I Tried Every Viral Street Food in Japan

[00:00] so much that I worked at one of the  best Japanese restaurants in the US   for almost three years. But here's the  crazy part. I've never been to Japan.

[00:14] So today that changes. I'm finally here to eat  every single possible legendary Japanese street   food that I can find. From the stuff that  we already know to maybe some hidden gems   that only the locals know about. And everything  will be getting placed on an S tier list. And at  

[00:28] the end of the video, we will give you our very  best item. And we're starting at Harajuku Tokyo.   And I'm joined by local expert Yappy from Arigato  Travel, one of Japan's best food tour companies.   As this pin says, no Yappy, no life. Later on,  we'll be going more street level, trying more  

[00:43] traditional viral things like puffer fish and  baby octopus. But we're starting our journey on   Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Harajuku is the capital  of a kawaii, which means cute, pretty, adorable.   The second you walk on the street, I get why. So,  you've got pink, the smell of sugar, artificial  

[00:59] flavors, kawaii, like you. Our first stop is  the tanghulu skewer. Strawberry and grape. Very   kawaii. But how does it taste? A lot of tanghulu,  when it's not made properly, it doesn't have the  

[01:11] right crunch. But this one, the actual coating is  perfectly crisp like glass. It doesn't stick. It's   not chewy. And the strawberries are great, too.  Outside is crunchy. So fresh inside. It's really   nice. It's refreshing. I'll give it a beat.  I don't think it's quite A worthy. I think you  

[01:25] upstairs to grab an insane rainbow six layer  cotton candy. Each layer is supposedly a different   flavor stacked on top of each other until it gets  actually this big, which was concerning for my  

[01:39] stomach. Texturally, it's very nice. Flavor-wise,  I'm not like picking up a ton of flavor out of it.   It's like I just feel like I taste sugar, but  it still tastes great. All in all, I think it's   another B tier. It's nice. It's just a fun treat.  It's not mind-blowing. It's just nice, tasty, fun,  

[01:55] and we move on. No. So, something I learned very  quickly in Japan is that there's zero trash cans   of kids. Safe to say, they were pretty pumped.  Hopefully, they enjoyed it. What is a micro pig  

[02:09] cafe? Oh my god, there's pigs. Yes. What? Look,  they're having so much fun. This is better than   Disneyland. And then this is not the only one.  Asha Cafe and Capybara Cafe. I love Japan.  

[02:21] Next up are these massive sandwiches where we'll  be getting both an egg and meat one containing 400g of meat, nearly a full pound supposedly. Both  sandwiches will be tiered and whichever scores   happened. They actually let me work in their  kitchen and make one. I don't know what any of  

[02:39] which I thought was funny, but they did let me  add a little bit of their seasoning to it. We take   out some toasted buns, added some butter, and a  good helping of honey mustard. Once they finished   cooking the meat, they handed me the pan and I  had to carefully layer it on top. I thought even  

[02:53] coverage was the goal, but it turns out they just  wanted me to make this pyramid shaped thing, which   I guess made it look more substantial. Then they  wrap it up a couple times in plastic wrap, slice,   add some garnish, and I personally thought it was  overcooked. Maybe they should have let me cook  

[03:05] the meat, but you know, whatever. Smells beefy,  smells good. Cheers. It's slightly overcooked,   just a little, but it's not dry at all. The meat  is surprisingly tender, which I I wouldn't have   expected from skirt steak. The honey mustard plus  the butter just adds this layer of riches. I'm  

[03:18] a fan. I put this in an A tier. Now for the egg  sandwich. Wow. Literally overflowing. The bread   can barely contain it. Phenomenal. Immediately  better than 80% of breakfast sandwiches in the   US. This is like a bodega sandwich on crack. The  texture of the egg is just so nice. The salty ham.  

