About food in Japan

Kitchen goods store, Daidokoroya Zakkaten in Shibuya (台所雑貨店, 渋谷)

Today's topic is not "about food" exactly but about something important for food lovers.

I visited Shibuya (渋谷) more than 100 times in my life but I had not known this interesting store until recently...

Daidokoroya Zakkaten (台所雑貨店) represents "Kitchen Goods Store" if tranlated in English. It is located just a minute from Shibuya station which is known for the most busiest diagonal crossing in the world. The store is on the basement floor of a shopping complex called "Shibuya Tokyu Plaza" which can be visible from West Exit of Shibuya station over large bus terminal.

Finding Daidokoroya Zakkaten, I was amazed by the abundant collections of kitchen goods from plates stacked close to the floor, utencils hung on the wall both left and right, even baskets suspended from the ceiling, every space filled with intersting tools or kitchenware, without empty space. The scene reminds us "Kappabashi" (合羽橋) well-known kitchen goods street in Asakusa. But here it is Shibuya, just a minute from the station.

Of course it does not have large scale like Kappabashi but is still exciting to find someting interesting for your kitchen or souvenir without travelling to Asakusa.

 

 What I bought at Daidokoroya Zakkaten today

 

Top: chopstick rest in the shape of "Taiyaki"(sea bream fish shaped cake) 

Center: a tiny spoon with flower motif, which allows me to scoop very small portion of powder

Bottom: again chopstick in the shape of "edamame"(green soybean, often served as snack with beer) Not edible but able to be brought out from Japan as a souvenir and make a lough on table...

 

Another fun discovering....

"tenugui" (手ぬぐい, traditional washcloth

can be used in kitchen, bathroom or any other housekeeping work)

This tenugui is not just washcloth.

Each character printed in dark blue ink represents a kind of fish.

The list is likely to be found at Sushi restaurant. This case, it is printed on cloth.

 

Even for native Japanese, it is not east to master all the words and name...

So it is very kind to have the paper list attached and telling us how to pronouce these words. 

The cloth will give us an oppotunity to study

plenty of Kanji (漢字, Japanese characters) related to seafood.

 

Daidokoroya Zakkaten offers other intresting tenugui cloth. Some of them are different by season. 

 

Drop by the shop in Shibuya to find some small but good souvenir or useful tools to prepare authentic Japanese food in your home.

 

Shop name: Daidokoroya Zakkaten

Address: B1 floor, Shibuya Tokyu Plaza, 1-2-2 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku Tokyo

 

大きな地図で見る

Chocolate Brewery by SAPPORO x ROYCE

Saint Valentine's day is commercially made in Japan as the date when girls give chocolate to their loved boys. For a few weeks until the 14th of February, sale of chocolate is the most increased in a year. You will find special corners of chocolate gift everywhere in this season. Some people enjoy finding favourite chocolate brand from wide selections of high quality chocolate in this season not for gift to someone but for herself.

I found another attempt of Saint Valentine's day at a supermarket. It is "Chocolate Brewery" or chocolate beer made by collaboration between a major Japanese beer producer Sapporo and a well-known high quality chocolate brand ROYCE in Hokkaido region.

Once I had chocolate beer in Alsace, French city but where is influenced by German culture and is beer-production region. The unique point for the case in Japan is that the beer is made with ROYCE brand chocolate which is solely established as a high quality chocolate producer from Hokkaido. 

 

Anyway let's taste the chocolate beer in Japan. There are two types by taste; Sweet and Bitter. I took Sweet type for me. 

 

Color is close to black color or dark brown chocolate.

Taste, YES, it surely and interestingly has CHOCOLATE flavor.

Instead of sweet flavor, bitter taste is felt less than usual beer.  

Its alcohol ratio is 5% less than normal beer.

Uhhh...in other words, it could be sensed as if it was soft drink as same as Coca-cola.

Be careful not to have it too much. It is alcohol drink...

 

Chocolate Brewery SAPPORO x ROYCE is not regular product. It means that it is sold for limited time and limited amount. How much and how long is not announced though. The product is sold at some liquor shops, convenience stores and supermarkets.

