with Awaji Island, I was pretty pleased with their stash of Hawaiian Beer. Longboard Island Larger, from Kona Beer is so smooth that you don’t even feel guilty drinking it after a heavy hamburger meal. Most of the locals around me were drinking coke but I definitely recommend the Larger (500 yen) with yours.

So this leaves me asking the question: Is this the best hamburger in Japan? To me it scored high in all categories. The burger was soft and juicy and you could tell that there was no cheap tsunagi (bread crumbs etc) holding it together like most excuses for hamburgers. The buns were soft and bouncy yet they were strong enough to withstand the onslaught from Koshie’s special sauce until the end of my meal. (Apparently he spent three months perfecting the buns with a local bakery.) To me having bacon and egg in a burger is a must and so doesn’t score any extra brownie points, but I really enjoyed biting into that home-made bacon though. Yummm. Despite being cooked after you order, the burgers come out fast and service is efficient. Given the volume, I don’t think I can argue that the price is too steep (especially when you think of the inflation at all of the other hamburger chains these days.) A little birdie tells me that Koshie had some advice from a Kiwi burger enthusiast when he was designing the contents of his burgers. What extras could I have asked for? Maybe pineapple? or beet-root? But that’s about it. The secret sauce on the patty is pretty good but it probably isn’t essential. If anything, it might taste more “organic” without it.

The Verdict: We know it is first off the bat in our new series, but Awajishima Burger gets 3 stippies. It was tantalising joy.

How to get there?: If you’re driving from Kyoto/Osaka down Route, take a left at 札場筋 (Fudabasuji) onto Route. Drive past the Nishinomiya City Office (西宮市役所) then hang a left before the Esso Service Station directly after the second set of traffic lights on the far side of the Higashi River (東川). Awajishima is then about 15m on your right hand side next to a dim coffee shop called Hikari (喫茶ひかり) and just before the entrance to the Nishinomiya Eastern Wholesale market (西宮東地方卸売市場). If you reach the Mos Burger on Route 2 then you have gone too far (in more than one respect).

If you’re walking from the station then you can get their from either Hanshin or JR (both Nishinomiya Station – 西宮駅) but it’s a little bit closer to JR if you have the choice and can afford the premium. If you live on the Hankyu line then Hanshin Kokudo (阪神国道駅) is the closest station but it’s the furthest of the three. It’s a little bit hard to find so it’s probably better to study the Google Map (below) in depth before leaving home.

Awajishima Burger (淡路島バーガー) – Some more details:
Address: 4-1 Ikedacho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo (西宮市池田町4-1 西宮東地方卸売市場内)
Phone: 080-3036-4373
Business hours: 11AM~8PM (except Wednesdays which are holidays)
Official homepage: http://www.web-joho.com/awaji/
Map for Dummies:

Google Map:

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Have you found an equally tantalizing burger in the land of the Rising Sun? In particular, I’d love to hear about any of the cult burger shops in Sasebo (Here is the Sasebo Burger Guide Mapif you are keen!). Should I plan my next Golden Week to visit Nagaski? If anyone has tasted a hamburger that might rival the Awajishima, then I’m waiting with a long neck to hear about it. Please write about it in the comments section below, or even better, send us some pictures and your story!

To make the most of the good weather that we’re enjoying this Spring, my family and I decided to tip toe amongst the Tulips that are in blossom at the moment at Expo Park (万博公園, banpaku koen). As we were walking around the Western side of the park, we decided to take a few photos outside the chikurin (竹林, bamboo forest). It was then that for the first time, I noticed a couple of Takenoko (たけのこ, baby bamboo shoots) sneaking up through the floor of the forest. Sure, I’ve seen fully grown bamboo trees many times and I’ve even enjoyed some noodles washed down the inner side of a bamboo trunk (流しそうめん, nagashisomen) before, but for some reason, I guess I’ve never walked by a bamboo forest in the Spring before. Being a big fan of bamboo shoots on the dinner table, I joked to my wife that we should sneak into the chikurin and take a few home. As you can guess, the idea didn’t get very much air time.

