Sushi, sashimi (sliced raw fish), ramen… nobody would figure that sightseers to Japan would fail to taste these dishes. I hope they enjoy them, of course.
Let me introduce another, otherwise nondescript but popular Japanese dish: “machi-chuka（町中華）.” “Machi（町）” means “town, local area”, and “chuka（中華）” meaning “Chinese.” You might think, “Wait a minute, you are too fast to forget wha you just mentioned; you said that you are introducing a Japanese dish, not a Chinese one.” I admit that “machi-chuka” sounds like something Chinese, but we regard it as a patent Japanese menu item, and Chinese people would willingly deny it as one of their own.
Japanese people started to employ that phrase, “machi-chuka”, out of nowhere, and it has disseminated over the past decade. It has been eluding definition, as “machi-chuka” comes in all shapes and sizes. To barely name some of its characteristics, people who are particular about food would agree to the following: they are folksy and local Chinese restaurants in town; their dishes are palatable for Japanese people who prefer less spice; they opened during or before Showa era; they will fill our stomachs up at within 1,000 yen; they serve various dishes; and the owners are both friendly and stubborn.
One of the most popular “machi-chuka” dishes must be the “half stir-fried-rice and half ramen” set menu meal, by which you can enjoy both popular dishes at the same time. Chinese people would dare say that it is nonsense to eat a carbohydrate with a carbohydrate (a couple of Chinese friends of mine actually told me so), but this combination has established a reputation for Japanese men with a hearty appetite (Japanese women, who have less appetite than men and are more likely to take good care not to eat too many carbs, would be won over to the Chinese side, though LOL ). As well, the pan-fried dumplings (gyoza) and half stir-fried rice or ramen set menu meal is popular.
Unlike the indigenous Chinese dish palate, “machi-chuka” does not taste zesty; they are usually tailored for Japanese tastes. Therefore, some tourists, who take trouble to find a “machi-chuka” restaurant for something tangy despite being on a tour in Japan, would be disheartened by its insipid taste.
Unfortunately, almost all tourists will be baffled when enjoying “machi-chuka” dishes due to its peculiar customs. First, few “machi-chuka” restaurants will give you menus when you take a seat; instead, you are supposed to choose which dish to eat by looking at menus on the wall (most of them do not offer English, of course)!! Some “machi-chuka” restaurants put up 40, 50, and even 60 dishes on the wall, and even local Japanese customers may not recognize some of them. Japanese restaurants are well known for having sample images on the menu, which greatly helps us out, but you need to decide by reading unintelligible Japanese characters (Google lens will not likely work because they are usually manually written).
Second, the owners of “machi-chuka” restaurants are old codgers most of the time. They can basically run their restaurants with neighboring residents and have survived only on their cooking skill, so they do not care about their reputation when it comes to first-time customers, and you might feel their attitude to be gruff in some instances.
You can tell “machi-chuka” restaurants by a shop curtain in red and white (some are a red backdrop with white kanji characters, others being vice versa). I strongly recommend you do some recon and distinguish the good from the bad. You can pop by a “machi-chuka” restaurant without any knowledge, but some will serve insipid dishes with the owner being obscenely vulgar.
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