Mayo margaritas? Japan indulges its creamy passion

By Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - When Koji Nakamura mixes up a margarita cocktail, he adds a special ingredient - mayonnaise.

"Mayogarita", a white drink with a hint of the creamy dressing, is one of several cocktails Nakamura serves in his "Mayonnaise Kitchen" restaurant in suburban Tokyo, which features mayonnaise on everything from toast and spaghetti to fondue.

Despite its Western heritage, mayonnaise has become the condiment of choice for many young Japanese, who add it to everything from sushi, noodles and tempura.

While older Japanese might gag at the thought of mayonnaise on rice or savoury pancakes, the young are slathering it on. They even have a name for mayo fanatics: "mayolers".

"People keep discovering various ways to cook food with mayonnaise," Nakamura said. "If you put it on raw tuna fish with red flesh, it tastes like medium-fatty tuna fish. That kind of unpredictability makes it interesting and popular."

In 2006, Japanese consumed 1.65 kg of mayonnaise per person, down from a peak of 1.90 kg in 2000, according to the Japan Mayonnaise and Dressing Makers' Association.

Nakamura's tiny restaurant, with fewer than a dozen tables and decorated with cut-outs shaped like mayonnaise bottles, also offers "Mayoty Dog", which tastes like the vodka-based cocktail Salty Dog but is served in a glass with mayonnaise on its rim instead of salt.

Patrons of the seven-year-old restaurant can buy their own bottle of mayonnaise for 300 yen ($2.53) - similar to bars that keep regular customers' bottles of whisky or sake.