Chef and recipe creator YUCa will guide you through the art of
Simple, easy and delicious Japanese food to you!
The best cooking class in Japan 2018 - 2023 by TripAdvisor! See more detail.
Live streaming cooking! We offer 8 classes. Menus of some classes change monthly.
Looking forward to meeting you and cooking together!
We offer 7 classes at YUCa's private kitchen studio. Each class takes 3 hours and hands-on class. Please push button to know more detail.
We introduce Japanese home cooking recipes (both video and text) for free. Please watch and try them out! Smart phone app is available too.
Japanese ebi fry is a dish where shrimp is coated in batter and deep-fried, resulting in a crispy exterior and a tender, juicy interior. Typically, the shrimp is peeled, deveined, and seasoned with salt and pepper, then coated in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs before being fried. Ebi fry is often served with tartar sauce, and commonly accompanied by shredded cabbage, rice, and miso soup. It is a popular dish in home cooking, casual eateries, and restaurants.
Menu:
– Roll sushi with natto
– Yakisoba (Japanese stir-fry noodle) [Recipe]
– Miso soup with wakame and veggies [Recipe]
– Grilled salmon
– Potato salad [Recipe]
– Steamed carrot and sweet potato with homemade mayonnaise
– Yogurt with strawberry jam
Behind the scenes：
This meal features yakisoba noodles and natto rolls as the main carbohydrates, accompanied by a miso soup rich in seaweed. For protein, there is grilled salmon, and for dietary fiber, steamed vegetables and a mild homemade mayonnaise-based potato salad. The dessert is yogurt topped with strawberry jam.
Note : This recipe was first submitted on March 2, 2021, and resubmitted on June 17, 2025, to reflect additional information.
Japanese tartar sauce is slightly different from the typical Western version, as it incorporates Japanese ingredients. Its characteristics include the use of Japanese mayonnaise, onions, boiled eggs, and cucumbers instead of pickles. To add sweetness, sugar and soy sauce are often used. If acidity is needed, a small amount of lemon or rice vinegar may be added. Japanese tartar sauce is commonly used in home cooking and Western-style restaurants, providing a mild and rich flavor that complements dishes. It is often paired with simple fried foods and fish dishes.
Airbnb released its report titled “2025 Summer Travel Trends Revealed,”and I’m honored to share that my cooking class was selected as one of the world’s top 10 “hidden culinary gems” for this summer—together with Arakawa City in Tokyo!
Here’s an excerpt from the report (https://news.airbnb.com/summer-travel-trends) :
“Arakawa City, Japan, is a quieter alternative to bustling Shibuya. Situated in eastern Tokyo, it’s a haven for food lovers, featuring ramen and gyoza classes, and Joyful Minowa, a lively shopping arcade with traditional, family-run kissaten coffee shops.”
Following this report, Forbes Japan recently featured an article quoting the Airbnb report, and as a result, Fuji TV’s news program “Live News It!” came to cover my cooking class yesterday.
The segment will be viewable for about 10 days starting today via this link:
https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/891845
My cooking class originally started by offering traditional Japanese breakfasts to Airbnb guests. However, since the space was originally a residential property, it eventually became difficult to continue operating as a business.
TV :
2025.6 – Live News イット！by Fuji TV (Japan) NEW!
2023.6 – news every. by NTV (Japan)
2022.11 – Discover Japan in Your Fridge by ABC TV (Japan)
2022.10 – Nスタ by TBS (Japan)
2022 – Cool Japan by NHK (Japan)
2022 – Live News イット！ by Fuji TV (Japan)
2021 – Biz Stream by NHK World (Japan)
2020.1 – Cool Japan by NHK (Japan)
2018.12 – Biz Stream by NHK World (Japan)
Web Media :
2025.6 – Forbes JAPAN (Japan)
2025.6 – Forbes (USA)
2025.5 – トネリライナーノーツ(Japan)
2025.4 – Airbnb – Newsroom (USA)
2024.7 – The Points Guy (USA)
2020.2 – Forbes JAPAN (Japan)
2020.8 – @DIME (Japan)
2017.11 – JapanTravel.com (Japan)
2017.8 – Babble.com (by Disney) (USA)
YouTube :
Cosa mangiamo oggi? (ITALY)
Raphael Gomez (UK)
Newspaper :
deStandard (Austria)
Nikkei (Japan)
Nikkei MJ (Japan)
Radio :
“Living in Japan” by NHK Radio (Japan)
J-Wave (Japan)
Magazine :
TOEI Transportation GUIDE (Japan)
東洋経済 Toyo-Keizai (Japan)
Nittone (にっとね）Local magazine (Japan)
Harmony by ECC Language school (Japan)
Movie :
“DASHI and SHOYU“, guest speaker
“Lost in translation“, 🙂
Note : This article was first submitted in Jan 1st, 2017 and resubmitted in June 25, 2025 to reflect revisions.
Menu:
– Miso soup with sweet potato, tofu and wakame seaweed [Recipe]
– Mixed rice with salmon and Shiso
– Chicken karaage [Recipe]
– Pickled daikon radish with yuzu peel [Recipe]
– Goma-ae with green beans [Recipe]
Paired tea:
– YUCa’s Tea (@yucastea ) : Tosa Cha
Japanese karaage is simply deep-fried chicken seasoned with mostly soy sauce, sake, ginger and garlic. In Japan, karaage is loved by men and women of all ages, so much so that there are bento boxes that contain only karaage on a bed of white rice. It is also readily available at convenience stores, so it is common to see students and businessmen eating it for a quick pick-me-up. The key to its deliciousness is that it is crispy on the outside and juicy and juicy on the inside.
Menu:
– Rice balls [Recipe]
– Miso soup with veggies [Recipe]
– Simmered fried tofu and vegetables topped with starchy sauce
– Potato salad [Recipe]
– Kimpira Gobo [Recipe]
– Apple
Behind the scenes：
This meal is recommended when your child wants to enjoy rice balls as the main dish while making sure to eat plenty of side dishes. The miso soup is filled with my personal favorite vegetables, and the kinpira gobo and potato salad are designed with dietary fiber in mind. The thick fried tofu, which can often be dry, is served with a thick sauce to make it easier to eat. For dessert, diced apples are included, making them easy for small children to pick up and eat with their hands.
Note : This recipe was first submitted on May 4, 2021, and resubmitted on June 10, 2025, to reflect additional information.
Kappabashi Dogugai (合羽橋道具街) is the largest cooking tool district in Japan, located adjacent to the Asakusa area.
Established in the Taisho era (1912-1926), Kappabashi Dogugai developed as a wholesale district for cooking utensils, tableware, and other items for the restaurant industry, and is now lined with nearly 200 stores, making it a tourist attraction visited by people from Japan and abroad.
Photo taken in front of my favorite Japanese ceramic shop “Dengama (田窯)”. And the giant statue of chef, as a landmark of the entrance for Kappabashi Dogugai.
Menu:
– Miso soup with spinach, silken tofu and shimeji mushrooms [Recipe]
– Japanese rice [Recipe]
– Teriyaki swordfish [Recipe]
– Pickled red turnips with yuzu peel [Recipe]
– Natto with Yukari
Paired tea:
– YUCa’s Tea : Chiran Cha
