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
Kimono-inspired interiors at Megu
Kimono-inspired interiors at Megu
Updated on
5 min read

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 ’80s 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.

Chef Augusto Cabrera at Boya
Chef Augusto Cabrera at Boya

Pop-culture influx

The early 2000s have brought popular Japanese cartoon shows like Doraemon, Shin-chan, Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z to Indian homes. They still manage to captivate the imagination of youngsters by showing characters devouring sushi, ramen, dumplings, and other dishes presenting a snippet of Japanese culture. Later, the internet age piqued an interest in Japanese manga (comics and graphic novels) and anime shows. A survey out in 2022 by IT firm JetSynthesys has found that 83% of Indians prefer anime over other animated content. “I have spent time watching the manga series One Piece and Dragon Ball Z. I wanted to know what kind of food people eat in Japan,” says Chef Saurabh Sharan, head chef at Japanese restaurant Guppy Delhi in Lodhi Colony. He adds that manga series like Naruto, Today’s Menu For The Emiya Family, and Food Wars, and anime Cooking With The Valkyries, are also popular for depicting the food culture of Japan. “The iconic show Iron Chef was a pioneering competitive cooking series that introduced many viewers, including me, to the artistry and precision of Japanese cuisine. It showcased the intricate techniques and ingredients that form the foundation of Japan’s culinary traditions,” says Shubham Thakur, Japanese Master Chef at Megu, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts.

For Borchetia, it was the other way round — she first got into the cuisine and then dived into Japanese pop-culture. “The cuisine got me interested in reading Japanese books. My favourite is The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai (Mantle, 2023). It describes the food habits of different people and intrinsically threads it to the heritage of Japan. The book is so vividly descriptive that one can almost relish a dish while reading about it,” she tells TMS.

Deepkiran Kaur making sushi rolls
Deepkiran Kaur making sushi rolls

Global exchange

Food pop-ups and culinary festivals have also familiarised Delhiites with a taste of Japan. Last year, the city saw Konnichiwa Japan which attracted almost 20,000 visitors. Further, the Japanese Food Festival at Le Méridien, and the Japanese Pavilion at World Food India, were big crowd-pullers offering Japanese delicacies. Delhi-based publicist Deepkiran Kaur says that she learnt to make Japanese food during a workshop open to the public. “I love tempura, soba noodles, sushi and ramen. But it was for the first time I made avocado and cream cheese sushi rolls at Mamagoto during one of their sushi-making workshops in 2024. It was a true delight to learn and create my favourite delicacy!”

Flavourful, healthy, minimalist

For Kaur, the beauty of Japanese cuisine lies in its harmonious balance of taste, texture, and presentation. “It reflects the Japanese culture’s profound respect for natural, and seasonal ingredients,” she says. Chef Thakur agrees saying, “It has sweet, sour, salty, and umami notes balanced to create a sophisticated and layered flavour profile. The cuisine allows each ingredient to shine independently while contributing to the overall dish.”

Chef Augusto Cabrera, executive chef and chief operating officer at Boya, chimes in, “Japanese cuisine is rooted in simplicity, seasonality, and respect for ingredients. The cuisine highlights the subtle yet impactful interplay of flavours. It’s one of the most popular and influential cuisines in the world with a long history that dates back centuries. Plus, it is considered healthy due to its emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients, and cooking methods that preserve nutritional value rather than use artificial flavourings. The diet is rich in vegetables, fish, seafood, and fermented foods providing high omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.” He feels that Gen Z is drawn to Japanese cuisine for its authenticity, aesthetics, and Instagram-worthy presentation while the older generations appreciate its healthfulness, simplicity, and cultural depth, making it “universally appealing.”

Japanese wall art at Guppy
Japanese wall art at Guppy

Innovation is key

Innovation in cuisine without changing its core is essential to win over new taste palates. And Japanese cuisine is one that has not just stayed but grown stronger, adapting itself to Indians’ local taste, portion size, presentation, and perhaps ingredient substitution. For instance, at Megu, Chef Thakur is using common ingredients found in both India and Japan in many of the dishes, to showcase their shared culinary heritage. “We are crafting dishes that celebrate seasonal, and plant-based ingredients indigenous to both countries like okra, squash, mushrooms, and eggplants.” At Boya, Chef Cabrera is crafting fusions of Japanese with Peruvian dishes bringing a new-style sashimi (Japanese raw fish dish), tiradito (Peruvian raw fish dish), ceviche (traditional Peruvian shell-fish dish) to make it more appealing. At Guppy, beyond Japanese delights like sushi, tempura, and grills, Japanese-themed interiors also attract visitors. “The interiors keep changing periodically. A few constants that remain are bright and peppy artworks that resemble Harajuku in Tokyo, manga depictions and colourful paintings on walls that portray Japanese culture,” says Chef Sharan. All of it together is an insignia that the Japanese food wave is here to stay!

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