Japanese Food Menus
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47)
Wed 2007/10/17 21:51
One of the things I enjoy about Japan are the food menus - full of photos to help you decide what to eat.
I personally cant stand menus without pictures. If I go to a place I haven't been before, I'd rather there be pictures to help me choose.
The most recent unpleasant experience I had when ordering from a menu without pictures ended up with me staring at a plate of fish intestines.
Some people say that pictures on menus make the restaurant look cheap.
Pictures probably help stimulate the taste buds which leads to more sales I guess ^^;
Darn. Starting to feel hungry as I write this post.
Pictures help prevent you from choosing stuff like this.
I would have freaked out if I chose this by accident a few years ago but I love it now - raw fish eggs with half a raw egg on rice + wasabi!
I would have freaked out if I chose this by accident a few years ago but I love it now - raw fish eggs with half a raw egg on rice + wasabi!
Kimichi is quite popular in Japan too.
Now not all menus have pictures - like this sushi joint.
Some menus still have the traditional strip on the wall - these are plastic but very traditional places have wood instead.
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Sun 10/14 07:50 comments (48)
Software Developer
Menu with pictures are quite rare over here. And pictures are usually for ice creams or desserts. But we have not such cranky meals haha ^^; So only text is often enough to have an idea of what will be in one's plate. Kindda habit.
(ID #59889) Posted on 2007/10/17 22:08
I personally don't mind. Sometimes it's part of the excitement on what the heck you just ordered. Haha. But seeing is better because you know what to expect. That is if you prefer to BE on the safe side. Thanks Danny you just made me hungrier. Haha Cheers.
(ID #59890) Posted on 2007/10/17 22:08
Well as long as I can read the menu I don't need pictures, otherwise I don't want a plate full of fish intestines.
(ID #59891) Posted on 2007/10/17 22:14
griever in Japan
I prefer with pictures, but if it's a specialized shop, like sushi or ramen and there are only so many choices they could do, text is fine.
(ID #59896) Posted on 2007/10/17 22:50
I love the fact that in Japan, most menus has pictures. But more importantly, the actual food is EXACTLY as seen on the pictures. I've seen many menus in US that has pictures of the food but the actual food looks no where near what the pictures presents.
(ID #59897) Posted on 2007/10/17 22:57
I also love menus with pictures. Im a fussy eater, so if i order something that sounds good, but i get it with loads of crap on that i wont eat, i feel conned! At least with a picture (or better yet - a plastic model!) of the food, i know exactly what im getting!
(ID #59901) Posted on 2007/10/17 23:04
Web Design & Development
There's a Japanese restaurant in town that had picture menus forever and then they recently changed to text menus. Everyone I've seen there and everyone I know that goes there complains about it. They should really change it back. I think the idea of removing the pictures was that they were trying to be 'classy'.
(ID #59904) Posted on 2007/10/17 23:21
i'm hungry now, and i blame you danny honestly those colorful pictures are enough to make my mouth water, don't know why you'd want to have text when a picture can say a thousand words
(ID #59906) Posted on 2007/10/17 23:29
Policy & Research Officer
I guess its okay to have words if the restaurant serves like only 5 dishes.
(ID #59908) Posted on 2007/10/17 23:42
anime/cosplay events organizer
now i'm getting hungry lolz XDDD i prefer menus with pictures at least this way i could see what i'm about to order looks like but text menus are fine too there are times that even with pictures, you don't know and/or can't tell what the food is. so it won't hurt if you ask the server what the food is ^__^
(ID #59911) Posted on 2007/10/17 23:48
4th Year Business Economics Student
Those menus with photos are bloody handy for us tourists, I for instance wouldn't understand a single word of a menu without any photos. ^^" Besides that, photos tickle your taste papillas and that increases the chance that you buy more food than you actually had planned.
(ID #59918) Posted on 2007/10/18 00:27
Dropping computers, starting all over again at Journalism
With pictures, as long as they are accurate. I remember buying stuff from some restaurants because the food looked great on the photo, and then, when they brought the actual meal *BAM* reality. But yeah, it's great for tourists. Because when we managed to go in restaurants that didn't have pictures on the menu, and didn't have those plastic displays... I always had Curry Rice. Not exactly a problem for me, since I love those and they usually are the cheapest meal apart from ramen. I have to learn how to do those... one of the things I miss from Japan. Danny, when are you gonna do an article about Onsens, and those gorgeous meals you get before going to the onsen? It's what I miss the most. I'll eventually end up moving to Japan only to enjoy some weekends on Onsens... XD
(ID #59926) Posted on 2007/10/18 00:57
Rhat is how I didn't starve in japan, pointing at what I wanted to eat; kinda like a kid would! :)
(ID #59929) Posted on 2007/10/18 01:38
With pictures!!! some places have food names that are nothing like how they look....
(ID #59936) Posted on 2007/10/18 02:15
Pictures are good to have. Where I live there is a bunch of different ethnic food restaurants and you can't tell what a dish will truly contain or look like without pictures.
(ID #59939) Posted on 2007/10/18 02:30
soon-to-be 2nd year Civil Engineering student
i'd prefer menus with pictures for western, japanese and korean food since i'm not familiar with them, but for chinese food i just order according to the waiter's recommendations.
(ID #59940) Posted on 2007/10/18 02:31
Student
In the states most restaurants have hybrid menus, pictures of the best sellers/favorites and then words for the rest of the menu with descriptions. I don't mind a full text menu if it were in English but if I were in Japan a full picture menu would definetly help since I don't have a full mastery of the language.
(ID #59944) Posted on 2007/10/18 03:03
Animator/ graphic designer
mmmm. pictures make the food more appetising on the other hand if the food looks nothing like the picture then its a huge disappointment...
