Nanban Chicken is a type of yoshoku (Japanese-style Western food) made out of lightly seasoned fried chicken doused in a sweet, sour, salty and spicy sauce called Nanban sauce. It is then served with a generous amount of tartare sauce made out of mayonnaise, eggs and cucumber.

Nanban Chicken is a type of yoshoku (Japanese-style Western food) made out of lightly seasoned fried chicken doused in a sweet, sour, salty and spicy sauce called Nanban sauce. It is then served with a generous amount of tartare sauce made out of mayonnaise, eggs and cucumber. The word Nanban uses the kanji characters for ‘South’ and ‘Barbarians’. These words have different meanings depending on its usage, when it’s taken together they mean Southern barbarians but if combined with a noun it means Western hence making this dish the “Western Chicken” or what we commonly known as Fried Chicken but it is all done in a Japanese fashion. Having said that most of its components are of Western influence just combined together to combine this unique taste. From the fried chicken, the tartare sauce and the nanban sauce which is believed to be derived from Spanish dish called escabeche hence the sweet, sour, salty and spicy notes.

This dish originated at a popular restaurant in Miyazaki prefecture in Kyuushuu region during the 1950s. It became really popular in the Kyuushuu region for decades and stayed that way until recently is started to gain popularity in outer regions where it started showing in family restaurant (famiresu) menus as well as bento shops.

A very unique take to the classic fried chicken, the crispy outer layer drenched in a sweet, sour, salty and spicy sauce maintains the balance of flavours while the creamy tartare sauce leaves you that silky smooth texture in your mouth. It’s an explosion of different flavours in a simple fried chicken dish.

Print