[03:35] And you still taste the cheddar cheese in it,  too. It's cheesy. It's rich. It's creamy. I'm   putting this in S. It doesn't need to get better.  I'm happy with this. S tier. Moving on. On our   way out, a audience member stopped by to take a  pick and they decided to join us in rating the  

[03:47] steak as well. For the best I've had, I would say  I would put it at like an A probably. Still really   good. I like this kid. So, we have a rating double  confirmed. Moving on to our last spot in Harajuku.   I'm sure you've seen these twisted potatoes  somewhere. They put them on a skewer, they  

[04:02] fry them for a couple minutes, and then they coat  them in a salt and butter seasoning. I've always   thought they were a little gimmicky, but you know,  maybe they're good. We got to give them a fighting   chance here. You can choose three different sizes.  long. Long longer longest. This is the longest.  

[04:16] I'm enjoying this. Multiple layers of texture.  It's not quite evenly cut. So instead of it being   get some bites that have like a little bit of that  fresh potato chew. Almost like a roasted potato  

[04:28] I'm going to put this in an A tier. I was ready  to complain. With that, we wrap up Harajuku and   we move on to Uru Harajuku for a coffee pit stop  at Latte Pocket. He's telling me that they have  

[04:43] a three-dimensional latte. I have no idea what  that means. So, you can bring your picture of   your friend or your pets and then they're going  to draw over the foam. What I'll be honest,   this was cool to see happen, but it did make me  question whether or not the coffee was going to  

[04:59] be any good. [Music] [Laughter] That's meringue.  That's also mering. Very nice. Yappy is going into   another store. So, we have me. Hello. Here's Nami.  uncanny. I feel like all cats kind of look the  

[05:13] find you. Straight through mering. RIP. Give it a  little taste. I mean, funny enough, the the foam   has like no flavor whatsoever, but it's fun. The  coffee itself isn't half bad for the novelty and  

[05:26] it. And this is just a happy fun time. And I love  Japan. Thank you so much. Moving on. I could not   believe my eyes at the next spot. We came all the  way from Texas to try some Japanese street food.  

[05:39] And surprisingly, there was Texas barbecue. How  could we not try that? But I really want to know,   how does it compare to good old Texas? A  slice of Texas in the middle of Tokyo. I   wouldn't have guessed it. I thought I was getting  away from it. And yet, here we are. Let's taste.

[05:56] The owner set us up with some ribs, which looks  fantastic, but what I'm really here for is the   brisket. We have the A5 Wagu brisket and burnt  ends. A5 has a unique capability of making the   lean equally as good as the fatty because of  the intramuscular fat that's in A5. This one's  

[06:10] very tender. I can barely even pierce it with  the spork. It literally hits your tongue and   evaporates. I mean, it is so anxious. The fat is  just rendered enough that it's not too much. It's  

[06:22] meat butter and the smoke is very, very frontal.  You can taste the oak wood. It's seasoned really   nice with salt. The salt levels are, I mean,  I would argue perfect. We got a slice of Texas   right here. I'm feeling very represented. My  mom would be really proud. Moving on. Overall,  

[06:35] comparing this to the greatest Texas barbecue  I've had, honestly, I'd give it just barely   over the B tier into a solid A tier. I  think it's good effort. If you're in Tokyo,   I would definitely recommend stopping by. Onto  the next. We were walking and we stumbled upon a  

[06:49] fresh squeezed orange juice vending machine. The  only reason I noticed it was cuz I was walking   and I could smell fresh oranges wafting through  the air, which if you look around here, there's   nowhere that should be happening. I turn and I  see this beautiful orange box. So, let's try it.

[07:06] It's ice cold. It's so refreshing. The way it's  squeezing it, it's getting that essential oil   from the peel. So, it has that like fresh, rich  orange flavor. Where else are you going to just   randomly stumble upon freshlysqueezed juice  vending machine. It's an A tier. It's good. I  

[07:18] could drink 100 of these. Moving on. Next item  was a matcha crepe. They layered many things   in this toasted bread and some of them I couldn't  identify. That is a potato. I'm worried about this   one. Is it really possible for every element to  be great on their own as well as combined? I mean,  

