Omuraisu

We interrupt your regularly scheduled "Kyoto" programming to bring you a brief edition of dining in Japan! Cliff and Lilia and I went to the VinaWalk today (a local outdoor mall) to get lunch and do some shopping. We went up to the restaurant floor and browsed the display cases for something that looked appealing. I have to admit that when we stumbled upon a display like the one pictured below, I had mixed feelings. Actually... I thought it looked pretty gross.
We deliberated for a moment and I ultimately left the decision up to Cliff. We decided to be adventurous and go for it! Turned out this was an "Omuraisu" restaurant specializing in rice-filled omelets that are covered in various sauces and ingredients. This cuisine borrows its name from the West even though it is absolutely born and bred in Japan. The dish is composed of rice fried with onions and sometimes chicken and veggies and then covered by a very thin omelet. The omelet is then covered in a sauce. Sauces range from tomato and cream to curry to white cream sauce to plain ketchup and sometimes a combination!
I think what made this dish work for me was that it was more rice than egg. I like eggs as much as the next person, but I don't want to over do it. The Japanese people LOVE their eggs, cooked, raw, sweetened, cold... I have braved most egg avenues, but I tend to prefer a conservative dose rather than the eggstreme. Ha ha.... Anyway, the moral of this culinary story is, don't judge a dish by it's overwhelming egg appearance. If you give omuraisu a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.