Insider Tips for Ordering Food in Japan with ONLY Basic Japanese!

WATCH TO THE END FOR GIVEAWAY DETAILS! 🎉

Book your own unique Japan dining experience on ByFood.com NOW: https://bit.ly/3IBQ7Et

Reserve Akasaka Sushi Ohtani : https://bit.ly/4bxS5SQ

Request a seat reservation at Shirubee: https://bit.ly/3wvicLe

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Join us in welcoming Stephanie, a vibrant addition to our lineup of hosts on ‘Japan By Food’!

Hailing from Australia, Stephanie moved to Japan five years ago to follow her foodie dreams!

Today, as a seasoned food content creator and influencer, Stephanie is ready to be your guide through the bustling streets of Tokyo and beyond. In this new series, with her insider knowledge and knack for uncovering hidden gems, she’ll show you how to savor Japanese cuisine, even if you’re still mastering the language.

From street food, to omakase and then izakayas, in this first episode,Stephanie treks Tokyo armed with recommendations from locals and her own extensive research. Follow along as she enjoys some of Tokyo’s tastiest foods.

How’d the people’s recommendations turn out? Watch to find out!

LOCATIONS

Oimoyasan Koushin
https://maps.app.goo.gl/WQmaUDHeqannuFYi8

Sushi Shirubee
https://bit.ly/3wvicLe

Akasaka Sushi Ohtani
https://bit.ly/4bxS5SQ

FEATURED FOODS
Daigaku-imo
Seared Vinegared Mackerel
Daikon Oden Tower
Nikujaga
Lemon Sour
Mutsu Otokoyama Super Dry Junmai Sake
Sea Urchin and Squid Sushi
Shrimp Fritter with Sea Urchin and Tomato
Fatty Tuna Maki with Sea Grapes
Wagyu Beef and Tuna with Aioli Sauce
Sea Bream & Cherry Blossom Rice Noodles
Spanish-inspired Rice Pudding with Setoka Orange

TIMELINE
00:35 Street Interviews Part 1
2:10 Sweet Potatoes at Oimoyasan Koushin
02:30 Japanese Lesson #1
03:33 Street Interviews Part 2
05:55 Booking Tokyo restaurants
07:16 Shirube (Izakaya)
13:45 Sushi Ohtani
14:33 Omakase course
19:12 Outro

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ABOUT BYFOOD:

ByFood is Japan’s one-stop platform for foodie travelers. Here, visitors can book food experiences (food tours, cooking classes, dining experiences, tastings), place restaurant reservations without Japanese, and learn about Japanese food culture and places to eat in different regions of Japan.

ByFood strives to make Japanese food culture accessible to anyone, removing the language barrier and accommodating dietary needs. And if your perfect food experience isn’t available on our platform, the VIP Gourmet Concierge will create one that is custom-made for you.

Best of all, for every experience that’s booked on byFood, 10 school meals will be donated to children in need through the Food for Happiness program.

Visit us at: https://www.byfood.com
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/byFood4