[07:33] I I don't know. There are components of this is  good. The macaron is nice. It's got a good chew to   it. The toast on the bread is actually immaculate.  I think it's fried. I'm really not a fan of the   completely unsweetened whipped cream. And there's  way too much match in there. It's like borderline  

[07:48] not going to get this again. I feel like there's  so many great foods in Japan and this is crazy   overhyped. And I mean that with love. I'm loving  my time here. I'm coming back, just not to this   place. You know, it can't all be bangers. We have  to be honest here. That's the whole point of this  

[08:03] So, let's get back on track. Our next spot has two  opportunities. Bruleed sweet potatoes in a silky   handpressed Okonaman sweet potato ice cream. I got  good feelings here. Wow. Wo. Okay, let's go for  

[08:19] it. That's phenomenal. So they have this very  fragrant vanilla custard and you mix that and   you scrape that beautifully silky smooth sweet  potato and then the little bites of crunch from   balanced. So this is a paste of potato. This one's  made from benyo which literally means red potato,  

[08:39] but it's actually purple. Coming from the down  south tropical area. And there's ice cream in the   bottom. Let's go for it. Woah. Totally different  than I would have expected. The texture is like   unlike anything I've ever had. The texture of this  paste is really airy as you're biting through it.  

[08:55] It's so soft like a pillow and then it comes  together as this dense just sweet almost earthy   sweet potato flavor combined with this sort of  light vanilla ice cream. Amazing texture, amazing  

[09:07] flavor. I would put it as an S. It's just unique.  It's its own thing. There's nothing else really   like this and it is kind of perfect. If you can  find it, go and get it. Moving on. Of course, we   can't go to Japan and not get oniri. This one is  a pork and egg version. Let's see where it stands.  

[09:22] Oh, you went for the whole thing. Sometimes when  it falls apart, you just got to put the whole   thing in your mouth. Pause. The rice is nice. It's  seasoned nicely. It's balanced well. There's a   but I'm not starving. Snack on one of these. Split  one of them. Keep moving. This is very much the  

[09:38] nature of street food. And I would give it a B  tier. It's satisfying, but more of like a I need   to stop real quick and get a snack kind of bite.  Next up, Hokkaido milk soft serve. I have been   dreaming about this since I've seen it across the  internet and finally I get to try it. Now while we  

[09:52] are in Tokyo, this milk is sourced specifically  from Hokkaido cows and apparently these cows   are raised in a perfectly nonstressed beautiful  environment full of green which supposedly makes   the milk taste substantially better. So let's  see where it stands. Wow, it is very good. It's  

[10:10] not super sweet. the traditional soft serve that  you expect out of a machine in like the US. It's   milk plus like a powdered base and then they  soft serve it. This actually tastes like rich,   fresh, creamy milk. Out of all the things we've  had so far, so much of it has been kind of like  

[10:23] just a blasting your taste buds with sugar.  And I love that this is balanced and they're   is the greatest milk on earth. That's what you're  going to taste and it's the finest you're going   to get." S tier easy. I wish more soft serve was  like this. Moving on. Before we head to Osaka,  

[10:38] our final Tokyo bite is the curry pond. It's  like a deep fried curry filled hot pocket,   but this one has a few surprises. But does it  really have the ability to top our tier list?   Usually, it's only curry inside a curry pan,  but this time they have special topping like a  

[10:54] savory pancake from where I'm from, Osaka. Let's  try it. That's insane. Oh, there's cheese. Oh,   there's so many textures. The entire outside is  like studded with this crunchy texture, but the  

[11:06] bread itself is actually so nice. It's so moist.  It's not dry at all. It's super fluffy, super   light. And then on the inside, you have this sort  of like very savory Japanese curry with mozzarella   or some sort of stretchy cheese in there. And  then of course, the smokiness of the bonito flake,  

[11:19] the okonomiyaki sauce, the creaminess of the  mayo. This is a perfect bite. I love this. This   is immediate S tier. It requires zero thought  whatsoever. I would seek this out every single   time I come to Japan. I love this. It's with a  heavy heart we have to say goodbye to Yappy. I'm  

