Luckily, there is a croquette restaurant in town, Mr. Frypan. When Mr. Frypan's photo displays came into view I became very afraid. Before me was one drab expanse of browned shells filled with who knows what. It had to be a substance from nutritionists' hell. My arteries tensed.
Croquettes are the equivalent of hamburgers in Japan.
Leave it to their ingenious food scientists to make a moist mash of pulverized potato, onion, carrot and ground beef, bread it and make it palatable. The oil is also low in cholesterol-raising saturated fat, which is somewhat reassuring. Items can be mixed and matched to create your own plate, okazu-ya style. Shrimp tempura, for instance, runs 78 cents per piece. Deep-fried food isn't trendy or desirable these days.