 

 Official website of the product Chocolate Brewery (Japanese) : 

http://www.sapporobeer.jp/chocolat/

 

 Official website of ROYCE (English), though the beer is not sold at the chocolate boutique maybe:

http://www.e-royce.com/english/

 

 

Oshiruko (おしるこ, 汁粉)

Oshiruko (お汁粉) is sweet hot soup made from red beans and sugar. It is often served in winter particularly at outdoor events such as marathon or other sports gathering. The sweet and hot dessert makes our body warmer. 

I found an interesting pack of Oshiruko at Kaldi Coffee farm in Tokyo. It is called "Okoge shiruko" (おこげしるこ, brown shiruko). Three pieces of round white ball looks like dumpling (団子, dango) in a row in a pack. 

The small pack may be a good souvenir for international traveler.

After I brought the pack to my home, I made instant Oshiruko as it is instructed on the recipe.

 

Let's prepare a bowl and a pack of Okoge Shiruko.

I use a miso soup cup for it....

Put the three pieces into the bowl.

With spoon, break the balls into small pieces...

Inside of the white crispy ball, lumps of brown powder is there.

It was hard and required some power to break down into pieces.

Pour 100ml of boiled water. 

 

Finally Oshiruko is ready

It is quick and easy...Just with boiled water and a bowl.

 

Okoge shiruko is produced by a traditional sweets house in Nagoya.

I found the pack at Kaldi Coffee shop but not sure until when it is available and at which units.

Otherwise Okoge shiruko is sold through online store of the producer Enshuya from October to March. 

 

Company site: Enshuya  http://enshuya.jp

Online store of Enshuya http://engasane.jp/SHOP/EN-C-0004.html

Kaldi Coffee Farm: where various interesting food grocery both international and Japanese are available as well as fine coffee beans. Many of them are situated in residential area across Japan, while two units are in Tokyo central area, Omotesando and Shinagawa. 

http://www.kaldi.co.jp

 

 Link to Food Action Nippon   

 

 

Shoyu (醤油, soy sauce) - at website Shokunin Shoyu (職人醤油)

Shoyu (soy sauce, 醤油　しょうゆ) is surely the most known seasoning of Japan and one of the icons of Japanese food. Since I was young, I have had the ingredients almost everyday in Japan. A bottle of Shoyu is in every dining table across Japan. However we do not know so much about shoyu actually. It may be too close food for us, Japanese.

Luckly I had a chance to learn about it from the master of Shoyu, called Mr. Mantaro Takahashi.

Here is basic information about shoyu or soy sauce.

Major ingredients: Soy beans (mainly made outside of Japan…) wheat and salt

 

How it is produced?

Steamed soy beans are mixed with roasted and crashed wheat. “Tanekouji” (種麹), spores of rice malt (its academic name, Asperigillus oryzae) is added and leads to fermentation.

 ↓

The fermented paste is called “Kouji” (麹) and salted water is poured to barrels of Kouji. The thick liquid is called “Moromi” (諸味) which will be left for a while until it is matured.

  ↓

When Moromi is matured in a barrel, it becomes very fresh “shoyu”(醤油, soy sauce). But it is not yet the same one with which we can find at glossary stores or supermarkets.

 ↓

The fresh shoyu is heated to 80 to 85 C degree as the final process to stop frementation. Then finally shoyu is made up!

 

What types of shoyu?

Shoyu or soy sauce is categorized by difference in production ways or in ingredient content ratio.

These fives are major categories of shoyu  as below...

From left to right, Koikuchi Honjozo / Koikuchi Kongo / Usukuchi / Sai-Shikomi / Tamari

 

<Koikuchi Honjozo / 濃口本醸造>

The word “Koikuchi” (濃口) represents thick flavor. It is the most popular and common type of shoyu. The ratio of soy beans and wheat is 50 %/ 50 %. If you can find a bottle of soy sauce at supermarkets or Japanese restaurants outside of Japan, probably it is this type of shoyu.

 

<Koikuchi Kongo / 濃口混合>

When amino acid is added to shoyu, it is called Koikuchi Kongo shoyu. It can be also categorised as processed soy sauce (しょうゆ加工品). Sweet taste is unique point of Koikuchi Kongo shoyu. It is often used in Kyushu (九州) region and surrounding area. This type of shoyu is well matched with cooked Japanese rice and raw egg.

