Japanese Comfort Food

Cafe Drake has lately taken to assembling easy and quick Japanese-influenced dinners as comfort grub on lazy Sunday evenings, worn-out Wednesdays or, for example, the current onslaught of rainy, gloomy nights. See below a couple of our favorite "small dishes" recipes and photos above of recent dinners.

Saba No Shioyaki (Broiled Mackerel fillet)

This may seem an extraordinary amount of salt given the relative petite nature of most mackerel fillets, but you really need this much to bring out the briny, rich lushness of the fish flesh. Serve with plain, boiled rice to counterbalance the sodium bonanza.

4 medium Mackerel Fillets / 4 tsp. sea salt / 5 oz. grated daikon or radish / Lemon juice / Soy sauce

1. Scale (if necessary) and wash mackerels, drain.


2. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt over each fish on both sides, let stand 10 minutes.


3. Brush broiler rack with oil and heat rack over medium heat.


4. Place fish on rack and broil 5 to 7 minutes or until brown.


5. Turn fish over and broil another 4 to 6 minutes or until brown and skin is CRISP.


6. Serve with grated daikon and sprinkled lemon juice and soy sauce if desired.

Salmon Ochazuke

This is so good with a small dish of oshinko (Japanese pickles) or kimchi and a side of sauteed bok choy.

2 cup of rice (Cold rice or leftover rice is perfectly fine) /Freshly brewed green tea loose leaves / A pinch of sesame seeds / 1/2 sheet of nori (dried seaweed paper) / 1 salmon fillet (approximately 1/4 lbs each) / wasabi (Japanese horseradish) / 2 umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums)

1. Broil or bake some salmon (or if you like, you may use bits of leftover cooked salmon).


2. Prepare and brew green tea.


3. Place cooked rice into individual rice bowls. Shred the salmon over the rice.


4. Pour hot green tea over the rice and salmon.


5. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, crumbled nori, and a small dab of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) or umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum). Serve immediately; mix together and enjoy.