hi guys my name is Stephanie and today I’ve been tasked with the challenge by the B food team to go on the streets and ask locals for their favorite food recommendations I’m actually a little bit nervous to approach randoms here but I’m also super excited because afterwards we get to try all their food recommendations and I’m pretty hungry do you speak English oh no English before we get started make sure to comment and subscribe and hold on because at the end of the video I have a surprise for you guys and if you like food as much as I do you’re going to love it so let’s [Music] go my name is Stephanie we’re making a video to ask locals about food recommendations in asapa can you speak English oh I’m sorry thank you oh okay we try again oh my heart is like we’re filming a YouTube video yeah uh about food recommendations in aaka do you speak English I don’t speak English oh really you’re English okay thank you so much she was so sweet her English was so good but I think she’s just a little shy me too excuse me hi do you speak English thank you I’m so nervous in aaka what is your favorite food to eat really oh that way okay I’ll go that way thank you so much for your recommendation thank nice to meet you okay as you can see it’s a little bit rainy today and I’ve been trying to find the sweet potato that that girl said before and I’ve been looking everywhere and finally I found it here and it seems really popular lookss so good I’m going to try my best to order in the little Japanese that I know so wish me luck seems like we can get four for 600 Yen I can hear that they speak English that makes me feel better in case I get stuck guys I did it I ordered all in Japanese even though it was super basic basically I said which is like this and then I said K which means cup and then I said hu which means one so that’s how I got one cup yay what you can do at the end when you’re ordering is ADD Kai which means like please in a really polite way which I should have done but I was really nervous actually but we managed to get there in the end so yeah let’s try it I think it is is a fry sweet potato covered in some kind of caramel or sweet sauce and then they’ve topped it with like sesame seeds but smells really sweet like almost like sugary and syrupy M W inside it’s super fluffy actually I was so surprised and the outside is super like not as crunchy as I thought but it’s very very sweet and the sauce is very thick and syrupy like I thought and then you get that like hint of like Sesame at the end it’s actually really good all right now that we’ve done this let’s go ask more people for more recommendations cuz this was so good let’s go even when there’s rain there’s so many people and there’s so many things to try excuse me see said do you speak English oh no English oh okay okay s do you speak English oh no English oh okay thank you so much thank you I keep trying who can we ask that would be friendly enough to give me more recommendations hi my name is Stephanie we’re making a video about different food recommendations from local people so what is your favorite like food in a sucka maybe H we can enjoy this street food that’s why this city have so many street food so then Japanese Sweet Shop ah I see what’s your number one matcha oh matcha matcha like or sweet potato oh I just had sweet potato yeah yes it was so delicious oh very good yeah Everyone likes sweet potato you one yeah so thank you for your help thank you bye hi excuse me my name is Stephanie uh we’re making a YouTube video on asking people for their food recommendations in Tokyo do you speak English oh English expert what kind of restaurant do you like like for drinking alcohol or eating with friends oh isaka oh really how about you oh to oh I like to too in shim oh number one oh really okay we have to go try then thank you all right now that we’ve gotten a bunch of food recommendations I’m really excited to go to shimawa and try isaka food like those boys suggested so what I’m going to do is actually go check on by food.com basically it’s a booking platform if you didn’t know you can book all different kinds of food experiences and make reservations and they have so many different options not just in Tokyo but all over Japan as well so let’s reserve a restaurant we want to go to shimawa so here we’re looking at all the restaurants in shimokawa but if we’re looking for isak Kaya we can also filter it down even more and look here we have this place here called shub and then if I want I can even make a reservation all right so now that I’ve made my reservation on B food and all super quick and easy let’s go eating and [Music] drinking finally arrived in Shima basically this area is known to be super trendy popular with all the locals and I’m so excited we have a really good food recommendation and where we can drink so let’s go as you can see this place is super popular it’s like a kind of young trendy Vibe everyone around here is like kind of on the younger side as well so it makes for a great place to come with friends if you’re looking for someone to go drink which is exactly what we’re doing we’re going to head to that isaka and we’re going to experience what it’s like to drink and eat like a local wow if I didn’t know that this was a restaurant I would be really intimidated to come but thank gosh we have a reservation so hello ooh [Music] well I can see like everything happening in the kitchen it looks so good guys so we finally made it to our shim isaka through b food who would have known this whole place would have been here and actually like even the menu is like kind of intimidating cuz it’s all in Japanese yes they look super beautiful traditional and aesthetic but they are so hard to read and even like in Google Translate they can’t make out like the handwriting what is what is this legal Revival no another belly sweet oh no so I’m so glad this place has an English menu makes it super handy and like easier for my hungriness so what I’m going to do is actually ask for a recommendation and I’m going to try to do it in Japanese so wish me luck see how I go see you my hi [Music] for I’m sweating I’m nervous she was so nice though I did as you guys can kind of tell my Japanese is very minimal so basically I said the first thing I said was sua said which basically is a polite way of saying like excuse me like I need help for attention so if you say that someone will come over to help either take your order or if you need any assistance at all so I also asked for her recommendation and that word is O and then after that I just point and say which means like one order of and then when I’m trying to list things I’ll say like which means like oh and after that or like the next thing that comes after so then they know that I want to order some more things and then when I’m finally done I say it which basically means uh that’s it for now but thank you so yeah a little bit of lemon okay I say three two 1 go after squeeze Lon okay okay I’ll try my best okay