 

<Usukuchi / 淡口>

The name Usukuchi (bland) shown, the color is lighter because of shorter fermentation period. Instead higher ration of salt water is used in production compared with Koikuchi, thicker taste soy sauce. Hence Usukuchi shoyu is a bit salty and it is the best type of soy sauce to make dressing for salad for example.

 

<Sai-Shikomi / 再仕込み>

If translated in my definition, sai-shikomi means “double-matured”. It is taken double-long period for maturing process. The flavor is thick as Tamari is. Sai-shikomi shoyu is suitable for stew or other cooking way of long time, as the flavor remains even after heating for long minutes. The secret way of enjoy Sai-shikomi shoyu is to put it on top of “ice cream” 

Can you believe that? if no, let's just try it 

<Tamari / 溜 >

Tamari is thicker and more viscous than Koikuchi type. It is produced with lower ratio of salt water and higher ratio (4 times amout of wheat) of soy beans. Inspite of the thick flavor, it is less in salt. The rich flavor of Tamari shoyu is well macthed with meat and lean fish like tuna.

 

More than a half of shoyu consumption is produced at large factories by major shoyu producers, while over a thousand of small shoyu makers are scattered across Japan.

My shoyu teacher Mr. Mantaro Takahashi introduces tens of traditional and hand-made shoyu producers on his website, Shokunin Shoyu (職人醤油, Shoyu Masters). These shoyu selections are based on his professional knowledge and experiences visited Shoyu studios or factories. These hand-made shoyu can be ordered by 100 ml bottle size through the Shokunin Shoyu website. The website is Japanese version only so far. But Mr. Takahashi welcomes order in English and product shipment out from Japan. Please visit the website if you feel like exploring wide selections of soy sauce made in very traditional ways by great masters.

Website: Shokunin Shoyu 職人醤油

http://www.s-shoyu.com

 

In addition, Shokunin Shoyu selection items are available at some department stores and select-shop in Tokyo.

* Mitsukoshi department Nihombashi Main store

大きな地図で見る

 

* Seibu department Ikebukuro 6th floor "be my Gift" corner

大きな地図で見る

 

*Cibone Aoyama (Aoyama Bell Commons Basement 1st floor) 

大きな地図で見る

 

 

Butaman (豚まん, pork bun) 551 HORAI (551 蓬莱), Osaka

One of my favourite foods in Osaka, the capital of West Japan, is Butaman (豚まん, pork bun) from 551 Horai (551 蓬莱). Pork bun may be a typical Chinese food but the 551 brands along with its speciality; Butaman is an icon of Osaka. The simple and unpretentious food with packed pork filling inside the large size bun (almost a palm size) could represent mentality of Osaka people…dislike snob and put importance on what they really can get.

 

Butaman by 551 Horai costs only Yen160 per piece (sold by 2pieces or more). The hand-made butaman is sold exclusively at Osaka and surrounding area. Apart from some special promotion occasions, it is not available even in Tokyo. So for us based in East Japan, Butaman is an appreciated gift from Osaka.

 

By the way, we wonder why the brand name is called 551 Horai, as it sounds unique. As per the official home page of 551 Horai, over a half century ago, the founder of Chinese food service company Horai (in Chinese, represents Shangli-la) took the idea from his cigarette brand “555”. The brand name with numbers can be easily remembered and recognizable even from foreign people, unlike name in Japanese or Chinese letters. Taken from the last 3 digit of its phone number at that time and from sounds like ko-ko-ichiban (here the number 1, in Japanese), it is named as 551 (go-go-ichi).

The Chinese food service company sells other Chinese dim-sum foods as well.

Let’s find the number 551 in Osaka!

