“New” Japanese Food in Milwaukee

Customers today not only care about the quality and taste of the food of a restaurant, they also care whether they have been serviced well. Personally speaking, when I choose a restaurant, I would pay more attention on its food. After I came to Milwaukee, I found the Chinese restaurants here are limited to choose, so I turned my eyes to Japanese food.

Japanese food is called Japanese cuisine in most Asian countries. The most famous dish in Japanese cuisine is Sushi, which is also popular in the U.S. But it is worth to notice sushi is not the only dish on the menu we can choose. I went to several Japanese restaurants in Milwaukee, most of them only made sushi and sashimi, some of them made ramen, but only one of them made all. The name is Izumi’s, it’s owned by a Japanese woman.

I went to Izumi’s first with my friend. We found this Japanese restaurant behind Kenilworth apartment. The restaurant is decorated in Japanese style. At the doorway, there is a quilted door curtain. The quilted door curtain is common in Japan, customers could just push the curtain softly. The facilities inside the restaurant are quaint.

The first thing you will see is a small bar area, this is also a restore of restaurants in Japan. The bar area in Japan is usually small, because it is built in restaurants. In Japan, the bar area in a dinning place provides office workers a place to take a sip. Izumi’s also have a sushi bar area. It is hosted by a Japanese cook, who is professional on slice fish and making sushi. The customers could see how he is cooking.

My friend and I made reservation already, so we didn’t wait. The waitress took us a table an served us two cups of barley tea before we were ready to order. It’s lunchtime, Izumi’s has lunch special that are not supplied during dinner time. I chose Katsu Don, which is only served in lunchtime. The dish consists of deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, onion, and rice. Don could be referred to Donburi in Japan. It is a fast-cook rice dish, people would usually have it as lunch.

After 15 minutes, the waitress brought my dish. The fried pork cutlet was put on the top, covered the rice. The pork cutlet and the rice should be eat at the same time, and it should be eat when it is still hot. The taste is great. The pork cutlet is very tender and bathed. The rice works properly with the pork cutlet. Compare to the Katsu Don I had in China, Izumi’s made the better dish.

My friend ordered Gyoza and Beef teriyaki. Gyoza is another popular food in Japan. It is pan fried dumplings. The bottom of the dumplings is usually cook slightly burnt, and served with vinegar. Izumi’s dumplings has been changed to cater American’s favor. The burnt style is not that obvious, it is still great with vinegar. The beef teriyaki is also a rice dish. The beef was cooked with teriyaki sauce to make it have a salty and sweet taste. The teriyaki sauce is made of soy sauce and sugar, it could improve the color and taste of the beef.

Some of you might ask why didn’t we order some sushi or sashimi. I have two reasons. When it comes to sashimi, I prefer Madai, which was not served on Izumi’s menu. Also, the sashimi should not be eaten with rice. It works best with sake. Therefore, it is worth to understand whether the food you ordered match with each other, especially in Japanese restaurants.

Before I could find any other Japanese restaurants in Milwaukee, Izumi’s is the best that I could recommend. The food there is great in Milwaukee’s Japanese restaurants. The dining environment is also restoring how people eating in Japan. People who are learning to eat a country’s food, are also learning a country’s culture. Izumi’s will give you a tongue and stomach a memorable experience.