Japanese Soul Cooking: Ramen, Tonkatsu, Tempura, and More from the Streets and Kitchens of Tokyo and Beyond [A Cookbook]

I just realized i hadnt written a review for this book. It is a wonderful resource. I always intend to cook more from it -- and i will! -- but the few things I HAVE tried have been divine. It is worth the cost just for the gyoza recipe. (I have made a million dumplings over the eons too). gyoza wrappers are so much more delicate -- and this version has you lightly salt the cabbage and then squeeze out -- SO much easier than precooking -- and so much better a texture than just tossing in raw. I will go in and cook more -- but needed to add my bravo to this great book!!

This book is a dream find for me! It contains so many of the foods my mother made (she is from Shikoku) when I was growing up! While I make curry, yakisoba, oyako donburi, and the like, this book allows me to make so many of my childhood favorites. Thank you so much to the authors for this enticing trip down memory lane!

This book paid for itself with one recipe! I made the Retro Curry yesterday and it was the best Japanese curry I’ve had since visiting Osaka last year. We’ve eaten Japanese curry many times but it’s usually mediocre and lacking flavor and depth. The curry we had in Osaka was a whole different experience and I have been searching ever since for something comparable but have found nothing outside of Japan. In Japanese restaurants in China and Thailand even we found nothing like it. So you have to understand how excited I was to make my first attempt at a recipe out of this book and find it was something I’ve been searching for for the last year. Now I’m looking forward to trying more recipes. If they are at or even near the quality of the curry, this book will become my favorite cookbook of all time!

The Japanese cook book you've been waiting for! Not only does this book teach you the recipes for the dishes you've been hunting for, but it teaches you how to prepare the necessary bases in japanese cooking! Sauces, broths and other traditional staples in japanese cooking can now be made from scratch in your kitchen! Soy sauce isn't the only ingredient you should keep in your fridge for japanese cooking! Ponzu sauce, okonomiyaki sauce, white miso paste, Mirin, Rice vinigar, Yakitori sauce and Nikiri Sauce are but a few you will know, love and always keep around after learning from this book!

I'm really enjoying this book! I've made delicious gyoza with the miso dipping sauce and it was amazing, lettuce with ginger-carrot dressing was amazing, ... the chapters include ramen, gyoza, curry, .... sobe, udon ... I live in a rural area but I used to live on East 9th street in the East Village of NY and at that time it was a center for traditional Japanese food and I really miss it so this book is wonderful in that it is allowing me to enjoy those flavors again!

I moved to Fiji after spending five years in Japan and I sorely missed ramen, kara-age, okonomiyaki, and yoshoku (Japanized western dishes). When I saw this cookbook, I doubted I would be able to make any of them here because of my lack of access to foreign ingredients. A few shops carry Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman), sake, and mirin, but I couldn't find most of the ingredients listed by the cookbooks I bought in Japan. This wasn't the case with "Japanese Soul Cooking": because it's written for a foreign audience, it makes do with the most basic Japanese ingredients and even teaches how to make some condiments like Tonkatsu sauce from scratch. And because one of the authors is a Japanese chef, the recipes live up to my memory of the comfort food I enjoyed in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hiroshima. And the best part is, they're not complicated at all: I was able to make three recipes from this book in just one week (they were all hits, by the way, especially the Nagoya Tebasaki). I'd recommend this to those who are missing authentic Japanese soul food, no matter where they are (as long as they have access to soy sauce, sake, mirin, miso, and dashi, they're all set). Here's what you can make with this cookbook: Ramen (Shoyu, Miso, and Shio Ramen, among others), Gyoza (includes recipes for homemade rayu & miso dipping sauce), Curry (without the boxed roux!), Tonkatsu (with recipes for panko & tonkatsu sauce, Furai & Korokke (plus how to make Japanese-style tartar sauce and salads), Kara-age (with a recipe for homemade ponzu), Tempura (with step-by-step pictures for making the batter), Okonomiyaki (both Osaka and Hiroshima styles, plus takoyaki and yakisoba), Donburi (nine variations of pure comfort), Soba (hot & cold dishes), Udon (wide range from classics to a modern cold version with fresh tomatoes), Itame & Chahan (stir-fries and fried rice), and Yoshoku (gratins, steaks, and pasta). Highly recommended. Hats off to the authors!

I recently read that over 100,000 Japanese restaurants now exist . . . outside of Japan. This terrific cookbook captures some of the more popular dishes, and they are indeed comfort/soul food. We have a generous library of cookbooks, and this is one of my favorites. Great recipes, ample photos, and one of the best recipes I've ever tried for one of the top "soul food" dishes popular in Japan itself, curry, only this one has a special "Battleship Curry" included. Nothing super esoteric or overly fancy here, no Kaiseki, just darn good recipes which you'll enjoy making over and over again!

