Ginger is a big part of the culture throughout much of Asia.  Whether it’s contributing to a delicious meal, or serving as an herbal medicine, the properties of this humble root are not to be underestimated.  In case you’ve never considered the benefits of ginger, you might be pleased to know that the many ginger-related dishes at our Japanese restaurant in Bellevue are offering you the following benefits:

• Digestive Health: Ginger has been used to cure digestive ailments for centuries.  It stimulates the release of your digestive enzymes, helping you to break down fats and proteins while simultaneously neutralizing some of the acid responsible for heartburn.  In this way, ginger can remedy many forms of nausea, diarrhea, and gas.

• Circulatory Health:  Ginger is an anti-inflammat, allowing it to open up constricted blood vessels while stimulating the flow of blood and protecting against clotting.  It also reduces the amount of harmful cholesterol absorbed into the blood, keeping your heart clean and protecting you from heart disease..

• Curative Properties: Ginger is a natural antihistamine, decongestant, and anti-inflammat.  It also features powerful fever-breaking attributes, and has a proven ability to prevent the replication of certain viruses.  The herb has even been used to inhibit the growth of many kinds cancer cells, including those of breast, prostate, or colon cancers.

Flo’s Japanese Restaurant in Bellevue is more than just a place for good sushi and Japanese food. It’s also a fresh, classy venue to get in a good round of drinks with your friends or coworkers. Boasting an expansive list of Japanese rice wines, along with more familiar reds, whites, and beers both foreign and domestic, ours is a bar that is simply not to be topped! And, if you’re going for a bit of a cultural twist on your usual social drinking scene, try following these simple Japanese drinking etiquette rules.

Just like in many other countries, Japan attaches a lot of tradition to drinking. In any occasion, you can expect a night of drinking to begin with a toast, or kanpai. These work similarly to a Western-style toast; if your Japanese friend offers up a “kanpai”, raise your glass and say “kanpai” in return.

Once you get down to the actual drinking, be aware that it is never proper to fill your own glass. Instead, you should wait for others to serve you. Hold out your glass with both hands and be sure to thank them when they’re done! Meanwhile, be alert for anyone at your table who is running dry, as it may fall on you to fill them up again.

The classic Japanese chopsticks came a long way from their humble origins in China to our Japanese restaurant in Bellevue. It is thought that the first chopsticks came about five thousand years ago. When fuel was scarce, the ancient Chinese would cut up their meat into smaller pieces so that it would cook faster. Cooks and diners found that they were able to make effective use of a simple pair of sticks to handle their meals, and the practice slowly caught on.

Confucius embraced the chopsticks, promoting their use as an eating utensil among all of his followers. The knife and the fork, he reasoned, were crude and vulgar instruments associated with the slaughterhouse, and a civilized diner should aspire to separate himself from this as much as possible. The utensils therefore spread across the Asian continent along with Confucian teachings to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

When chopsticks first made their start in Japan around 500 ad, they were only used for religious ceremonies. These first sticks were crafted from bamboo and connected at the top ends, like a set of tongs. Gradually, the sticks made their way into the common dinner table; the nobility would have sticks made from jade or precious metals to show off their stature. Silver chopsticks were popular, as it was believed that the metal would always stain when touched by poison.

One of the most iconic condiments at our Bellevue sushi restaurant is, naturally, soy sauce.  It’s an important part of Japanese cuisine, as well as popular across the world for its potent flavor.  Due to its high sodium content, and its general similarities to table salt, many make the mistake of thinking that this murky brown concoctions is an indulgence that the health-conscious individual would be wise to stay away from.  However, the humble soy sauce actually offers some surprisingly valuable nutrients:

• Niacin: Also known as vitamin B-3, this nutrient is essential for the maintaining a healthy heart.  It lowers fats in the bloodstream while simultaneously raising the levels of healthy cholesterol.  As an added bonus, it is also an important part of healthy skin, a healthy nervous system, and a healthy digestive system.

• Manganese: This mineral is used in building connective tissue, blood clots, and a powerful antioxidant agent that battles free radicals that can damage your cells.

• Tryptophan:  Soy sauce is particularly rich in this essential amino acid.  Your body uses tryptophan to create serotonin, which promotes restful sleep and stabilizes your mood.

Meanwhile, though it is true that soy sauce is high in sodium, it has been found that you can actually save yourself a lot of sodium by substituting table salt for a modest splash of soy sauce.  So don’t be afraid of Asia’s favorite condiment!

You’ve probably encountered miso soup before. It’s that sweet and salty appetizer that accompanies many Japanese meals. Those who have developed a taste for it find it to be an engaging and versatile dish, often without even realizing how healthy it is. So when you find yourself with a bowl of miso at our Bellevue Japanese restaurant, keep the following in mind:

Miso is made out of fermented soy, which is far healthier than unfermented soy products. It delivers a good dose of protein, zinc, iron, vitamin B12, and vitamin K, all of which are hard to obtain in a meatless diet. It also contains isoflavones that have been shown to fight or prevent certain types of cancer, breast cancer being chief among these. And to top it all off, it gives you all of these benefits in a low fat, low calorie, high deliciousness package. So try one of our miso soups at Flo Restaurant and discover one of Japan’s best health secrets!