[11:32] so sad to see you leave. Thank you. And uh shout  out to Aigato Travel. Be sure to check them out.   They're phenomenal. Wouldn't have been able to do  it without you. Thank you. I love you. It's okay.   You don't have to say it back. Moving on to Osaka.  The next morning, we took a bullet train to Osaka  

[11:46] and we actually managed to catch Mount Fuji's  very first snow. Insane luck. Let's hope that   continues in finding more incredible items. Here,  we'll occasionally be joined by Seigato Travel,   who'll be helping us find our places for viral  Osaken street food. Here's what our tier list  

[12:01] is looking like so far. It feels strong, but  I have a feeling it's going to get stronger.   Let's kick things off at Osaka's most famous and  viral street, Doanbi, which is home to one of the   world's most famous Japanese dishes, takoyaki.  Excited is too small of a word for how I feel.  

[12:15] Tell us a little bit about this one. The US sent  us lots of flour after World War II as a relief   because Japan couldn't grow enough rice and then  also needed to come up with unique dishes and then   this was definitely one of them. And this place,  they put lots of tempora crunch as you can see.  

[12:31] And tiny chunk of the octopus is inside because  octopus was abandoned in the STO inland sea which   is right next to Osaka. So this is a really  popular local dish that it's a must try when   you're here. So we have the salt version here and  then we're going to build up to the traditional  

[12:45] sauce and mayo version. Cheers. Very hot. Oh my  god. Okay, I'm okay now. Wo. You guys know I have   the bang of salt when you take that first bite  is so incredible. It's so seasoned, so salty. You  

[12:59] taste that seaweed, the nori, it's oceanic. The  temporal crunch adds incredible texture and the   nice chew from the octopus custardy inside. Really  nice. Now the question is which is better, the   salt or the mayonnaise sauce. I'm scared to take  another bite. It's so hot. I'm going to go for it.  

[13:14] So hot. I'm fighting for my life. I just love that  like smoky sauce, the creamy mayonnaise, and then   of course the bonito flakes add that additional  umami and also like that nice roasted fish flavor.   A strong A tier. It's a really nice street snack.  I would eat all these, but I also want to not burn  

[13:28] my taste buds off. So, we'll move on to the next.  Osaka starting out strong negates with a powerful   A tier. I'm excited for this next one because I've  been making and eating tayaki for what feels like   my whole life. And I always thought it was pretty  good, but I've never had one in Japan in a fresh  

[13:40] one off the street. Let's see how it is. This is a  classic Osaka dish. It literally comes from Osaka.   feels crisp. It's hot and fresh. This is the red  bean flavor. It's the classic choice. Cheers. Oh,  

[13:55] yeah. Very, very, very, very good. It's cooked  perfectly. I love that the actual tayyaki shell is   so thin and crisp. It's not thick and cakey. I've  had a lot of different ones that are almost like a   soft waffle. That's some [ __ ] This is the right  one. You still have that nice chew as well. And  

[14:08] tayyaki I've ever had. Yeah, it's an S. I don't  think it gets better than this. Moving on. Osaka   on the board with an S tier. Arguably one of the  most viral traditional items on our list. And it   actually delivered. The competition is ramping up.  Now we really head streetside into Kuraman Market,  

[14:24] Osaka's most famous street food market. here.  There's going to be a massive variety of street   foods to try. But our next two items are the  real standouts. Behind me is arguably the most   famous poisonous fish on planet Earth that is  eaten. They don't do this as much in Japan,  

[14:37] but in America, if you order this and a  menu happens to serve it, which very few do,   they have an ambulance sitting outside, and it  is fugu, also known as puffer fish. We're going   guys. I've never had this in my life. It looks  like a sort of like a tender white fish. So,  

[14:52] the way I'm going to do this is touch chili sauce.  You see that on there? And then into the panoo. The best way I can describe it, a lot of fish that  you have usually like if you look at like a kami  