I bought this book mostly because I want to learn how to make traditional ramen, you know, the good stuff. I found the concept of making ramen daunting and complex. This book didn't really help much. I think I assumed this book was geared toward non-Japanese people who wanted to make Japanese food at home, but I think it assumes you have some basic knowledge of terminology or ingredients. Some ingredients are explained in the index, but others are not. Perhaps they didn't have enough overseas beta readers to point out things that need explaining. It seems like the people who enjoy it most are people who used to live in Japan for extended periods of time from what I can tell in other reviews. In most recipes it references another recipe, so each recipe isn't really complete because you have to reference multiple recipes for ingredients and instructions. Even though it would be redundant, I kinda wish the base recipes were in each of the recipes that use it (if that makes sense). Flipping back and forth between recipes, making sure you have all the ingredients, and trying to figure out timing when they are separated can feel quite overwhelming. I didn't expect making ramen to be simple, but this book didn't really help me to understand it any better. I'll probably end up making Joshua Weissman's tonkotsu ramen or Asian at Home's shoyu ramen.

I think the book is a great addition to understanding accessible Japanese food - including an interesting historical perspective. That said, I also believe it does a disservice to the broader spectrum of foods from Japan - by starting with "Let's start with a groundbreaking moment back in 1892, when Emperor Meiji of Japan did something no other ruler of that country had done for a thousand years, namely, bite into a juicy hunk of meat in public.". With this intro, you know the book is doomed to be dominated by mostly contemporary hybrids of dishes: heavily relying on chicken, pork and beef - not he most traditional or even the dominant trend; incredibly lacking on seafood and vegetarian dishes - both major components of food elements in Japan - yesterday, today and tomorrow.

This book is superb. Great for the home cook and not loaded with complex time consuming processes. I have the Simply Ramen book which is nice, but the raman soup base recipes are a bit laborious. I have made them and have the time to do so, but think the Soul Food approach is about as good. I am not a sushi fan so this book is great as it covers street food which I prefer.

I just realized i hadnt written a review for this book. It is a wonderful resource. I always intend to cook more from it -- and i will! -- but the few things I HAVE tried have been divine. It is worth the cost just for the gyoza recipe. (I have made a million dumplings over the eons too). gyoza wrappers are so much more delicate -- and this version has you lightly salt the cabbage and then squeeze out -- SO much easier than precooking -- and so much better a texture than just tossing in raw. I will go in and cook more -- but needed to add my bravo to this great book!!

This book is a dream find for me! It contains so many of the foods my mother made (she is from Shikoku) when I was growing up! While I make curry, yakisoba, oyako donburi, and the like, this book allows me to make so many of my childhood favorites. Thank you so much to the authors for this enticing trip down memory lane!

This book paid for itself with one recipe! I made the Retro Curry yesterday and it was the best Japanese curry I’ve had since visiting Osaka last year. We’ve eaten Japanese curry many times but it’s usually mediocre and lacking flavor and depth. The curry we had in Osaka was a whole different experience and I have been searching ever since for something comparable but have found nothing outside of Japan. In Japanese restaurants in China and Thailand even we found nothing like it. So you have to understand how excited I was to make my first attempt at a recipe out of this book and find it was something I’ve been searching for for the last year. Now I’m looking forward to trying more recipes. If they are at or even near the quality of the curry, this book will become my favorite cookbook of all time!

The Japanese cook book you've been waiting for! Not only does this book teach you the recipes for the dishes you've been hunting for, but it teaches you how to prepare the necessary bases in japanese cooking! Sauces, broths and other traditional staples in japanese cooking can now be made from scratch in your kitchen! Soy sauce isn't the only ingredient you should keep in your fridge for japanese cooking! Ponzu sauce, okonomiyaki sauce, white miso paste, Mirin, Rice vinigar, Yakitori sauce and Nikiri Sauce are but a few you will know, love and always keep around after learning from this book!

I'm really enjoying this book! I've made delicious gyoza with the miso dipping sauce and it was amazing, lettuce with ginger-carrot dressing was amazing, ... the chapters include ramen, gyoza, curry, .... sobe, udon ... I live in a rural area but I used to live on East 9th street in the East Village of NY and at that time it was a center for traditional Japanese food and I really miss it so this book is wonderful in that it is allowing me to enjoy those flavors again!

