My Husband and I decided we were going to Japan on our honeymoon long before we decided we were getting married! We had a great time there in April 2015 and fell in love with the culture and of course the food!
One of my fave sweets is mochi, pounded rice cake filled with a sweet red bean paste. In search of my fave snack we went to Japan Centre in London on the way home from my in-laws. My Husband was also on the look out for katsu curry ingredients. Of course we saw lots of other things we fancied. I’ve only included the vegan items below.
The panko breadcrumbs and the curry sauces are for my Husband’s curry. The mild one for me and the hot one for him! The wasabi was also for him, something else I can’t handle!
Above the curry sauces on the left is yuzu sorbet. Yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit. This had almost completely melted by the time we got home but still tasted delicious. I didn’t realise there was a mini spoon in the lid else I would have eaten it on the train!
My Husband got a grape soda, I had a little try and it tasted like any other grape soda I’ve had (and none of them taste anything like grapes!) I got a lychee chi hi which is a cocktail drink with 4% alcohol, I was debating between getting the lychee or the peach but I was glad I went for this one. They don’t taste alcoholic at all so it’s good this is only a 250ml can as I could knock this stuff back!
I got some noodles to have with the frozen natto I bought. Natto is fermented soya beans, they have a strong cheesy smell which is somewhat off putting and have a very sticky texture. I would say the taste was similar to tempeh but a bit more intense. The freezer at the store had a sign saying the natto was vegetarian but the sauce pouch inside contained fish sauce which was very helpful. I stirred in a bit of soy sauce and rice vinegar with mine and had them on top of noodles.
Lastly we have the mochi. I was disappointed there wasn’t any coconut mochi available which I had seen on the website and the matcha one I was excited about contained milk! The large mochi had an odd texture and wasn’t stretchy at all. The smaller ones were really nice but I am much more impressed with the ones I get from my local Asian supermarket.
My Husband also got some non-vegan goodies including chocolate covered almonds and some almond Pocky.
Have you been to Japan Centre? What we’re your favourite items?
Plumes x
The World according to Plumes 
You went to the Japan Centre! Is this the place that you said you hadn’t been to in years? This is such a cool post. I’m always very interested to see what Japanese foods are available in other countries. The other day I actually tried a lychee chu-hi for the first time as well! Except this one was 9% hehehe. Was it your first time trying natto? Too bad about the mochi…were you able to find it at that restaurant you mentioned, though?
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Yes this is the place! It was like walking into a convenience store in Japan but everything had English labels on! Yes first time with natto! My kitchen stunk for ages after! I found out the restaurant I went to is owned by the same company as Japan Centre so assume the mochi will be the same. In my local Asian supermarket/wholesale I can get pandan mochi and coconut ice cream mochi so I’m still well catered for!
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