Onigiri or rice balls and (right) Vegetable Maki Rolls. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

This festive season you can eat out and stick to your diet, with a Japanese food festival at Mythh, HHI, from November 9-25. “Japanese food is good for today’s youngsters who always seem to be on a diet. It’s very light and not oily, and you can eat without feeling you’re overeating,” said Utpal Mondal, corporate chef of the AJC Bose Road star address.

But diet with caution. If it tastes really good, and to quote Reema Ray (the protagonist of Madhumita Bhattacharyya’s debut novel The Masala Murder), “If it tastes very good, it will most likely make foie gras out of your liver.” Some of those “very good” items include the Tempura — vegetables or strips of chicken coated in batter and deep-fried. And Kakiage, which is similar to Tempura, the only difference being that “instead of each ingredient being fried separately, here they are coated in batter in clumps and fried together,” said Utpal.

But enough about the good stuff. Let’s go back to the light and healthy bites. For starters, tuck into Obanzai, which is a light, home-style food like tofu. Or Niku Jiga, a dish of braised chicken and potato.

Chef Atushi Kogahara, who has come in for the festival, specialises in sushi and sashimi — a must-try at the festival. Atushi’s innovations include urimaki (sushi rolls where the rice is outside) with fillings like egg. The veg ones have slices of cheese outside, which chef Atushi has put in “to make veg sushi more interesting”.

so on the menu and prepared by another specialist chef, Kenta Aiba, is the Takoyaki, a sort of Japanese meatball-like snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special pan.

The Shrimp Takoyaki is served with a zingy wasabi mayonnaise. There’s also Onigiri or rice balls and Yaki Soba, lightly stir-fried udon noodles.

The best part of the menu however will again blow your diet to pieces. The crazy Wasabi Ice Cream is sweet and creamy just like any ice cream with the trademark wasabi bite as an aftertaste.

A meal for two should cost about Rs 3,000 (plus taxes).