I moved to Fiji after spending five years in Japan and I sorely missed ramen, kara-age, okonomiyaki, and yoshoku (Japanized western dishes). When I saw this cookbook, I doubted I would be able to make any of them here because of my lack of access to foreign ingredients. A few shops carry Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman), sake, and mirin, but I couldn't find most of the ingredients listed by the cookbooks I bought in Japan. This wasn't the case with "Japanese Soul Cooking": because it's written for a foreign audience, it makes do with the most basic Japanese ingredients and even teaches how to make some condiments like Tonkatsu sauce from scratch. And because one of the authors is a Japanese chef, the recipes live up to my memory of the comfort food I enjoyed in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hiroshima. And the best part is, they're not complicated at all: I was able to make three recipes from this book in just one week (they were all hits, by the way, especially the Nagoya Tebasaki). I'd recommend this to those who are missing authentic Japanese soul food, no matter where they are (as long as they have access to soy sauce, sake, mirin, miso, and dashi, they're all set). Here's what you can make with this cookbook: Ramen (Shoyu, Miso, and Shio Ramen, among others), Gyoza (includes recipes for homemade rayu & miso dipping sauce), Curry (without the boxed roux!), Tonkatsu (with recipes for panko & tonkatsu sauce, Furai & Korokke (plus how to make Japanese-style tartar sauce and salads), Kara-age (with a recipe for homemade ponzu), Tempura (with step-by-step pictures for making the batter), Okonomiyaki (both Osaka and Hiroshima styles, plus takoyaki and yakisoba), Donburi (nine variations of pure comfort), Soba (hot & cold dishes), Udon (wide range from classics to a modern cold version with fresh tomatoes), Itame & Chahan (stir-fries and fried rice), and Yoshoku (gratins, steaks, and pasta). Highly recommended. Hats off to the authors!

I recently read that over 100,000 Japanese restaurants now exist . . . outside of Japan. This terrific cookbook captures some of the more popular dishes, and they are indeed comfort/soul food. We have a generous library of cookbooks, and this is one of my favorites. Great recipes, ample photos, and one of the best recipes I've ever tried for one of the top "soul food" dishes popular in Japan itself, curry, only this one has a special "Battleship Curry" included. Nothing super esoteric or overly fancy here, no Kaiseki, just darn good recipes which you'll enjoy making over and over again!

I bought this book mostly because I want to learn how to make traditional ramen, you know, the good stuff. I found the concept of making ramen daunting and complex. This book didn't really help much. I think I assumed this book was geared toward non-Japanese people who wanted to make Japanese food at home, but I think it assumes you have some basic knowledge of terminology or ingredients. Some ingredients are explained in the index, but others are not. Perhaps they didn't have enough overseas beta readers to point out things that need explaining. It seems like the people who enjoy it most are people who used to live in Japan for extended periods of time from what I can tell in other reviews. In most recipes it references another recipe, so each recipe isn't really complete because you have to reference multiple recipes for ingredients and instructions. Even though it would be redundant, I kinda wish the base recipes were in each of the recipes that use it (if that makes sense). Flipping back and forth between recipes, making sure you have all the ingredients, and trying to figure out timing when they are separated can feel quite overwhelming. I didn't expect making ramen to be simple, but this book didn't really help me to understand it any better. I'll probably end up making Joshua Weissman's tonkotsu ramen or Asian at Home's shoyu ramen.

I think the book is a great addition to understanding accessible Japanese food - including an interesting historical perspective. That said, I also believe it does a disservice to the broader spectrum of foods from Japan - by starting with "Let's start with a groundbreaking moment back in 1892, when Emperor Meiji of Japan did something no other ruler of that country had done for a thousand years, namely, bite into a juicy hunk of meat in public.". With this intro, you know the book is doomed to be dominated by mostly contemporary hybrids of dishes: heavily relying on chicken, pork and beef - not he most traditional or even the dominant trend; incredibly lacking on seafood and vegetarian dishes - both major components of food elements in Japan - yesterday, today and tomorrow.

This book is superb. Great for the home cook and not loaded with complex time consuming processes. I have the Simply Ramen book which is nice, but the raman soup base recipes are a bit laborious. I have made them and have the time to do so, but think the Soul Food approach is about as good. I am not a sushi fan so this book is great as it covers street food which I prefer.

This cookbook is amazing. I was intimidated by learning to cook Japanese and this book breaks it down. They make ramen accessible. The recipe is broken into parts - that can be made separately and stored. So each part can be made ahead of time, in bulk. That makes day of prep so much easier. I've tried some the ramen base recipe, udon, and soba. I look forward to trying others.

I love this book. It teaches the basic and fundamentals of dishes and recipes and from there I learned to what I had on hand to make the best non traditional Raman made with lamb. Now the first few times I fallowed the recipe to a T but that meant a special trip to the Asian market. But because they break down whats in the recipe and why and whats the difference between and historical and region of recipes makes it adaptable.

These are some amazing recipes. There are a lot of very interesting and unique recipes, and many of them include interesting historical background, such as the Japanese Navy curry contests. The recipes I've tried so far turned out well. I give this book five stars, I'd give more if I could because a lot of cookbooks like this aren't that easy to follow, but this one is perfect for the average non-Japanese amateur cook. Most ingredients are readily available, a few ingredients will require a trip to your local Asian market. Which you should already know if you do any Asian cooking at all.

