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When I hear a word, Kimura-kun, all I can think of is, without a doubt, one of typical Japanese family name.  But it seems there is not only that but also so non-human, edible Kimura which has been catching Japanese people’s attention.

“GORIMON” some rights reserved. flickr

According to an article, this Kimura-kun is combination of kimchi and rahyu (or chilli oil), which Japanese decided to abbreviate as Kimura (kimu+ra), and even call the product with -kun honorific suffix in a friendly manner.  Although chilli oil was always there in modern Japanese cuisine, it became particularly popular in the past few years, but popularity of Kimura-kun was originated from summer menu of an udon noodle restaurant in Osaka.  This restaurant started using Kimura-kun in summer menu from 2011.

“ayustety” some rights reserved. flickr

But huge hit was not only realised by the tastiness of the product, but also the friendliness of the udon restaurant member. The restaurant suggested other neighbour restaurants to start offering Kimura-kun as topping of their food products, too, without any loyalty or application documents, and allow others to call the topping Kimura-kun as long as the topping includes kimchi and chilli oil.  To start with, there were only 4 Osaka restaurants where offered Kimura-kun topping, but it increased dramatically to approx. 130 restaurants in a year after being broadcasted by local TV.  The staff of udon restaurant staff explained that this number is solely based on those reported on the shop blog, so there could have been a lot more than 130.

“is_kyoto_jp” some rights reserved. flickr

Currently, Kimura-kun is still spreading across Japan, and being served with not only with udon, but also with curry, burger, ramen, boiled gyoza dumpling, hot pot and sandwiches!  Hmn, I like both of kimchi and chilli oil in the first place, and this must be almost like a fail proof combination!  There is no way I wouldn’t like it myself 🙂  It seems there is several places where offer Kimura-kun in Tokyo area, too, so I shall look for them and try some myself!  Yam yam…

What do you think about today’s article?

Please let me know what you think.  I will be looking forward to hearing from you^^

Source: web R25

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