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   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:10:26 JST Adrianna Tan

   Living in Singapore we were always on top of the latest food trends in Japan (hugely competitive Japanese dining scene, with many operators from all over Japan figuring out it’s easier to make good money with all kinds of regional cuisines and desserts in Singapore)

   So I’m already a decade into the ‘basil and cheese’ on udon or ramen trend. Anyway, I just had that here in SF.

   I missed it terribly. It’s not for everyone. (The Aomori udon at Taniku)

   In the Peninsula and South Bay, Ramen Nagi has always had a delicious green ramen with the same vibes (also my fave ramen in this whole area. Yes it’s a chain. Yes it’s better than all the fancy ones with awards.)

   #Food

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:17:06 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     The Japanese food scene in Singapore, KL, Bangkok and Taipei were amazing frankly. I mean excluding Japan.

     It was easy to get anything we saw that was popular or trendy in Japan, immediately. Those cities just had large Japanese expat populations and chefs.

     One of my school friends in high school was also from Japan and their family ran a cute little eatery in their living room. We went often. It was delicious and home cooked.

     Now you can get stuff at every price range in those places. Roasted sweet potato filled with Hokkaido butter? 24/7 in some places. Fluffy cheesecakes? Strawberry sando? Good quality gyoza? All super easy. Endless ramen variations and types.

     I miss that terribly. Compared to whatever this is, Japanese food as fine dining mostly, where I am.

     #Food

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:20:57 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     I think the WaPo food writer recently wrote about how she was tired of Japanese food as high end spectacle. I am too.

     Just as you don’t go to a fussy three star place regularly, even if you really like fine dining, it’s ridiculous how there’s so much normalization of ‘it’s okay to spend $300 pp on sushi’ in SF specifically.

     #Food

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:25:28 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Our school cafeterias all tend or have a decent affordable priced Japanese bento stall as well.

     That started when I was in high school and it’s now definitely a thing. Even middle schoolers expect to have Japanese food regularly at school.

     (Our school cafeterias have individual stalls with different cuisines / dishes and you can eat whatever you prefer)

     #Food

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:38:30 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     My pet peeve with Bay Area weebs who like to say things like ‘Chinese and Korean people serving fake Japanese food’

     My rule is, if Japan has colonized you and killed your grandparents, you get to make money off Japanese food and Japan as a whole. Forever. In perpetuity.

     #Food

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     Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐 (gcvsa@mstdn.plus)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:38:40 JST Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Don't get me wrong, as a Filipino American, I'm sympathetic to this idea, but that doesn't make Korean Japanese food the same thing as Japanese Japanese food.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 09:38:40 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐

     @gcvsa there are plenty of Korean and Chinese chefs who have also trained in the Japanese culinary tradition. Those are different from that type of localized food I think you’re describing.

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     Benjamin D. Hutchins (zgryphon@gweep.cat)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 13:44:42 JST Benjamin D. Hutchins

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte (see also: Chinese restaurants run by Vietnamese people. Look, that history is... complicated, guys.)

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-May-2026 13:44:42 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Benjamin D. Hutchins

     @zgryphon Vietnamese Chinese people are an actual, alive and dominant culture. I’m tangentially close to it. People’s obsessions with nation states don’t map very well in that region