The flavors of Sakai City

In Osaka prefecture in Japan, there's said to be a strong tradition of indulging in extravagant food. The Japanese even have a word to describe the locals' mad passion for eating – “kuiadore." Kuiadore, it seems, is also very much alive and well in Sakai, a city located just 20 minutes away from the Osaka city by train. Centuries ago, the harbor of Sakai City served as an important hub of international trade. Until today, the city's multicultural influences and access to a wealth of ingredients from land and sea have created a medley of flavors. The first place we ate during our week-long stay in Sakai was Noraya, part of a restaurant chain that first started in the Osaka area in the '90s and has since spread throughout Japan. Noraya's house specialty is udon, a type of thick noodle made from wheat-flour served in hot broth with meat or vegetable toppings. Though a bit pricey by Filipino standards, the food at Noraya is considered affordable in Japan. And by any measure, the servings are generous. A set meal costs around ¥1280 (P640) and includes hot udon soup served in a bowl about as big as a helmet, a bowl of Japanese rice, and crispy vegetable and prawn tempura. Udon noodle soup can be served a number of ways – with prawns, plums, fish cakes, fried tofu, pork strips, or even with curry. But I had the most classic version-- topped with slices of beef and chopped green scallions. Slurping this soup was like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket after a day of walking in the rain-- simple yet incredibly satisfying, not to mention filling. I could barely finish the tangled mass of centimeter-thick noodles at the bottom of my bowl. The crispy, fluffy vegetable and prawn tempura provided a perfect contrast to the lusciousness of the soup. While udon is a dish found throughout Japan, some dishes are considered specialties of the Osaka area. One example is okonomiyaki, nicknamed by some as a “Japanese pizza," but is really more similar to a pancake or omelette. Okonomiyaki is basically a round, flat mixture of egg, vegetables, seafood, or meat that's been mixed into a batter and cooked on a hot griddle. We ate at Juraku, one of the most famous okonomiyaki restaurants in Sakai. For the past 48 years, Sakai city residents have been going to Juraku to enjoy affordable and delicious okonomiyaki. The cheapest version comes with only pork and costs ¥650 (around P325) while the most expensive “everything on it" version comes with vegetables, chicken, prawns, beef, and pork and costs around ¥1,500 or (P750). Watching the okonomiyaki grilled in front of you is part of the whole dining experience. A grill cook will mix a bowl of egg, flour, vegetables and meat and then pour the batter onto a hot griddle, where the fritter will cook until crispy on both sides. Golden brown on the outside, but gooey and full of surprises on the inside, the cooked okonomiyaki is the ultimate power breakfast, a kind of Pinoy torta gone mad: rubbery squid and shrimp and crunchy cabbage, cooked into a velvety egg pancake and topped with a dusting of ground green seaweed and a zig-zag drizzling of Japanese mayo. It's no wonder Osaka natives like to ditch the chopsticks and eat this dish using the same metal spatula it was cooked with. The stuff is so tasty, why waste time with extra utensils? During our trip, we also had the chance to enjoy a classic bento box-- literally, the Japanese version of a boxed lunch. Bento boxes are usual fare for office workers and school children because they're compact but full of goodies. While visiting a typical elementary school in Sakai, we were served with bento boxes with two layers, each one containing a virtual mini-buffet of 10 to 15 different bite-sized items. I didn't know what many of the items even were, but I was able to identify bite-sized clumps of sushi rice topped with sesame seeds, tamago or egg omlettes, boiled taro and squash pieces, shrimp and shellfish, a cupcake tray filled with boiled soybeans, and flavored chicken balls. Dining on a bento box was a novel experience for me, a Pinoy who's used to eating simple meals of rice and meat. In contrast, the bento box doesn't revolve around any single dish, but is composed of a hodgepodge of pieces, each similar in smallness but unique in flavor, eventually harmonizing into a most satisfying meal. But of all the delicious things we had in Sakai, the most memorable and surprising for me was also the simplest -- a delicious cup of green matcha tea. Historians say that the Japanese tea ceremony actually originated in Sakai City during the middle ages, when samurai would discuss battle plans over green tea. Hundreds of years later, the tradition of drinking tea is still alive and well in Sakai, even if the samurai now live only in their folklore. At the Shin-An Tea House, tucked away in a bamboo grove in the heart of the city's central park, visitors can pay ¥300 for a cup of hot matcha tea prepared by a real tea master. Green tea is often prepared by steeping green tea leaves in hot water; but matcha tea is actually made by grinding dried tea leaves into a fine powder, which is then mixed directly into hot water. This gives matcha tea a stronger flavor and thicker consistency. As a coffee drinker, I never thought of green tea as little more than subtly flavored hot water. But matcha managed to combine into a single cup the luxuriousness of hot cappuccino, the bittersweetness of dark cocoa, and the freshness of green salad. I could almost feel the stress in my body dissolve as I held the tea cup in both hands and sipped my cares away. After a week of dining in Sakai, I still can’t figure out any one way to describe the food I ate. The Japanese may like to put their food in boxes, but it’s not easy to put their cuisine in one. I found it fascinating how the same culture responsible for a meal as familiar and no-frills as udon noodle soup, can also create a dining experience as unpredictable and playful as a bento. In the end, it’s best to stop trying to put Japanese cuisine in a bento box and just say, oishi (delicious). - GMANews.TV