Popular Japan restaurant credits tasty food to uncleaned sauce jar

Popular Japan restaurant credits tasty food to uncleaned sauce jar

The sauce jar has not been cleaned in 60 years!

An uncleaned sauce jar from a restaurant in Japan
An uncleaned sauce jar from a restaurant in Japan/YouTube Screenshot/@tatsuminetwork

Eating out is something that we all enjoy doing, it is a treat that we can indulge in now and then. 

Most of the time we find our favourites at certain restaurants because of the speciality dishes.

Sometimes we can attribute our favourite dishes to seasoned chefs, while other times it is all about preparation.

The thing about that is sometimes it is better to not know the steps it took to prepare your food. 

Mostly because you may not be happy with what you hear. 

For instance, one restaurant in Tokyo, Japan "sparked controversy for claiming to dip its delicious pork skewers in a sauce jar that has not been cleaned in over half a century." (Oddity Central)

Ooh, sounds saucy (but not in a good way). The restaurant was featured in a Japanese TV show where it was revealed that the staff don't actually clean the sauce jar in which they dip their famous pork skewers. 

The third-generation owner attributed the unclean sauce jar as the reason for their delicious pork skewers. 

"Instead of cleaning the sauce jar every day, after closing, the staff at Abe-chan simply pours more sauce over the leftovers of the day, which only amplifies its aroma. The congealed mass around the earthen pot of sauce isn’t the most appetizing sight when ordering street food, but for the owners of Abe-chan, it is a valuable treasure put on display right next to the charcoal grill." (Oddity Central)

The family believe that just adding sauce to the pot and not cleaning is part of the reason the business is so successful. 

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But is this sauce actually safe to consume? 

"During the television show, experts were asked about the potential hygiene hazards of simply adding new sauce in a container that hasn’t been cleaned in several decades and one of them said that if the sauce is heat-treated long enough, there shouldn’t be any danger of bacterial contamination." (Oddity Central)

We're wondering if all the patrons know about this age-old sauce? Either way, they are bound to find out considering it was featured on a TV show...

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Image Courtesy of YouTube

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