Looks Just Like Dutch Ras Fries

In the east and north of our country, it’s a phenomenon: ras fries. Sticks of deep-fried mashed potato. But in the rest of the country, people have so far tended to prefer hand-cut fries. Perhaps that is about to change now that ‘footlong fries’ are a hype in Japan and the surrounding area.

‘Lift fry, tilt head back, munch,’ is how an instructional video explains the eating method for Japan’s latest food hype. And the reason you have to move your head quite far back is that the footlong fries, sprayed directly into the frying oil with a handheld potato ricer, are—slightly exaggeratedly—almost a foot (around 30 cm) long.

Harajuku

The fries can be enjoyed in Harajuku, the area around the station of the same name in the Jingumae district of Shibuya, Tokyo. Indeed, this is the place where, on Sundays, wildly dressed gothic lolitas and other cartoon-inspired fashionistas stroll the streets.

Footlong fries: fries as long as your elbow

The long extruded fries come with a whole range of sauces, from spicy mentai mayo to garlic mayo and ketchup—or simply all of them at once. They are squirted onto the crispy fries in the typical excessive striped pattern that we now also know from okonomiyaki, hot dogs and even pizza. And that may well help explain some of their popularity.

Australia

At the same time, this could make the transition to our country easier. Because we Dutch also like having a sauce or three squirted over our fries. In the Australian city of Sydney, the first Japanese snack bar has already added these exceptionally long fries to its range: Harajuku Gyoza, named after the neighborhood where they originated in Tokyo.