You’ll appreciate my surprise when I discovered that the baiten (売店, kiosk) next to the front gate was selling them! I guess that the managers of the park pull up the unnecessary shoots as part of their kanbatsu (間伐, optimizing the thickness of the forest) and sell them to raise a little extra cash. (Just in case they didn’t already make enough money from the relatively high entrance fee.) Evidently, I’d seen bamboo shoots for sale in the Supermarket before but had never twigged to what they actually were so always walk straight past them like I do at the Natto (納豆, rotted beans) section. Unlike that Takenoko salada that you buy at your local 7-11, a fresh bamboo shoot isn’t beige (it’s a deep, dark brown) and it is still covered in several layers of overlapping sheaths. To state the obvious, that is why I hadn’t realized up until today. I can’t say that I ever thought that stippy.com would ever turn into a cooking site, but this is the story of how I lost my bamboo virginity. If it took me over a decade of living in this country to learn how to skin a bamboo shoot, so I figured that it was worth sharing the story. (Oh, and you can click on all of the photos to see bigger versions!)

When you’re out on your first shoot shopping trip, it’s probably safest to buy a bigger takenoko than you think you need. By the time you remove all of the outer sheath layers, you won’t be left with much. A medium sized shoot (about 500 yen) will only be enough for one meal for a family of four. Look for a freshly cut shoot by looking at the colour of the dots at the foot (wide end) of the shoot. Freshly cut shoots will have spots which are a reddish purple colour (like mine in the photo) whereas the dots will have turned brown in an old shoot. Strong, pointy blades on the outer sheath is also a good sign of being fresh. The other trick you can try out is to hold a few shoots in your hands of similar sizes. The heavier the shoot, the more moist it is, hence the fresher it is. Old shoots that have been lying around for a while will dry up and hence weigh less.

While you can boil up your takenoko as it is, unless you’ve got a huge pot then you’ll probably want to tear off the inedible outer sheaths. According to the old lady who sold me the shoots, it tastes better if you boil the whole lot (without pealing back the sheaths) but I can assure it is pretty impractical. You’ll probably find that there were an awful lot more layers of sheaths on your shoot than you’d expected. As can be seen in these rudimentary before/after photos:

I think that my shoot shrunk by at least 50% by the time I’d removed all the layers. You know you’ve reached the edible part of the shoot when there is no more hair at the top (my photo of the “peeled” shoot wasn’t quite finished peeling, although I couldn’t bring myself to peel away anymore of the hard earned shoot).

With a bit of luck you will have been given some nuka (ぬか, rice bran) when you bought your takenoko (see photo):

Apparently the calcium in the bran helps to reduce the bitterness and soften the taste of your shoot when you boil it together (see photo):

Just like you would with any other root veggie, make sure that you bring to boil with the takenoko in the saucepan from the beginning (ie. While the water is still cold). After bringing it to the boil, you then want to slowly cook the shoot for another 45 minutes or so. The whole thing looks pretty disgusting with the bran floating in the saucepan but you wont notice it after you’ve washed it all off at the end.

Before you rush to rinse your bamboo shoot, allow it to cool naturally in the same saucepan (yes, with all of the gunk) that you boiled it in. If you rinse the takenoko before it’s cooled it will often split into pieces. It’s easiest to just leave it in the pot over night and rinse it in the morning. A cooked shoot will last a fair while in the fridge if you store it in water and remember to change the water once a day. Takenoko goes pretty well in any kind of stir fry that you can think of. If you’re stuck for a recipe, try simmering your takenoko with a touch of mirin and a healthy handful of wakame seaweed in some dashi (だし, soup stock) for a couple of minutes. This time I made my dashi from konbu (昆布, kelp) and threw in a bit of goya (ゴーヤ, bitter gourd) and katsuobushi (かつお節, dried bonita flakes) for a bit of Hattori Hanzo style Okinawan punch. If anyone else has some other good recipes for takenoko then I’d love to hear about them in the comments section – after all, there is still an entire month of fresh takenoko season to go this year!