It not only teaches you how to make dozens of amazing Japanese dishes, it also teaches you a lot about where they come from and what makes them special. Also an amazing guide to finding great new foods to try while visiting Japan. The recipes are not only easy to follow with much needed explanations of how to shop for unfamiliar ingredients, but they truly seem to have sought out some of the best versions of each recipe as well!

If you enjoy Japanese food, I would like to recommend this book. I wanted to make ramen and it just seemed so complicated. This book makes it really accessible. He writes recipes like I cook, with suggestions for what parts are essential, what can be skipped or substituted and everything I have made has been a hit! Beef curry simmering on the stove now. 🤤Photo was taken after slurping several bites of noodles (very important to slurp in order to show you appreciation to the chef- which was me!).

This book is everything I was looking for in a Japanese cookbook. It's entertaining with all of the beautiful photos as well as educational in that it teaches you specific terms and components of Japanese cuisine. If you are serious about getting hands on experience with Japanese cooking then this is the book for you. It's so well made and has a nice weight. Even the paper is high quality. I made a recipe out of the book and couldn't believe how well it turned out! This will be one of my most beloved books from now on.

I love this book! When I lived in Japan I loved the food,but when I asked my Japanese friends to teach me to make my favorite dishes they would make them up and bring the dishes to my apartment,which was incredibly generous,but I still didn't know how to make the dishes for myself. Now I can make all my favorites for myself!

Binding can damaged but wonderful cook book other than that

I initially purchased this book to learn how to make Japanese curry at home without the roux blocks, because Japanese curry is my comfort food. I tried the battleship curry, among the six(!) curry recipes in the book, which turned out tasting closer to the roux blocks than I had thought possible, and I've got ideas on how to improve on it next time. I've also tried the chicken kara-age recipe, which turned out excellent, as well. The recipes are all pretty accessible for a Western home chef , and anything weird could be found on Amazon. I'm excited to try the hamburg steak and possibly omurice. I'm very pleased with adding this cookbook to my collection!

Love this book! Absolutely love the recipes in here! If you're trying to learn Japanese cooking HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

I was really happy to find this book on home style cooking from Japan. I grew up in Japan and was getting frustrated that most books in English had the same kinds of recipes but not really home style ones. Typically sushi, tempura, things that many people in Japan don't really make at home. I enjoyed the photos, too.

I am bored with my old fashioned midwestern cooking, so I bought this book. Full of fresh, easy recipes that don't require a lot of exotic ingredients. Highly recommend. Many of the recipes are naturally low in fat and high in nutrition (esp. B vitamins).

Wonderful book. Interesting history, great recipes that are well written. I've tried multiple recipes from this book and each one has been wonderful. I would highly recommend giving this book a try.

The book is good about the history of the foods and the flavor profiles. The recipes are good and clear but uses more specialty ingredients and sub recipes the you would expect. This is going to take more then one trip to the specialty market. I still enjoyed it and made some of the Curries, which were excellent, the other recipes just let me know how much work goes in to these dishes.

I lived in Japan for two years, and in that time, I was able to taste and try many different kinds of Japanese food, many of which you can find in this book. In clear instructions, Ono and Salat explain not only how to make many popular/comfort foods in Japan, but why they are so popular and beloved. I'm so glad that even while I now am back in the US, I have found a book to help me learn how to make some of the foods I came to adore while living in Japan. :)

I get pretty tired of receiving cookbooks without great photographs of every single recipe. I see no point in a cookbook without colorful photos for every recipe. We eat with our eyes.

If like myself you are curious and enjoy food from the east, want to know some more, want to know what some of the things you see in an Asian store then this is for you. My already well thumbed copy shows that I use this book often both for its recipes and as a reference point for when l go off on a cooking riff. Sauces like Tomkatsu or curry are a real creative mix of old and new, east and west. It has taught me the rudimentaries of Japanese food while also encouraging a further look into what makes up the cuisine of Japan.

I've made 3 recipes so far out of this book and I'm in love. Well organized book with all the info you need. Ingredients are easy to find, they even explain how to make certain ingredients from scratch. There's a whole section on tempura. I love everything in this book. Excellent buy.

This book makes me confident that I can choose any recipe in it and it will turn out well. The recipes use common ingredients in any Japanese kitchen and directions are simple and easy to follow. Flavors are spot-on. Lived in Japan for 8 years and I miss this kind of homey fried food/rice bowls. Used to be intimidated by frying food but tonkatsu and tatsutaage are now staples in my repertoire. I bought another cookbook "Japanese Home Cooking" by Sonoko Sakai, but "Japanese Soul Cooking" is much more useful and clearly written IMO.