 

551 Horai official website: http://www.551horai.co.jp

The main store and restaurant

Address: 3-6-3 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka  (shopping district of Namba)

 

大きな地図で見る

******************  Find accommodation in Japan  ***************

OSAKA / NARA / SAPPORO / TAKAYAMA / TOKYO/YUFUIN 

YAKUSHIMA / NOZAWA ONSEN / NISEKO / NIKKO /

HIROSHIMA / MATSUMOTO / KYOTO / KANAZAWA / ISHIGAKI ISLAND /

HAKUBA / FURANO / BEPPU /

 

Peach wine from Katsunuma Koshu (桃ワイン 甲州勝沼より)

A Happy New Year 2011!

 

Celebrate a new year with a glass of nice alcohol drink must be similar in almost everywhere around the world. In my case, here we have a bottle of “Peach Wine”(桃ワイン). That is made by a winery in the most known wine region of Japan, Koshu Katsunuma (甲州　勝沼), Yamanashi (山梨).

The wine is made from 100% peach juice from the Yamanshi region also being proud of high quality fresh peach. Apart from 4 % of alcohol and slightly sparkling bubbles in the wine, the taste is really like fresh peach juice, rich fruits flavour but not too sweet.  The bottle cap with a wired stopper also makes us believe that it is peach juice rather than wine. 

The winery produced the Peach Wine only 8000 bottles. I hope I can get one more bottle but it seems to be sold out already…

Let’s wait another chance to find it! Anyway it was a good opportunity to know an interesting unique product from the Japanese winery, Koshu Katsunuma.

The producer winery Fujiclair usually offers normal wine made from grapes from red wine to sparkling one. They are all limited number of production. It also welcomes winery visit in Katsunuma Koshu.

 

Official website of Fujiclair (Japanese version)

http://www.fujiclairwine.jp

Winery address: 2770-1 Shimoiwasaki, Katsunuma-cho, Koshu-city, Yamanashi

 

 

 

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The keywords-of-the-year 2010 (流行語大賞 2010)

A publishing company announced 10 buzzwords as "The keywords-of-the-year 2010"(流行語大賞 2010) last week. Among these ten frequently used words in Japan for 2010, here I introduce two related to "food".

* "Taberu ra-yu" (食べるラー油, chili oil for eating)

Ra-yu(chili oil) is the one we can find at Chinese restaurants and what we put for dim-sum, the most often gyoza (餃子). Normally what we know is hot oil in orange color, simply liquid form, while "Taberu ra-yu" includes full of small pieces of both chili and garlic tips. (as you can see this photo) The oil brings yummy garlic scent that strongly stimulates our appetite!! Apart from those who hate hot and spicy food, everybody have been nocked out by the garlic scent, I guess. Put the oil on top of steamed rice or tofu, salad. If you would like to have something gorgeous, boild pork must be matched well with "Taberu ra-yu". It is rather "for eating" than "for dipping and seasoning". That is the reason of the naming "Taberu ra-yu".

A major food producer Momoya launched their first product in "Taberu ra-yu" category in mid-2009. It captured Japanese people's mind across ages and regions. Seeing the populatlity, a major spice maker, S&B foods followed its rival and introduced thier version of "Taberu ra-yu" in Spring 2010. The war of "Taberu ra-yu" started at that time. The wider people acknowledged the products the more it became wanted. For a while, as soon as bins of "Taberu ra-yu" were placed, they had been quickly run out from the shelves of supermarkets across Japan. Day by day, the phenomenon caught the attention of other food producers and food service companies of course. Now we can see differnt versions of "Taberu ra-yu" by different producers and dishes arranged with the very popular ingredient at Chinese or Japanese casual restaurants. 

Yes, surely it was so popular and is one of the keywords of the year in 2010.

Below the product by Momoya and its rival by S&B Foods.

* "Jyoshi-kai" (女子会, Girls Party)

The word is new but the concept is never new, I believe as a girl or a lady...

The food service industry newly paid more attention on exclusive gathering among girls or ladies recently. They started organizing and offering course menu or package plan targeting ladies only groups called "Joshi-kai", featuring food ingredients particularly appreciated by ladies; good for beauty or help for controling their weight, good visual presentation and tasty of course.

Ladies prefer to try different plates even by small portion for each and they must be price-sensitive... Some can be attentioned on thoese points.