After eating what was potentially the worst cream puff of my life this afternoon at the local Willie Winki, I was motivated to write an article on Beard Papa. Having been relocated to the arse-end of Shikoku for the past month, I think you can safely assume that I’m missing a bunch of the things that Black is missing. To be sure, Beard Papa is definitely one of them.

As far as I’m concerned, Beard Papa is the crème de la crème of “choux a la crème” (シュークリーム). I’ve got not idea why the Japanese call cream puffs by a name that sounds like that black stuff I use to polish my shoes (“shoe cream”) but I’m happy to tell you that they have perfected the art of making them. Sorry, I stand corrected, Beard Papa has perfected the art of making them (and Willie Winki most certainly has not).

Beard Papa has a surprisingly young history. Although the founder has been baking cakes in Osaka for years now, he only started growing Beard Papa into a national chain back in the late nineties. Unlike Colonel Sanders, the “Bearded Papa” actually did exist and that the nickname was given to him by the local children near his first bakery. There has got to be a health issue or two about smoking your pipe while baking cream puffs, but they taste so good that I’m willing to forgive him.

Apparently cream puffs made their way into Japan back in the Meiji era when the Japanese government decided (who knows why) to serve French food at high-level official functions. The head chef (大膳職) at the time was said to have learnt how to make Cream Puffs from a resident French Chef called Samuel Pierre. Nobody knows whether Pierre had a large beard and smoked a pipe or not.

So what makes Beard Papa’s cream puffs so special? Their homepage suggests that it is for two reasons. The first is the double-layered shell of the outer pastry crust. By keeping the inner layer of the pastry crispier, the Papa manages to keep the cream fresher, longer. But for me, the deciding factor is the vanilla flavored custard squeezed generously inside the puff. Despite the price of vanilla beans going up by three times in the last two years, Beard Papa continues to buy fresh vanilla beans and grind them into the custard (that is what those brown specs are that you can see in the custard). Yum!

The great news is that fans of Beard Papa can still get their fix even after they’ve left Japan (even if you can’t get one in Shikoku!!). Beard Papa has been “sharing the joy” and recently opened up stores in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, America, Hawaii (don’t ask me why Hawaii is separate to America, maybe they think it is just another prefecture of Japan) and Australia. I’m not a fan of most Japanese desserts, but this is one that is worth exporting. Hold on a sec, did I imply that it is a Japanese dessert…? Maybe it is….? Does anyone know any better?

(Bean Knowledge: In case you’re wondering, “choux” means cabbage in French. Apparently it got the name because the pastry on the outside of the puff looks like a cabbage.)

Visitors to Japan are quick to note the polite and friendly customer service offered up by the retail store staff. But in addition to the Japanese human shopkeepers, commerce in Japan is supported by the host of mechanical vendors one can find on the corner of almost any block. As anyone who has walked about Japan can attest there are a plethora of vending machines dispensing all manner of goods. It is most likely possible for one to subsist solely on vending machine goods.

The modern image of a Japanese street certainly doesn’t seem complete without at least one vending machine or jihanki (自販機, the short form of 自動販売機, jidohanbaiki) with its soft light and quiet hum waiting for someone to feed it some coins. According to figures from the Japanese Vending Machine Manufacturer’s Association (http://www.jvma.or.jp) there are approximately 5.6 million machines throughout Japan bringing in nearly 7 trillion yen annually. This rivals the business volume of convenience stores and far surpasses the vending machine sales of any other nation.

The roots of the jihanki in Japan actually go back to 1888 where inventor Takashichi Tawarayashiki created a one that dispensed postage stamps and postcards (pictured to the right). The modern proliferation didn’t really get going until the mid 70s and the push from the soft drink industry. It was at this time that Japan created the world’s first hot and cold beverage dispenser, a relatively simple idea in hindsight but one that allowed for sales to continue unabated throughout the year. Today the omnipresent jihanki offers up drinks (hot and cold), cigarettes, fried foods, train tickets, batteries, disposable cameras, newspapers, beer(!), and, perpetuating the stereotype of the Japanese as sexual deviants, used schoolgirl panties.