In a nutshell, if you're looking how to cook that popular dish from the local izakaya (japanese pub eatery), then this is a good place to start. Basically this cook book has all the most popular dishes you'd find at most izakaya. If you mastered everything in this book, you would actually be able to open your own izakaya as all these dishes in this book are available at my local izakaya lol. But anyways, recipes are concise, usually 1 page with a page of pictures, which is great. It might just show you the most important parts of the recipe like how to cut a fish for frying and stuff like that, which i really like. I can list all the types of food, but it's basically this, ramen (the 3 basic styles (no tonkotsu) including shoyu egg), soba, udon (including nabeyaki), gyoza (japanese potsticker), donburi (rice bowls), japanese curries (including the famous navy curry), tempura (including kakiage (fried vegies)), karaage (lightly fried chicken/fish), japanese pasta (including uni), omu rice, chahan (fried rice), tonkatsu (pork cutlet), okonomiyake (famous osaka pancake), side dishes like japanese potato salad, hamburg steak, you get the idea, it's like the most popular dishes are in this book, there are about 4-5 recipes in all these sub sections above, but cover most of the things you've seen in izakaya type restaurants. Anyways, great book to have on the shelf when inviting friends over for some home style local japanese foods that every japanese and non japanese alike know and love.

This is IT. This is the one. This is the Japanese cookbook I've been looking for. This has probably my favorite oyakodon recipe of all time - and I make oyakodon about twice a month at least. I've always followed the rule of putting all the egg in last all at once and trying to make it somehow both just set and custardy. Their plan of pouring in half, waiting for it to set, and then pouring in more so that you have set AND custardy eggs - how had I never thought of this before? Tastes so good and much harder to screw up. The doria is also great. The cookbook would be worth it for those two alone, but then it also gets in to curry rice and karaage...so awesome. Really, really love this cookbook.

I love this book! Beautiful photos, delicious recipes and detailed explanations. I would recommend it!

Love this book. I've made so many recipes from it, and they've all been delicious. Most of them are pretty easy too, even on a weeknight.

I returned this book. I don't think its bad, but I wasn't super impressed with the recipes and felt that I could just find better ones online.

The recipes look great and I only tried one so far and I liked it. However, the direction can be sometimes confusing and I had to read carefully and slowly in order to not miss a step. In addition, there is a picture of Seaweed Salad in the book but there is no recipe for it. I was very disappointing by that because I really love Seaweed salad.

great Recipes and easy to follow...very traditional and I like that as I have been to japan and am loking for that type of simple yet delicious food!

I wanted a book to give my daughter so she could enjoy some of the wonderful foods I remember from my time in japan

Finally found some of the down home dishes that my husband fondly remembers from growing up in Japan. Great for the everyday taste, not just the fancy food.

This is a great book. It will change your cooking game and leave you smiling. Easy too.

Our cookbook club held a meeting for this book and everything was tasty and easily prepared! The flavors were very comforting and appealing. I made the shrimp and shiso gyoza and I can't wait to try more recipes!

This book is great. It has a simpler, less time consuming recipe for ramen that is pretty fantastic. There's enough to pictures and explanations of techniques that make this book great to follow for advanced chefs and beginners. It also throws in cultural background and a history lesson here and there. Would recommend to anyone who loves making tasty food from scratch. The soul cooking in the title is no joke. This is basically a book of Japanese comfort food. The authors have done a great job of taking traditional Japanese recipes and exposing them to an American audience.

My husband bought this for me for Christmas 2014. I love it. We're cooked a few of the recipes when we feel adventurous so far. I'm so glad I have it in my collection. I love Japanese food and these recipes are really good.

I lived in Japan when I was young, back in the 1980s. When I came home I was disappointed with the lack of everyday, common Japanese food. It was all sushi, which is fine, but I missed the yakisoba and okonomiyaki I remember eating at such places as supermarkets in Japan. I also LOVE gyoza. This is a very nicely constructed book. Photos throughout to help, and many recipes that I love.

The book quality is great, the recipes are easy to follow and the pictures that accompany them are great. Really recommended for those that one to start cooking Japanese food.

I wanted to try making some simple authentic Japanese meals. This book runs the spectrum of dishes, and, while there may be some prep work involved, none of the dishes is particularly difficult to make. It's great to have from-scratch recipes for sauces and noodles! I'd rather stock multiple-use ingredients than single-use condiments. Highest recommendation.

Loved the book, not only for ramen but all the recipes are easy to follow :)

I have a lot of Japanese cookbooks (I used to live in Japan), and I'm pretty good at picking out only good ones. This is one of the best, and is great for some of the more common Japanese foods which for some reason don't always find their way into other cookbooks.

A lot of fun recipes! Creating dishes to share my culture with family and friends can be overwhelming but this book made so many dishes fun and comprehensive. Can't wait to make my way through all of the food!

Amazing authentic recipes

Just disappointing!

I've bought a lot of Asian cookbooks, and this is the best & most useful. Great recipes, nicely detailed & easy to prepare. Focuses mostly on noodle recipes - Ramen, Soba, Uden, and more. You won't regret buying this book.

We found this book in the library, and my daughter had to have it. Come to think of it, she hasn’t been cooking anything from it in awhile. Hmm! This is a wonderful and useful book. It has stories behind the food. Awesome reference too.

