Minced meat and chopped vegetables wrapped into a small 'skin' of dough. Gyoza are found across Japan and virtually every Ramen shop offer them as a side dish. Many other restaurants serve them too, and it is possible to buy them at any supermarket. Although the dumplings originate from China, the Japanese have evolved them to a discernable degree. The most obvious difference is that the amount of garlic added to the mixture.
Normally, the Japanese fry the gyoza in a covered pan for a few minutes. A cacophony is produced when water is added. Just prior to serving the moonshaped delicacies are flipped. The result is one side being brown and the other pale. When eating, soy sauce with chilli flakes are a must.
Ｔｓｕｇｅ 黄楊
In Nobeoka, the best place to get your 'fix' of gyoza is at a place called "Tsuge". This is a gyoza shop and I have been told that that is quite a rare thing. The shop itself is small and only 10 hungry people can eat there at one time; the menu consists of gyoza and rice only. As the gyoza are frying, yet more are being prepared by hand, one at a time with admirable efficiency. The ubiquitous television set in the corner, a bookcase full of comics and the cheery conversation between happy customers furnishes the place with its bright atmosphere. As you would expect from a specialist, the gyoza are supreme. The shop owner (or master, as you say in Japan) and his family are some of the kindest people I have met here.
Master Tokoro
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