History

San Jose's Japantown was established in the late 1800s when Japanese farm workers and merchants settled along N 5th and 6th Streets. After Executive Order 9066 forced Japanese-Americans into internment camps in 1942, the community returned after the war to find their neighbourhood partially dispersed, but rebuilt it as a cultural anchor. The izakaya tradition, pubs with small plates and sake, took root in Japantown through the 1970s and 1980s as a social format that combined the community centre function with the pub. Today's Japantown izakayas draw diners from across Silicon Valley.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Soy, Shellfish

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4 as shared platesHands-on 35 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • For karaage: 500 g boneless chicken thighs, cut in 4 cm pieces; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp sake; 1 tsp grated ginger; 1 tsp grated garlic; 60 g potato starch
  • For edamame: 400 g frozen edamame pods in shell; sea salt
  • For gyoza: 250 g pork mince; 100 g napa cabbage, salted and squeezed dry; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp sesame oil; 1 tsp ginger grated; 1 tsp garlic grated; 20 gyoza wrappers; 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • Dipping sauces: soy + rice vinegar + chilli oil; Japanese mayonnaise with lemon

Method

  1. Karaage: marinate chicken in soy, sake, ginger and garlic 30 minutes. Coat in potato starch. Deep fry at 180C for 4 minutes, remove, rest 2 minutes, fry again 2 minutes for maximum crunch.
  2. Edamame: boil salted water, cook edamame pods 5 minutes. Drain, toss with extra sea salt. Serve hot or room temperature.
  3. Gyoza: combine pork, cabbage, soy, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Place 1 tsp filling in centre of each wrapper. Fold and pleat sealed edge.
  4. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Arrange gyoza flat side down. Fry 2 minutes until golden. Add 50 ml water, cover, steam 4 minutes until water evaporates. Uncover, fry 1 more minute until bases crisp.

Tip from the editors. Double-frying karaage at 180C is essential: the first fry cooks the chicken through, the brief rest lets steam escape, and the second fry drives off residual moisture for lasting crunch.

Where to eat izakaya small plates

Izakaya small plates in San Jose

Kaita Restaurant ★ 4.0

$$ JapaneseJapantown

Kaita is a family-owned San Jose Japantown restaurant serving authentic Japanese comfort food with daily rotating lunch and dinner specials on Jackson Street.

OrderRotating daily lunch special with seasonal Japanese comfort dishes

Directions

Minato Japanese Restaurant ★ 4.4

$ JapaneseJapantown

Minato Japanese Restaurant in San Jose is the Japantown institution since 1957, a Parts Unknown stop known for teriyaki spareribs and katsu curry plates.

TryTeriyaki spareribs combo

Directions

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