We are going to a high end Japanese restaurant to celebrate my son's birthday tonight.(his choice, not mine lol). This will be a first for me and I have no clue as to what to order. Any ideas?
Well no rice, no teriyaki as its heavy with sugar, nothing fried, salads often use a ginger-vinegar dressing which is heavy in sugar too. Meat and plain veggies are all good, shrimp, chicken, beef just avoid the sauces. Many places like Benihana have steaks, but many use a sauce that isn't good on the IP diet but if you ask they can probably assist you. I'd call ahead and talk with somebody there they should be able to make some suggestions for you.
Unlike Chinese restaurants in the US, Japanese cuisine is generally very fresh and light -- and not glopped up with sauces. Sukiyaki is quite light -- it's thin slices of veg (including unusual mushrooms, enoki bean sprouts, radishes) and meat, sometimes egg, in a broth with soba or udon noodles. Sometimes you crack a raw egg into it to cook. Shabu Shabu is thin slices of meat (beef/pork) that you cook yourself in a pot of boiling water -- kind of fun. Tempura is fried -- although light, not so diet-friendly Soba are delicious buckwheat noodles, hot or cold and served in soup or dipped in sauce Nabe is a hot pot, low-fat similar to sukiyaki Sushi and sashimi are mostly raw fish, but some types (shrimp/octopus) are cooked, and they come in veggie versions too, and even a little sweet omelet atop rice. California roll is cooked crab and avocado with rice wrapped in seaweed. Sashimi is the fish by itself, the ultimate diet fare. There are some diet-evil sushi variations which include mayo, cream cheese, or are deep fried. Needless to say, I have never seen these in Japan. Also, you may pick up sushi, but not sashimi, with your fingers -- done in Japan all the time.
There are some veggies like osi - tashi, which is a nice spinach side dish. Seaweed salads are common, and a lettuce salad with peanut/miso/soy dressing is usually on the menu. Also miso soup.
I'd avoid curry and donburi, which are covered in sauce. Yakitori is a good appetizer, it's chicken or meats on a skewer. Teriyaki, though glazed, is actually lo-cal. The sauce is soy that's been reduced with sugar, but not a lot. Fish and/or veg. Salmon teriyaki is fab.
There are dumplings called Gyoza, which are a good choice if they're steamed. They're filled with shrimp, pork, chicken or veg. Avoid the fried ones, bleah.
If you are going to a teppanyaki place, you're in business. This is like Benihana, where the chef chops and cooks fresh food on the flat grill in front of you.
There are various dishes that include a variety of things -- bento boxes and multi-course kaiseki. These might be a great way to sample different things.
Pickles, or oshinko are delish and very diet-friendly.
You will not find brown rice in a Japanese restaurant, and if the rice is slightly sticky, that's a sign of quality. I'd urge you to try some sushi or sashimi, even if the idea of raw fish is new to you. If you do order, you can order a la carte -- it comes in an order of two pieces. Good first choices are tuna, yellowtail, or salmon. You can also get an order of shrimp sushi, which will be cooked. To eat, you pour soy in a little dish and dip it in -- unless the sushi already comes with a version of soy. You can mix the green stuff (horseradish root) in the soy, and the mound of mysterious pickled stuff is ginger -- to cleanse your palate between different tastes. You dip it fish-side down into the soy.
You can't go too wrong if you stay away from tempura, curries, donburi, and anything with sauce. The one thing that's always bugged me about Japanese cuisine is that it's heavy on protein and light on veggies.
They may have some interesting ice-cream flavors like green tea and red bean. Some even have -- ready for this? Tempura ice cream. There may also be desserts featuring mochi, or sweet rice gluey things, or bean paste items, which I like but cannot be diet-friendly! Also, you may be pretty sick of rice by this point.
To drink, of course water and tea are good diet options. I sense that sake -- which is a fermented rice "wine" (actually made like beer) is high in sugar. A lot of Japanese drink beer or Suntory, which is a Japanese whiskey and a pretty good diet alcoholic-drink choice. They will also have western wine.
I just realized this is IP. You can ask for noodles to be left out of any hot pot...and rice is usually served on the side so you can just avoid it. Also nix the bento and kaiseki, as they'll have tempura and rice and noodles. But Japanese food is VERY protein-centric.
I love the seaweed salad, seafood salad, squid salad, and octopus salad.
Except for the little bit of sugar in the dressing, and the carbs in the vegetables they're all quite low-carb and low-calorie.
I've duplicated the dressing myself at home, and to get the flavor and mouth-feel right, I was surprised at how low fat and low sugar the dressing had to be. More than a pinch of sugar and it was way too sweet, and the only oil is from a drop or two of sesame oil.
All four of those salads are usually listed as appetizers, but I often order several appetizers as a meal. For example yakitori, one of the salads, and edamame (boiled soybeans).
I also think you might be extremely surprised with sushimi, especially the tunas. They almost have a "creamy" butter-like texture. Not at all the texture you would expect from raw fish.
I've had another really good low-carb appetizer in japanese restaurants, and I don't know what it's called, but it's half of an avocado covered in an assortment of tiny cubes of raw tuna, covered in a spicy mayonaise sauce (it's not drowning in sauce, it has a hint of spice and a hint of citrus juice).
OMG, it's incredibly wonderful (not sure if it's IP friendly, but it's awesome).
We are going to a high end Japanese restaurant to celebrate my son's birthday tonight.(his choice, not mine lol). This will be a first for me and I have no clue as to what to order. Any ideas?
Just for anytime we're on ph.1 or 2, I made my own pickled ginger and took it to the restaurant with me.
super thin slice fresh ginger
pickle with plain rice vinegar and stevia, or splenda. I make it and keep it around. It does taste better after a few days of sitting in the brine.
It worked for me for the time I needed to do it like that. Looks like everyone else has covered the rest of the menu!
Japanese restaurant ideas?