Good information

Wow! This book is amazing! The recipes are simply fantastic! I've made nearly every recipe in this book and I have yet to taste one that I haven't liked. I also like the small section (before each food chapter and sometimes before an individual recipe), explaining a little about the dish's background. For example, for the recipe for Waraji Katsu, the paragraph under the title explains that "waraji means 'snowshoes' in Japanese", and then adds more information how the dish originated in Tokyo. This makes the book interesting to read even if you don't make any of the recipes. (But I totally recommend you try the recipes.)

Every dish I've made from this book, even those incorporating ingredient substitutions, has been a home run. It's an absolute treasure trove.

The recipes in this book are so good, easy to do, and luscious to eat. I am enjoying this book.

All the fast Japanese food you want to make and eat

Abounding in information. Really like this book. So happy with my purchase.

I love how it is written.

Really enjoyed the cookbook. The Retro Curry was really good. I hope to get further into it

Great

I love this book because it contains a vide variety of recipes for food that I enjoyed in Japan. So much goodness packed into one cookbook. I highly recommend it.

This book is kick ass! Love the recipes in it. Lots of street food type stuff. Great book if your missing the food in Japan.

I got this book with absolutely zero skill in the kitchen, I've made atleast 5 or so dishes from it and they all turned out excellent! My dad asked for seconds! Absolute must for upstart cooks looking for a manageable challenge and those who love japanese cuisine!

I love this book. I don't really have anything to add to that. Thanks

This book is bright and colorful-haven't made any recipes yet but they look legit.

Love this cookbook. Just got back from Japan and I find the recipes to be very authentic. I was able to recreate some of my favorite meals from Japan.

I just tried the lamb curry recipe and it was delicious. One thing I hope will be fixed in the re-print: the first step is to braise the lamb and then set it aside, but the recipe doesn’t say when to add the lamb back in.

Great

I have not tried a recipe as yet but the book is full of wonderful recipes. I'm only half way through the book and will start trying out recipes soon. The problem will be deciding which one to try first.

Great pics, recipes, and history

so much food to try

I love this cook book. The recipes can be complicated but they turn out so good!

I have cooked a few recipes out of this book and they have turned our great. The recipes are easy to follow and accurate when followed so it is easy cooking as far as I've tried.

This cook book focuses more on fusion/comfort food. If you are looking for traditional Japanese look elsewhere.

So far we have tried several recipes and they have all been great ! The Mabo Don was a big hit with the kids (8,12 & 14) we already recommend this book to several of our foodie friends. Thanks again.

Very informative guide to Japanese cooking. Learned all kinds of techniques and ingredient combinations that I use in other non Japanese recipes as well. Worth every penny!

I love this book! I did have to make a trip to the Japanese supermarket to purchase some of the ingredients, so if you don't have access to a market that sells these items it may be difficult to make most of the recipes. We made Tan Tan Men last night, and it was so good!

I love this cookbook and use it often. Easy recipes to follow and good knowledge on dipping sauces.

This is a great book if you love Japanese soul food or want to eat what your favorite anime characters are always inhaling. The ingredients are simply and the flavors really shine.

Phenomenal tasting recipes. It might take some research to find some of the ingredients but most are available in major cities. The soup recipes are amazing, which is the main reason we purchased the book.

Just what I was looking for, easy to read reciepes ,not to many ingredients perfect mixture of great reciepes.

I have made the classic pork gyoza recipe and the okonomiyai recipe and both have turned out amazing! I love everything about this cookbook - the pictures are beautiful, the instructions clear, and it even gives little pieces of history about each of the dishes.

Reminded me of food my mom made when I was a kid.

This is pretty much a master class on many, many different Japanese staples! I love the variety of sauces, the variety of items, and the ease of use. This is an AMAZING book!

My son loves it

the book arrived damaged. The corner of the cover is broken and the top of the pages in the center are torn. So disappointed.

As advertised.

I LOVE this cook book. The recipes are really simple and easy to follow but the food is AMAZING. It has also done well to expand my repertoire.

To complicated. Ingredients are not readily available.

I dislike that there aren't a lot of pictures

Great book

I bought this book primarily for the ramen recipes and because I wanted to surprise my Japanese wife with some authentic home cooked meals. So far the curry and ramen recipes that I've tried have produced solid, better than average results. I also like that this is very much a book about home cooking and that the authors have attempted to adapt the recipes to that scenario without unreasonable expectations. (For instance they openly admit that Hakata ramen is "basically impossible to cook at home"). Overall, its a good book if your a novice at Japanese cooking like I am. The book has a wide range of recipes, it's well organized and the recipes appear to be trustworthy.

I'm working my way through this book. A great reference and a good way to start cooking Japanese food. Highly recommend this book!

