Nihonbashi Philly, a restaurant and sports bar in Tokyo could make some tourists and Philadelphia residents feel like they are right at home due to its Philly-themed mementos and menu items, writes Jenn Ladd for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The owners, husband-and-wife duo Kosuke and Tomomi Chujo, have long admired Philadelphia’s culture and history from afar.

That admiration sparked the tavern’s opening, but more importantly, their determination to create the perfect cheesesteak.

Unable to buy Cheez Whiz, the Chujos make their own cheese sauce, mixing flour and butter, then adding in milk and a blend of grated cheddar, Monterey Jack, and asadero. Similarly, no Tokyo bakeries can recreate a hoagie roll, so Tomomi bakes them from scratch.

They also buy American beef because “Japanese beef is too greasy for American cheesesteak,” said Tomomi.

A nearly decade-long journey of trial and error making cheesesteaks eventually led the Chujos to Philadelphia to try an authentic one for the first time. 

“We realized that both bread and cheese were completely different from what we had imagined,” Tomomi said.

From there, the Chujos carefully studied both the art and science of making the perfect cheesesteak. 

Fast forward to today, and people all over the world travel to Nihonbashi to try their cheesesteaks.

Read more about the husband and wife behind Nihonbashi Philly at The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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