it’s like a firecracker oh okay ready three two one go yes nice nice thank you let’s eat meat itself is actually quite sweet and like the lemon like slices through the saltiness and the sweetness of the fish for it’s really good wow look at this Tower I don’t know if you guys can tell but this thing is cute it’s like the size of my hand minus my nails so he said that it was cut already oh oh it’s kind of cut not really oh all right let’s get it m it’s just soak all the way in so it’s so soft that it just like melts in your mouth M so Nik Jaga is actually more of a comfort food here in Japan that you would have at home but this place has kind of revamp it and modernized it and even added more home elements like garlic bread yes this is what I’m talking about can you guys see that steam M the bread is so crispy and garlic that’s so good it’s so sweet and salty and the Egg adds this creaminess oh all the food has been absolutely delicious but we all know why people really come to isaka for a drink so I basically got a lemon sour so what’s inside is lemon soda water and Shu which is not so juice so is basically a Japanese distilled liquor and if you’re in Japan it’s like you have to try it all right so all these nibbles have been really great and of course the drinks too and we came across this place by asking someone for you know a local recommendation on where to eat and what to eat and for the next place actually I wanted to share something with you guys which is you know a Cuisine that I want to try so we’re going to go to akasaka and we’re going to try anaka face so let’s go oh and don’t forget to keep tuning in because I haven’t forgotten I promise you guys a little treat and we’re right around the corner and I promise you it’s super delicious so hang [Music] on all right so we’re here in akasaka MIT and basically this area is known for really good food so you’ll see a lot of high-end businessmen enjoying really good food over here and they’re also known for Michelin star restaurants and I decided to try a sushi Omas course basically Omas means to leave it completely up to the chef so you don’t have to worry about you know deciding what to order having decision paralysis you basically just leave it up to them and you do all the hard work which is eating so let’s go check out this restaurant they even have tokoku which is actually one of the isaka the guy before mentioned it’s super affordable but you know we already went to an isaki today and I want to try something new but maybe we can go next time next time I think it’s this one I would not have guessed that this was a Resturant if I was just walking up here no way this so cool I want to go inside W thank you I could not imagine this place from the outside I had no idea what to expect this is amazing W oh it’s warm so this is an oii basically it’s a wet towel and if you’re lucky it comes warm like this and basically you use it to clean your hands beforehand because we’re going to eat Sushi which means we’re going to use our hands so you want to make sure they’re clean so on the B food website it actually tells you that the course comes with the drink so let’s order something there are so many options and it’s so nice that it’s in English so I can clearly see what I’m ordering so let’s ask some of the staff for their recommendations on what drink I should get see um what drink is your fun oh okay oh it’s a lot of sock it’s so big I can’t imagine like someone drinking all of this oh I’m glad I only got a little bit then all right let’s try it [Music] compai ooh it’s actually very sweet and very fragrant like I could not tell that there is alcohol in this at all it’s is so good this is my speciality first one uni with Squid wow I’ve never had uni and Squid before Chef said I have to do it in one B I will try my best m m so squid is very soft very soft oh but the salt is like like crystallized so you get that little crunch m M that’s my favorite piece thanks that’s my favorite piece for sure this is speciality number two M so many new experiences today it’s like unreal this’s more o this is sh fre with uni and tomato oh so first un side okay after tomato okay M the shrimp is so crispy yeah yeah so this light I powder very crispy and the oil is lice oil and the uni is very different to the other one it’s very light but still like very aromatic this is speciality number three oh Maris funa with sea grapes this is funa with sea grapes and the only fruit yeah this is another Japanese P okay it is heavy it’s very dense oh I definitely one bite two bites no no problem two bites yeah okay I was nervous all right let’s try it m wow if you guys like haven’t tried these sea grapes before you need to try them the texture is unreal it’s like popping little balls of salty goodness it’s so good this B Roo beef deep FR this is SCE this meat is Special Head meat part of the head oh I like part of the head so actually Chef Otani used to live in Spain so he has a lot of Spanish influence in his food and you can clearly see this here with the aoli sauce which I’ve never seen in like Japanese Omak style before and that’s why I love restaurants chefs get to put their like own spin onto these Japanese flavors as well and bring their own own experience into it so I’m super excited for this one too M I did not expect that at all the outside is like so crispy but the inside it just like poof like just disintegrates so softly inside and I can’t believe there’s actually fish in there because it was so like smooth and almost buttery M there that Spanish iOS corn leer rice and milk desert oh yeah at this Restaurant Sushi important rice so uh pass the Japanese soup into the rice noodle yeah fruit rice powder oil is rice oil and finish and rice puding okay yes all rice everything like the hot and all of the restaurant is like a marriage between rice and like the Spanish influence oh it’s a very beautiful story every part yeah very very well thought [Music] out oh and when you bite into the orange it’s like a burst of sweetness so good yeah all right guys that’s it for the meal here at Sushi wani and I am so full but 110% satisfied this experience was truly amazing it was so easy to book but I haven’t forgot the surprise that I was going to share with you and like I mentioned it’s something extra delicious if you want to experience this and dine like a local you actually can we’re giving away this experience to you and one other person basically all you have to do to win this experience is subscribe to the B Food Channel and also comment down below dine like a local and someone one of you will be right here where I am so yeah if you miss out on the giveaway don’t worry though you can also book The Experience on by food.com as well as be as well so make sure to check it out but that’s it for today guys thank you so much for tuning in I had a really fun time posting my first byy food video so hope to see you guys in the next one guys I’m so full I have to go home now I’m so tired [Music]