One of my absolute favorite cookbooks that I've reached for again and again. It's everything I've ever wanted in a Japanese cookbook. The Book is well illustrated, the recipes are well explained and easy to follow, and all of my favorites are there. What more could I ask for?? Highly reccomended.

Really good recipe book and it's a good read, lots of information.

Easy to follow recipes some I cannot make due to lack of finding ingredients. No problem if I was still in Calif.

We were cooking totally authentic tonkatsu, ramen and even curry that we normally only get in Vancouver. Enjoyably written introductions and good, clear directions.

Brought me back to the years I was stationed in Japan. Love their food and wish that I could make it as satisfying as they do.

This book is awesome. I just bought the second book and just tried it out today exactly like food from Japan. I would recommend it to anyone.

Great gift

Ah yes very nice book. I love trying to cook new thing especially japanese food mmm

Husband really liked the recipes. Bought two more for his sisters

A great set of real down home Japanese recipes. I've been looking for a book like this for a long time. No sushi here.

A glimpse into the more casual side of Japanese cooking with recipes that are easy to follow and try to replicate at home. I have purchased cookbooks by Tadashi Ono in the past and this is no different. He has a passion for Japanese cooking and is adventurous enough to expand from the traditional. I use this book often.

I love this cookbook. Already cooking the recipes. Small portions and not much guidance on scaling up but delicious.

Everything in this book that I've made has been really tasty and pretty darned easy to cook. Can't really ask much more as I've been starting my Japanese culinary education.

Great book... will buy more for xmas gifts

Great Book. Lot of variety of recipes to try and very concise and easy to understand instructions.

I have a few Japanese cookbooks but this one is my favorite. The instructions are very easy to follow and the author's conversational writing makes this book an enjoyable read. I especially like the instructional photos for some dishes. There's a recipe for Takoyaki here that asks you to use a special pan but you can get away with using and Ebelskiver pan here. A very savory treat. If you are going to commit to one Japanese cookbook, this is it, folks!

Well written. VERY informative. This will be my "Go to" book on this great cuisine.

Great experience. Came quickly.

This book won’t give you enough information. It may be a good book to learn what Japanese street food included. However, the recipes won’t help you to make a good Japanese food.

I love this cook book. These are exactly the recipes I have been missing since I moved away from Japan. There's a good mix between long, involved recipes, like making Ramen stock, to really quick and easy ones like the Korokke and fried food recipes.

Very good and interesting recipes

Lots of recipes and very detailed information about regional differences

Excellent recipes easy to find ingredients, very tasty!

I wanted a book that provided an overview of easy Japanese comfort food, especially my favorite Japanese curry. This book has an all encompassing list of recipes for daily Japanese food. Most don't require Japanese-specific ingredients but you will need to live near some Asian or Internal grocery store. That said, I've found the recipes to almost be a little cooked-up, as if adding a few extra ingredients make it seem more professional. Overall, solid guide to anyone who's looking for every day Japanese food. Alas, the "retro curry" recipe I am still mastering, it does not have the succulent flavor you find from Vermont or Java curry.

So many good recipes, I have tried several, and all have turned out fantastic. My only problem is its difficult to read this book... BECAUSE IT MAKES ME SO HUNGRY FOR MORE!!!!

This is a great cook book!

Enjoying the wonderful recipes

great pictures and every recipe is well written. Great book for people who loves Japanese food. If you've been there you want to go again,and if you've never been there this book will take you there.

nice

Really great service

Beautiful book - the recipes are very clear and I can't wait to cook my way through it!

Awesome cook book

Great Japanese chef and great book!

each page fulled with better recipes than the one before it--page after page of easy to follow Japanese home cooking--some restaurant worthy to be sure, but reproducible at home in a home kitchen. I checked this book out of the library so many times, I had to buy it!! the crunchy cabbage alone makes the price a bargain--always wondered how my neighborhood place did that! like great cole slaw at a good barbecue place.

I bought this for hopes of recreating beloved ramen my family adores after living in Tokyo for 6 years. I was surprised that there is a lot of history of food in Japan, as well as beautiful photography capturing the food life too! We have made one recipe so far and are very happy with it. Excited to continue on our endeavours of learning how to cook like the Japanese.

Bought as a gift, they both loved it.

Love it.

Very inspiring book.

splendid

Love the premise of this book, the quality and the actual book and the dishes they make. Non-fancy Japanese food, easy recipes, beautiful layout.

This is a very focused approach to some of the most common and easily cooked home-cooked dishes. However I would certainly get the print book if I had easy access to a bookstore. The Kindle version is a little bit awkward for how I like to graze through cookbooks, letting serendipity suggest things. The recipes are clear and concise and accurate (to my gaijin tongue, at least). I have made probably 2/3 of the dishes included using recipes from a variety of sources--online, other cookbooks. It's nice to have all the standbys (tonkatsu, tempora, nikudon, tendon, sukiyaki, dashi, udon, etc.) represented in one unimposing slender volume.