In recent times vending machines in Japan have come under close scrutiny by environmental groups. An early estimate claimed that each machine consumes about 60 percent of the electricity used by an average Japanese household. In response to the criticisms the Japanese Vending Machine Manufacturer’s Association has been implementing significant new functions in order to reduce the amount of power consumed by the the machines. Since 1995 all jihankis have within them an “Eco Vendor” mechanism that was developed by the vending machine manufacturers, soft drink makers and the power company, which shuts down the refrigeration, function during the peak hours (1PM to 4PM) of the summer when electricity is the most expensive. During that period in the afternoon the beverages are kept chilled but no further power is used. More and more jihankis are coming equipped with the ability to analyze its sales and heat or cool a limited number of products for peak sales hours.

The hypnotic glow of the jihanki light has also been cut down. Many machines have an internal timer so that they only light up in the evenings and even then the amount of light used has been reduced by 50 percent making the vending machines a dimmer presence compared to the bright spots on the dark roads they were yesteryear. Some vending machines unfortunately do shut down operations completely after a certain hour. One of my fond memories involves stuffing coins into a beer vending machine with my friends, trying to get as many drinks as possible as the clock inched its way towards the closing time when the machine shut down for the evening.

Another frequent complaint that has been lodged against the jihankis is that they mar the landscape and are an eyesore. In response there have been attempts to harmonize them with the local scenery and architecture. Each year the JVMA awards the retailer whom they deem to have best incorporated the vending machine into the surrounding environment so that they do not standout.

From a sales point of view it seems counterproductive to hide away the jihankis from the casual observer. When someone wants an icy cold drink on a hot summer’s day they’re not going to appreciate a vending machine that is camouflaged and hard to find. Retailers have come up with a number of creative solutions integrating the vending machines into the area while making sure that they can be found and accessed by the consumers. Some examples of the JVA award winning vending machine placement accompany this article (click the images to see them in full size).

Of course in my view these jihanki have been so prevalent that they’ve come to characterize the Japanese landscape. After all what could be more Japanese than a quiet Shinto temple with a bright red Coca-Cola machine sitting on the grounds?

Do you have an interesting “jihanki” (Japanese vending machine) story? Feel free to share it with us by leaving a comment below.

Walking through the main arcade from the west exit of Yokohama station in mid November, I chuckled to myself as I witnessed Don Quixote employees replacing the usual risqué コスプレ (cosplay) outfits from the store front displays and replacing them with Santa and reindeer outfits. As I looked to the other side of the street, Colonel Sanders had already donned his Santa clothes and above him read a banner that KFC were ready to take orders for Christmas Eve. Those reading this article from abroad might assume the sight of this may have shocked or horrified me, but, as is the case after living here for a while, I simply shrugged and moved on.

For those that have spent at least one Christmas here would know that a Japanese-style Christmas is more like an early Valentines Day, but instead of chocolates, couples are more inclined to hock into a Two-piece KFC Feed. Whilst back home the thought of pulling through the KFC drive-thru on Christmas Eve might almost seem sacrilegious, in Japan it has almost become tradition, and the Kentucky Fried marketing dept must be loving it!

KFC opened its first restaurant in Nagoya in 1970, one year earlier than McDonald’s entered the market. Soon after, KFC began an advertising campaign with the Colonel dressed up as Santa, and so began KFC’s monopoly over the festive season. Getting back to the point about Christmas being an early Valentines Day, families are also not forgotten with KFC bringing out family Christmas Packs, accommodating the nuclear Japanese family’s needs, i.e. just enough for mum, dad and their only child.

After living in Japan for a while, the convenience of having a takeaway Christmas dinner is quite tempting considering how difficult it is to have a proper Christmas roast without an oven. While we all might crave for a home cooked roast lamb, beef or turkey, a readily available roast chicken with the Colonel’s 12 secret herbs and spices is certainly more appealing than a trip out to CostCo.

