TOKYO'S TASTE TAKEOVER

As the Japanese culinary wave sweeps Delhi-NCR with new restaurant openings, food pop-ups and cultural festivals, TMS decodes its popularity steeped in Japanese anime, manga, tempting textures, and its palate-cleansing flavours that appeal to all

- PRIYAMVADA RANA

DELHI-NCR with its increasing cosmopolitanism has been swept by various culinary waves. Some have stayed, some got stronger, and some vanished with time. As author and columnist Vir Sanghvi puts in a 2010 blog, "Twenty years ago, restaurateurs were convinced that the next big wave would be Thai food (like Chinese but spicier, they said) and Mexican food (tomatoes and chillies—how can that go wrong?). Nobody gave Japanese food a chance. The flavours were too bland. The carbohydrate content was too low. Indians would never eat raw fish. The ingredients were hard to source. Good Japanese food was too expensive. And so on," but the public has "surprised us."

Indeed, the surprise came! Delhi, which until a few decades back, had only a handful of Japanese cuisine establishments like Tokyo in the 1980s and Sakura in the early 2000s, which mainly catered to diplomats, business class and expats, today has a number of Japanese restaurants opening every few months and catering to all city folks. Last year alone, the city saw a remarkable surge—from Call Me Ten and Harajuku Bakehouse in Vasant Vihar, Gurugram's SHIN'YA at Hyatt Regency and Asagao, to Boya in Chanakyapuri; the list is expanding.

Moreover, comforting Japanese dishes like a hot bowl of ramen, steaming miso soup, or juicy Gyoza (dumplings) become the city's balm to beat winter blues. It's like chicken soup for their soul! "I find Japanese food to be very palate-cleansing. It's very clear in your mouth. It's not bland; in fact, it's very flavourful and full of textures. I tried ramen at Zuru Zuru in Delhi and loved it—the noodles were so stretchy, the broth so meaty, the mushrooms added a woodier note, and the gooey eggs lend it a creamy flavour. The pork belly slices make it umami-rich. It's a bowl of complex flavours presented simply. For me, it's a bowl of happiness," says Sumixna Borchetia, a creative associate from Delhi who loves exploring the cuisine.

Pop-culture influx