It’s festival season here in Tokyo, which means interesting, delicious street food every weekend! Think grilled meats and fish, noodles, chocolate-covered bananas, and sweet mochi.
Here are some of my favorite Japanese festival foods:
Squid-sicle, anyone?
A festival classic anywhere in the world, fried dough! This one had a cinnamon-sugar coating.
Small fish skewered and roasted. The skin is crispy and salty while the meat is moist and tender.
Creamy, rich sea urchin (uni) right out of the beautiful shell!
I can’t for the life of me figure out the name of these delicious little sweets! They taste kind of like pound cake, but they’re crispy on the outside and fluffy inside.
Nikumaki is a ball of sticky rice wrapped in thin, tender beef. I like this version, which is topped off with melted cheese and sesame seeds.
Yakitori are grilled chicken skewers. The pictured skewers are chicken thigh pieces with leeks and my personal favorite: tsukune, which are tender chicken meatballs that are basted with yakitori sauce as they cook.