(ID #59945) Posted on 2007/10/18 03:31
Here in Singapore, it is quite common to see glass windows outside Japanese restaurants that display plastic replicas of the food they serve inside. They all look so realistic (especially the ice creams), they're almost like wax figurines.
(ID #59948) Posted on 2007/10/18 03:52
ah... good old pot luck when theres no photos
(ID #59951) Posted on 2007/10/18 04:10
writing mini thesises
sometimes the food on the oisture is not the same as the one served to you....
(ID #59954) Posted on 2007/10/18 04:25
Menu with pictures here, but only if actual food is the same than what is presented on those photos... But normally you shouldn't end scammed for such a petty topic. Still, you never know, right?
(ID #59971) Posted on 2007/10/18 06:43
grrr.. im starting to feel hungry as well! well i think that menus with pictures help me get a better appetite before i actaully get to eat the food!
(ID #59981) Posted on 2007/10/18 09:51
All menus don't NEED pictures IMO. Almost always false pictures and if you know food at all, you know what you'll get. Also, visual look of foods does not equal taste. I'm all in favor of traditional menus.
(ID #59990) Posted on 2007/10/18 10:28
Office Manager
I hope someday we can also try the menu from the pictures.. That would be great...
(ID #59999) Posted on 2007/10/18 11:54
mahou kishi
just now this feed was made popular on digg, I can feel the digg effect http://www.dannychoo.com/blog_entry/eng/1170/Japanese+Food+Menus/
(ID #60004) Posted on 2007/10/18 12:33
working to pay for figures etc.
For visitors to Japan whose grasp of the language may be somewhat rudimentary, like me, these menus are a godsend as you can just point to what you want when ordering!
(ID #60008) Posted on 2007/10/18 13:07
五〇一軍团 TK8316 Singapore Garrison Public Relations Officer
even if i can read the menu, i prefer it to have pictures.
(ID #60009) Posted on 2007/10/18 13:15
If it wasn't for the pictures on menus in Japan, I would have starved.
(ID #60014) Posted on 2007/10/18 13:28
Nothing like a good old-fashioned Diggdotting, eh Danny? ;) As great as picture menus are, I'm much more of a fan of the plastic food. Nicer restaurants often won't have pictures on the menu; even the prices are all in kanji. Thus, it's helpful to have a good idea ahead of time of what you want to order, and what it's going to look like. It also makes window shopping for a good restaurant easier, if you're cruising around the top floor of a department store trying to decide what you're hungry for. :D
(ID #60018) Posted on 2007/10/18 15:12
.NET/Web Developer
Pictures speak a 1000 words about how yummy the food you're looking at is. heheh! Funny thing is I usually take more time to decide what to eat when there are pictures on the menu compared to menus w/o one. XD
(ID #60019) Posted on 2007/10/18 15:24
Normally I dont mind...but pictures really make u wanna get your food on!!
(ID #60041) Posted on 2007/10/18 21:44
Wish most of the restaurants in my area had pictures in their menus :( Sometimes when I order something that sounds good...it actually turns out to be not exactly what I expected/want.
(ID #60111) Posted on 2007/10/19 05:05
Anime artist/figure appreciator
I enjoyed the picture menus tremendously while living in Japan all those years ago. I'd love to see more like that here in Australia, even though I don't go out much. :P
(ID #60141) Posted on 2007/10/19 12:00
i prefer it to have pictures on the menu when i go to places or countries that i don't know how food is. and pictures on the menu don't make the restaurant cHeAp it just makes gives the costumer a "how ur food will come if u order this" which is good cuz is more detailed
(ID #60179) Posted on 2007/10/19 16:54
I also love their "fake" food samples by the entrance to the restaurant. I also love the way that they always will try to make the dish looks exactly the same as the picture on the menu. The "kaisen-don" on the picture makes me salivate.
(ID #60190) Posted on 2007/10/19 18:19
Lol! you just made me hungry. >
(ID #60281) Posted on 2007/10/20 06:09
well, you makes me feel hungry suddenly with the food..
(ID #60300) Posted on 2007/10/20 09:03
i absolutely love ikura, i would of been so happy to see the ikura-don when i arrived, damn you, you made me want ikura.
(ID #60500) Posted on 2007/10/22 05:04
Gotta love pics in the menus, they give better description hands down.
(ID #64115) Posted on 2007/11/19 15:13
Raven, AMV & MAD maker, Otaku
waaaaaaaaaaaaaa o[]o fried shirmp and something that looks like udon ._. o-o O-O looks really good
(ID #68629) Posted on 2008/01/04 10:20
mmmmmm Japanese food.... so hungry!!~
(ID #334888) Posted on 2008/10/15 05:24
Professional Panhandler
I can't order if there's no pic on the menu in japan...or english...might be able to read the kanjin, but I found out there isn't that much kanjin in menus
(ID #442790) Posted on 2009/01/10 17:39
point- onegai shimasu & smile-thats all i need LOL
(ID #515004) Posted on 2009/03/09 16:24
Public service employee
mmmhhh some of this looks very tasty. Wan´t to try some Japanese Food here in Germany but japanese restaurants are very rarely here. Must wait until 13.06.09 Japanday in Düsseldorf ^,^
(ID #515617) Posted on 2009/03/10 05:50
Otaku Programmer/Gamer/Artist/Photographer
OMFG THEY ALL LOOK SOO GOOD!! T___T
(ID #566698) Posted on 2009/04/17 01:49
Dollfie Dream collector, student, and software technician
Menus with pictures are cool. Here not many menus have pictures, only fast food restaurants and 24 hours deli usually have pictures.
(ID #569515) Posted on 2009/04/19 06:00
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