Japanese Menu — Now decoded!

The foodie in us in always looking out to explore new cuisines and restaurants from time to time. While the western cuisine is fairly simple to understand, its Asian counterpart has not been so friendly to explain to the layman what the menu comprises and what exactly those words mean.

One such cuisine belongs to the hardworking Japanese, who haven’t really put in a lot of hard work into their menus to help a non-Japanese decode it.

Here is small list of prefixes and suffixes which we are sure will help you understand the menu (if you ever happen to visit a Japanese restaurant in your city) and you can be sure of what you are ordering while you are at it.

Aburi

Aburi means seared. If you wish to order a dish with the word aburi in it, you can be sure that the dish is scorched/grilled.

Age

Age means deep fried. If you happen to order a “chicken karaage”, it means that the chicken is deep fried.

Don

Shortened form of “donburi”, don means “bowl”. Any dish with the word don in it is some kind of rice bowl dish. A Katsudon, for example is a chicken/pork rice bowl.

Maki

Maki meaning “rolled”, is usually used for sushis. For example the “temaki-zushi” is a hand rolled sushi

Mushi

Meaning “steamed”, Mushi is commonly used in the dish “chawanmushi”, which is basically a steamed egg in a bowl.

Jiru/Shiru

Shiru/Jiru means “soup”. The most common dish with this word is the miso shiru which is a miso soup and the butajiru which is a pork soup.

Yaki

Yaki means “fried”. If you ordered a yakisoba, it is basically fried noodles and yakimeshi is fried rice. The most common Japanese dish we all have heard of is Teriyaki, which is usually some kind of fried meat in a sauce

If you are still confused, here are some more words and what they mean

• Ika — Squid
• Ikura — Salmon Roe
• Uni — Sea Urchin
• Tako — Octopus
• Gyu — Beef
• Tamago — Egg
• Tori — Chicken

We hope by understanding the meaning of these words, your next visit to a Japanese restaurant will be a pleasant experience and you are aware of what you are ordering.

If you know any more words that could help people understand the Japanese cuisine, do share it in the comment section below.

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