Yokosuka Food Corner - Blue Street and Beyond: The Food Basements of Japan

If you like the Food Network, consider yourself a chef or a "foodie," or are just plain hungry, then you can't miss seeing some of Japan's famous food basements called "Depachika." While "food basement" doesn't sound too glamorous, you'll be surprised at what you find in these expansive underground food havens.

Some amazing salad creations

The word Depachika is derived from ”Depa” デパ which is short for "department store" and ”chika” 地下 which is "basement" or below ground.　

Whenever the wife and daughter head up to Tokyo or Yokohama for a day of clothes shopping, I'll spend a few minutes in the store with them, but Japanese clothes stores have not figured out one very important thing: a couch or chairs for the men to sit on. It's a balance between floor space and men's comfort and you know who looses on that.

Nowhere to sit or stand (even the emptiest rack or shelf will still draw customers) I excuse myself, set a reuniting time, and usually search out the nearest food basement or depachika. With hundreds of vendors and convoluted paths, I can spend hours wandering around sampling and checking out the interesting creations, peruse their "artwork" in a sense, and perhaps stumble upon a sake tasting.

Most of the stores are up in Yokohama or Tokyo, but if you want to take a baby step in Yokosuka before the big time, head over to Saikaya Department Store straight out from Womble gate and across the street from Baan Chiangmai Thai restaurant. There is also an even smaller one in the basement of More's City.

At Yokohama station alone you could spend a good half day visiting three quality stores.
- Queen's Isetan (in the Sotetsu-Joinus store)
- Sogo
- Takeshimaya

They can be seen clearly in the map below which is at the center of Yokohama Station. Sotetsu Joinus and Takeshimaya are past the stairs on the West end and Sogo is through the Porta Underground shopping center on the East end.

If trying to hit all three, I'd start with the Sotetsu Joinus (Queen's Isetan) as it is the smallest of the three, then go through Takeshimaya, and end with the best and biggest of the bunch at Sogo.

You are likely to get a bit lost and turned around in all of these stores, especially Takeshimaya, but that is by design I suspect.

The depachika is made up of a bunch of individual vendors each selling their own specialty. Competition is tough and under-performers are "kicked out" and replaced by another vendor in the waiting. As you walk around you'll be continually greeted with warm welcomings. Many will have small samples for you to try.

Most depachika will have small grocery stores as well that will sell fruits and vegetables including those extremely expensive melons and grapes.

But forget those for a second. Below are Matsutake 松茸 or Pine mushrooms, selling for about $210 and $315 respectively, and found in Queen's Isetan. The cheaper one is from Iwate Prefecture and the more expensive from Nagano prefecture. The price is due to the difficulty finding them (they are not farmed, but found in the woods) and recent difficult conditions with the harvest. They are prized in Japan.

Most depachika are always packed with people. They buzz with excitement from the crowds, the "irashaimase" greetings and other vendors yelling about their current specials.

The mistake I always make is going there when I already have lunch or dinner plans. I highly recommend going there with the intent on eating your lunch, dinner, or at least a good afternoon snack. These places are meant for walking around and sampling. The one downside to the depachika is lack of public seating. There will be some places that serve food and have a few counter seats or a handful of chairs, but for the most part you're on your feet for the duration.

Entrance to Sogo at Yokohama station

Takashimaya Yokohama

The desserts are true works of art. The care that goes into each one and the subsequent packaging is impressive.

Two of my favorites - Macaroons and Yuzu

Every depachika is bound to have a macaroon vendor

Lasagna - at 357Yen/100g could be a pricey slice

some wonderful bakery creations

Bento gift boxes

$575

トマト

Christmas Chicken. A tradition in Japan

An even better premium chicken

Bento box preparation

Ready to fry kushikatsu - serving suggestion

Crabs and other deep fried goodies

Free sample? There is no shortage of smiles from the staff in a Depachika

Yakitori Yakitori

Maki

kimchi

Modestly priced wagyu beef

Now we're getting there

now we're talkin'...

So above we see the famed Matsusaka beef. I talked about it a little in the post on Otsu Garden Yakiniku Restaurant. This is the symbol you are looking for 松阪. The first Kanji is the same one found the name of those mushrooms above. And it means "pine tree." On the little sticker you can see "A-5" - this is the highest grade beef there is in Japan. I discussed the grading system in the Maido Yakitori post.

Above the A-5 you'll see a ten digit number. If you go to the farm website where this cow was raised, you can enter that number and see all the information on that particular cow. It will tell you its birthday, how old the cow was (949 days in this case), where it was born, where it was raised, a photo of the cow, the cow's name, its fathers name, mothers name, its mother's father's name, and its mother's grandfather's name. The photo was in a .cfm format which is very unusual, but if you open it with internet explorer as the program of choice it should work.

there's the expensive melons...

Almost all depachika will have wine/sake vendor. Usually they're in the back somewhere but well worth it just to see what they've brought in from throughout Japan and the world.

some wine

some sake

some plum wine and shochu

plum wine

You'll find some very unique and good plum wine at most all depachika. Most places will have a sake sampling station open too. The cups are tiny so don't get any great aspirations. But it is a nice little break from the exploring.