[15:04] and tuna, right? It's like literally falls apart  in your mouth. There's no intramuscular tendon in   it whatsoever. This, on the other hand, has a lot  of density. It's very chewy, but in a nice way.   It's got a nice bounciness to it. Flavor-wise,  it's pretty mellow, actually. Not fishy. There's  

[15:17] That would be awesome if it wasn't. But all things  considered, out of all the sushimi, I honestly   wouldn't I wouldn't seek this out. There's so many  other pieces of fish I would eat before this. I   would probably put this at a solid B. It's a nice  fish, but it's certainly not my first pick. Moving  

[15:32] on, keeping up with the seafood, we continue  down to the market for a quail egg stuffed   baby octopus or taco tomago. Normally, I like  my octopus grilled, but this being cooked down,   letting all that sweet soy glaze get absorbed into  the little suction cups and the body of the actual  

[15:46] squid is really nice. I don't think the quail  egg adds that much. I could honestly do without   it. It's fun, but not really a necessity. But the  octopus itself is surprisingly tender, not chewy.   at a solid B tier. Out of all the octopus dishes  I've had, though, it's not in the top top top,  

[16:02] but it is good. I'm a fan. Moving on. Next top  are these sweet potato chips. Say told me that   they're gaining in popularity, so I figured I'd  give them a taste. They look incredible. I love   eating these, I'm like, how good could it really  be? I will say they're seasoned nicely. Cheers.  

[16:19] are seasoned properly. So, the fact that this is  seasoned properly is adding a whole another level   to it being good. And I think because they're  so substantial, one chip is like three, four,   five bites. It's like a whole meal in a cup. I  like it. I'm into it. This is honestly worthy of  

[16:33] an A tier. There aren't many chips that I think  are worthy of an A tier, but this one definitely   is. Moving on. Time for a heavy hitter. For years,  we've seen this item jiggling about on Instagram.   It is the Jiggly Japanese Cheesecake. I have  always wanted to try this. I'm incredibly excited.  

[16:50] And I got to be honest, it looks just as perfect  as I thought it would. But how does it taste? It's   about Japan is that they don't oversweeten their  desserts. Their desserts are actually very mellow  

[17:02] on sugar levels. They focus a lot on the flavor.  But texture- wise, it's kind of like almost eggy   and it just feels like baked meringue with very,  very little flavor. This is more novelty than it   is like a mind-boggling experience. If I'm being  honest with you, I feel like a lot of people come  

[17:14] ever had. Out of here. There's not much going  on. Honestly, I'm going to put this at a D. I'm   be pissed. This is a country full of some of the  greatest food in the world. Don't waste your time  

[17:26] with this. Go somewhere and find something maybe  a little bit more local. Wow. Honestly, this might   have been one of the most disappointing bites in  the last 5 years of my life. I'm just going to   be flat out with you guys. And we only have four  more items remaining before I choose my favorite S  

[17:39] tier. Will any of these four dethrone the current  S tiers? Onto one of our most viral items here in   Japan. You can't walk down the street without  seeing this everywhere. The 10 yen coin. It's   essentially kind of like a grilled cheese. It's  got a lot of buzz. It's got a lot of popularity,  

[17:53] but so far they're not doing so good with  overhyped food. So, how does it stand? Honestly,   crisp on the outside, super soft and fluffy on the  inside pancake, and then the cheese adds like a  

[18:08] really nice creamy light cheesy flavor. This is  fun. I like this one. I like cheese. Like, look   how cheesy this is. I mean, it's crazy. This is  so phenomenal. I'm actually a big fan of it. I'm   going to put it in an A tier. I don't think it's  S tier worthy. I would definitely spend some time  

[18:20] going and getting it. Moving on. Another viral  item surprisingly meets the hype. Now, moving   on to try these Chinese pork buns. I know this is  a bit of an unusual one, right? Because this is   doing things that are viral in many parts of the  global hemispheres that exist. Think about it this  

[18:37] way. What you know is viral, what the American  people know as viral is one thing. But what the   Japanese people know is viral would be this. If  you are Japanese and you live in Japan, you likely   know and love 551. They really keep the name  simple here. I can respect that. Mustard. You'll  

