A collection of food terms that I want to remember.
Restaurants
washoku
Dishes classified as Japanese Food. "wa" is Japan/harmony. "shoku" is food.
yoshoku
Dishes classified as Western Food. "yo" designates "from the west (seiyo)".
shokuda
A casual small family restaurant serving popular washoku and yoshoku dishes
teishoku
A restaurant that serves "set meals" of a main dish, rice, miso soup, and souzai side dishes like salad or pickles. "tei" is "fixed".
ichiju-issai
Zen temple meals which included the main dish plus a soup and a side. This "one soup - one side", the origin of "set meals" in teishoku restaurants.
izakaya
A restaurant-bar that serves cold beers and inexpensive food dishes. "stay-drink-place"
omakase
Literally 'I leave it up to you'. The chef selects the food and ingredients.
Breads
shokupan
Japanese-style milk bread, made with yudane. "pan" is the word for bread. It's good and fluffy, and does not go stale as quickly.
yudane
Gelatinized flour-based starter used in making fluffy shokupan. It's also called "water roux", and is based on the Chinese steamed bun technique tang-zhong.