Good recipes for real Asian soups/ramen

As expected

its a good book to se the traditional comond street book of the japanese culture, il recomend it

Japanese Food... Soul Food... OISHI...

Excellent illustrations. Product as described

easy to follow

Good book on everyday cooking in Japan. This is food that is delicious and generally good for you save for a rather high salt content. This is NOT the famed ryori, kaiseki style food that was recently declared a cultural heritage by the U.N. Note that this high cuisine is served and eaten only in restaurants, inns and hotels in Japan and is prepared only by professional chefs. The food described in this book is what the Japanese eat at home and in the millions of small restaurants located throughout the country. Simple, hearty, excellent good with more emphasis on taste and savor and less on the glorious eye appeal of washoku dining.

Love the cookbook!

great book, great recipes, love it

amazing book, it is exactly how I imagined it to be Great pictures, nice layout, lots of recipe Pretty much everything you want to learn you can get from this book (no wonder amazon is not selling much other japanese cooking books, because they have this) There is not a picture for every recipe but there are plenty pictures and all very professional and related. 5 star

My exec chef loves the recipes and he's been looking at it more than I have.

Shipped on time, book was as described, happy with my purchase

Tadashi Ono and Hariss Salat strike again! I pre-ordered this cookbook based on the fact that every previous book by Hariss Salat was a gem! This one does not disappoint. Every recipe I've tried has turned out excellent. If you love Japanese cooking and would like to venture outside the tried and true sushi/sashimi or traditional japanese cooking, there is no better resource than Japanese Soul Cooking. The book covers all the best new age japanese food influenced by western culture. The best recipes I've tried so far: Tan Tan Men (better than the restaurant version), Yoshoku Steak (probably the best new steak recipe I've tried in years), Ebi Pilaf (a japanese style pilaf; super simple and surprisingly delicious).

Fantastic overview of Japanese home cooking, bar food, and street food, with excellent photos, recipes, stories, and descriptions. We're looking forward to trying more of the recipes.

Good book, good deal

Love it.

Love the book so far. Accessible ingredients and straight forward instructions.

I love cookbooks and my collection includes many celebrity chefs. This cookbook is just wonderful, as the cooking represents actual Japanese cooking. I have flagged many of the recipes to try and I always try new recipes on Sunday, when I have my kids and their families come for dinner. The photographs are beautiful as well.

This is a fantastic cook book for someone looking to go beyond sushi and explore some of the best recipes in Japanese cuisine. We recently moved to Japan and have been working our way through the book (one recipe a week), and are finding the directions easy to follow and the results fantastic. This weekend we made tonkatsu and it was just as good as any tonkatsu I've had here in Japan. I know the internet seems to have made cookbooks a bit obsolete these days, but for those bibliophiles who would rather thumb through a book than swipe an iPad, you won't regret this purchase. Though, a quick note to those impatient cooks who think, "Do I really need to go through all these steps? I can just wing it.": Japanese cuisine - like every other part of Japanese culture - is about respecting and following the process to achieve the desired outcome. Process counts in Japan.

i have always enjoyed eating this type of food. This book gives me all of my favorite food recipies in one place.

After living in Japan for a couple of years, I really have missed many of the "comfort foods" described in this book. I have tried to make several of these since returning to the US, but they never tasted the same. FINALLY, an easy to follow recipe book! This book also describes some of the "why" questions associated with these foods. It is a fun read.

Getting away from all the fancy chefs and high end restaurants, I first heard of this book on NPR when they talked about Japanese Curry….and I was intrigued. Looking through it online I was hooked…looking through it in person…its a high level of experience cookbook not for the novice in any sense.

Awesome

Easy to follow, delicious, and a crowd pleaser! My husband and I moved back to the states and were missing Japanese food, so we bought this book. Now we are able to prepare traditional food (with three help of our local Asian market) with ease!

The recipes in this are really complicated and require a ton of ingredients and many of them depend on other complicated recipes in the book. In theory the seem delicious and the book is designed well with great photos. This is perfect for someone with time on their hands and dedication to wanting to learn. Also recommend researching the ingredients before going to an international food store, you don't realize how hard it is to find things if you aren't able to read the labels.

My husband loves to cook and is intrigued by Japanese cooking. I thought this would be a good cookbook for him and he loves it!

As a university student, out of all the cookbooks I have, I probably use this one the most often. The recipes are simple and satisfying, and often lead to results that taste like much of the food I've had in Japan. When you live in an area like mine where most Japanese restaurants serve standards such as mediocre sushi and teriyaki sauce on everything, this book is indeed a fresh breeze. Eating Japanese food at home is preferable to eating out by far (apart from the fact that sushi not included in the book, which is perfectly fine by me). Highly recommended, some of my favourite recipes in this book included the Japanese style hamburger, potato salad, curry, and wafu pastas.