[18:50] never really find a Chinese person doing this, but  the Japanese suggest it. Cheers. [ __ ] That's a   banger. Oh my god. I will say the mustard opens  up your sinuses, dude. I smell smells I didn't   even smell before, but now I smell them. The dough  is so soft. It's so light. It's so delicate. It's  

[19:06] so fluffy. Great chew. The building is also very  delicate as well. It's bouncy. It's got good chew,   but not only is it like the fatty traditional meat  that you would expect inside of something like   this, but I like how tender it is. It like melts  in your mouth. It's seasoned perfectly. It's got  

[19:19] like onion in it. You can see whole sauteed onion.  Out of all the bow I've had, I really like this.   Out of the things that we've had thus far, this is  a banging S tier. It's so funny to have a Chinese   dish in a Japanese street food video as an S tier,  but it's an S tier. It's really good. But will it  

[19:31] beat our other items? We'll decide in a bit. But  now we are on to two of the most viral items I've   seen on all of the internet. I'm sure you've seen  this guy before, but if you haven't, he literally   torches bluefin tuna with his bare hands. He dunks  his hands in ice water in order to increase the  

[19:46] endurance he has against the heat. It's a pretty  incredible show. Unfortunately, we got cut off   right before we got to taste it. And thankfully,  we had an audience member that was already in line   that was kind enough to let us have a bite of his  dish. Big shout out to you. You saved our beehind  

[20:00] Casey. We appreciate you. I'm going to pick a  small piece cuz I don't want to steal too much   from you guys. Wow. Okay. It's way better than  I thought it was going to be. I'm thinking like,   uh, this is some bull blah blah blah. No, it's  actually very good. It's got like a smoky barbecue  

[20:15] richness. It almost has a beefy quality to it.  It transforms it from fish almost to like meat.   Wow. Incredible. Moving on. All in all, this joins  the ranks as an A tier. And we have one more spot   to go. I think this has to be the item that's  blown up the most. If you've ever been on the  

[20:31] internet looking for food, you've probably seen  this mochi. I've been enamored by its process   for years. I've never had fresh mochi before and I  get to actually witness it and taste it in person.

[20:44] in Japan anywhere. We're in a deer park. We have  deer. I have moji. This is mine. No, this is mine.   You can't have this. Yes. Bow. Bow. You can't eat  this. I can't I can't give it to you. Okay. All  

[20:58] right. He gave out. We're going to try it. Here  we go. [Music] Right. Oh, I'm scared now. You're   really close. You're very calm for being scared.  I would have ran. Really phenomenal. First of all,  

[21:10] perfect chew. So smooth and also soft. A lot  of people in America have never had like truly   fresh mochi. They're used to like almost like a  very hard waxy mochi. This on the other hand is   like one of those like 5 million count thread  Egyptian pillows but in your mouth. The mochi  

[21:27] being pounded at the shop. It's not really a show  for people to watch. They do it while the mochi is   still steaming hot because they want to achieve  this really soft, beautiful texture, and then   you have that beautiful sweet bean paste in the  center, the toasty, roasty soybean flour on the  

[21:40] outside. This is a phenomenal bite. We're peeing  over here. Fresh mochi. Immediate S. This one is   truly worth the hype. Fresh mochi is incomparable  to anything else you'll ever try. It's a textural  

[21:52] wonderland you truly cannot replicate without that  craftsmanship that it takes to pound that mochi   and delicious. I wish I had it near me. But wait,  we didn't finish here. What was the best S tier  

[22:05] the one I think I'm going to seek out the next  time I come to Japan is the okonomiyaki curry   pond. That one was crazy. I've always wondered why  everyone, including myself, is so obsessed with  

[22:18] Japanese food. And it's because this country  perfects everything. It's a true commitment   to making food delicious. And only a place with  people with big hearts and attention to detail can   do that. And it's earned them a place in the food  hall of fame. Subscribe. Love you. Bye. [Music]

[22:44] [Music]