Japanese Chinese Cuisine - Overview

Overview

Chūka (中華?, short for 中華料理 chūka ryōri, literally "Chinese food") is the adjective for Japanese style "Chinese" dishes, or the restaurants in Japan which serve them. Chuka dishes originated in China, but have become modified over the years to suit Japanese taste, often with Japanese or even Western foods. They have changed enough that they are not identified as Chinese dishes by the Chinese themselves, nor as Japanese dishes by the Japanese. Japanese mistakenly consider them "Chinese", though the dish of origin in any Chinese restaurant would never be made in this way. In some cases, Japanese foods have been added, such as in the case of miso-ramen. In other cases, only the noodles are "Chinese", as in the case of hiyashi chūka, which was invented in Sendai in 1937, and uses Western food influences such as sliced cured ham. As meat (other than fish) was not common in Japanese cooking until recently, many meat dishes, particularly pork dishes, are of Chinese origin or influence.

Though formerly Chinese cuisine would have been primarily available in Chinatowns such as those in port cities of Kobe, Nagasaki, or Yokohama, and a number of the dishes are considered meibutsu (regional specialties) of these cities, Japanese-style Chinese cuisine is now commonly available all over Japan. As Japanese restaurants are often specialized to offer only one sort of dish, cuisine is focused primarily on dishes found within three distinct types of restaurants: Ramen restaurants, Dim sum houses, and standard Chinese-style restaurants.