Kentucky Fried Christmas is a fine example of commercialism at its best, and Japan’s hunger for it. As we see Christmas becoming more and more commercial back in our home countries, Japan manages to do one better and add fast food to the mix. Let’s hope Japan doesn’t discover Easter or else we’ll be inundated with another commercially drained holiday. Luckily that falls (usually) at a time of the year when people are still recovering from their hanami hangovers, while Christmas falls at that virtuous time between the compulsory Bonenkai (end-of-year party) and New Year’s.

Anyway, a Merry Christmas to you all from Stippy.com! If you haven’t already booked your KFC feast, better get down their quick or you’ll be forced to join the block long queue!

Ichiro: “So where are we meeting the boys tonight in Roppers?”
Kenta: “Not sure, but I think the plan is to meet up at Heartland for a few warm up beers and take it from there.”

～★～

Every gaijin who has been to Roppongi Hills has been to Heartland. Meeting someone at Heartland is the Roppongi equivalent of Alta Studio (アルタ前) in Shinjuku, Big Man in Umeda or Grand Central Station in New York – only better: Heartland has beer.

Besides being “the place to be” after work in Roppongi, the Heartland bar is well known for its signature beverage “Heartland Beer”. If you’ve have a swig before, then you’ll remember that the Heartland label is not your typical Japanese beer. Heartland Beer (brewed by Kirin) is made 100% from wheat giving it a very “Western” style favor without the softness that you usually get from the copious amounts of rice included in traditional Japanese labels like Ichibanshibori or Super Dry. Heartland’s recent success is not just about location – it’s seen to be a sign of the times as the Japanese are now more open minded to trying non-traditional flavors.

It might surprise you to know that Heartland isn’t actually a new beer at all. In fact it had made its name long before the Roppongi Hills project even existed. (Bean Knowledge: Japanese architecture buffs will know that Mr. Mori (of Mori building fame) spent over 30 years buying up enough land (地上げ) to build the mammoth project that Roppongi Hills is today. It took so long because – yes, just like that old lady who lives next to the “planned” new runway at Narita – there is always someone who refuses to sell!)

It is a well kept secret that Heartland actually existed in the very same spot as it does today way back before Mori started his buying spree. In fact Heartland, was just as much a “symbol of the times” back then in the middle of the shagadelic bubble era as it is today. At the time it was a huge gamble for Kirin to release such a rough tasting Western style beer but it paid off quickly and Heartland turned into a roaring success. In fact the bar was such a hit that it turned into something of a cult (ハートランド教) and the 店長 (tencho, manager) was quickly promoted into the senior echelons of Kirin’s management team.

That tencho, was a young man called Mr. Maeda (前田仁). Budding black belts in beer trivia will recognize that name as the man who subsequently came up with the concept of Ichibanshibori (一番搾り). More recently he has been the brains behind both the Tanrei (淡麗) and Hyoketsu (氷結) series. Maeda clearly has the Midas Touch at Kirin Beeru. Maeda acknowledges that heartland was controversial at the time and even shows some emotion when he admits that finally, after over two decades, Japan has caught up with Heartland (「時代がハートランドに追いついた」). Not many companies can boast that their most charismatic MD was chosen for his prowess as a bar tender!

“Beerhall Heartland” as it was named (in true bubble style) at the time, became a hub for bohemian artists and musicians. Many famous musicians today are said to have built up their name by playing live for the regulars at Beerhall Heartland. Apparently Mr. Mori was such a fan of the old Heartland that he insisted on having Heartland once again a part of the newly born Roppongi Hills community. (It’s no coincidence that the architect of the new Heartland (小坂竜) was also a well known regular at the original).

Next time you are enjoying a cold one next to the escalator leading down to that cramped bar, spare a moment to reflect on what the place might have felt like twenty years ago. It’s nice to know that even in such a modern place like Roppongi Hills, there are still remnants of the character and innocence that Roppongi had back then.