Restaurants competed for Joshi-kai plan each other.  It is good for femal consumers to have more attractive choices. Such girls party or Joshi-kai may be held among femal colleagues for socializing or networking, otherwise simply among groups with same interests, among good friends, as seen in many of other parts of the world. Surely all are relaxing and fun time for ladies

Should we think about boys plan next year?... Yes, maybe.

I am looking forward to finding "the keywords-of-the-year 2011 a year ahead from now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOUTER de ROI White chocolate - GATEAU FESTA HARADA

The most people check my last post about this sweets, GOUTER de ROI, crispy sugar coated rusk produced by GATEAU FESTA HARADA based in Takasaki, Gumma prefecture. The boutique in Tokyo still attracts a lot of people who are happy to make a long queue to get a pack of GOUTER de ROI. 

It offers the newer type of rusk during October to beginning of May.

 

This is it

GOUTER de ROI White Chocolate

I cannot wait it, as I love white chocolate...

The piece is pure white.

It is a bit problem to hold it, as top and side of the small piece are all covered with white chocolate and it melts by heat from fingers.

 

Before it melts on fingers, let's bite it !

 

The rusk is crispy as same with the original version.

Of course the sweet chocolate coating is additional joy on it!

Fantastic!!

 

The white chocolate has been selected among tens of chocolate ingredients by Gateau Festa Harada product development team. It produces a good combination of rust and white chocolate, making the most use of flavours of butter and milk.

Unnn. I cannot wait for another piece!

 

Price:

GOUTER de ROI White Chocolate from Yen 420 by 5 pieces

 

Related story: Rusk "Gouter de Roi" - Gateau Festa Harada

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2009/12/rusk-gouter-de-roi-gateau-festa-harada.html

 

GOUTER de ROI productes are available at food floor in following major department stores in Tokyo and Osaka.

<Tokyo>

Matsuya Ginza - http://www.matsuya.com/foreign/index.html

Keio Shinjuku - http://info.keionet.com/foreign/index.html

Tobu Ikebukuro - http://www.tobu-dept.jp/ikebukuro/

<Osaka>

Hanshin Umeda Honten (the flagship store) - http://www.hanshin-dept.jp/dept/english/

 

Cupmen (カップメン)

 

His name is "Cupmen".

Recently he came to my home.

What is his job?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He helps me with holding the lid of Cup Noodle, while I  am waiting for it cooked.

 

That's a great job isn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The orange color in the hands is turned to white color gradualy by heat come from the cup.

3 minutes waiting time is very short when I am waiting with Cupmen.

 

After the great task, he needs a break.

Then like this.

 

 

Thank you for your fantastic job, Cupmen!

 

Cupmen was created by a Japanese designer Mr. Akira Mabuchi. As per the description on the product package and on the official website, he produced Cupmen "from the desire to be entertained by someone while you wait for your noodles."

 

Cupmen has a friend called "Cupmen 2". The friend has totally differnt character from Cupmen. The men is always more relaxed during his task.

 

Official website: CUPMEN http://www.plus-d.com/cupmen/

*It may be available in some countries outside Japan. Please check "Contact" page for the nearest location where you can find Cupmen.

 

 

Fuji Shimizu JAPAN WATER (富士清水) – Mineral water from Mount Fuji

Maybe you already know the name of "Mount Fuji (富士山)", the most well-known mountain in Japan, not olny for the highest peak in Japan but also for the beatiful shape like a fan, spreading wider toward the end as dipicted in scenes of Ukiyoe (浮世絵) art.

How romantic if you can bring something from Mount Fuji as a souvenir, omiyage (お土産) ? This bottoled wated must be one of them. Rain drops on the famous mountain runs and is filtered though 7 geological layers inside of the volcanic mountain. The water becomes rich in mineral called “vanadium” and is put into PET-bottle with the iconic label of Mount Fuji in red by sunshine.

 

The taste is mellow and sweet, as likely to be Japanese natual water.

 

According to ths official website, so far the product is available at a gift shop in Hotel New Otani, Kiosk in JR Tokyo station and six units of Supermarket Sakagami in Tokyo otherwise through a Japanese online store specialized for mineral water. I hope that the nice souvenir of Japan will become available at more places around Mount Fuji and in Tokyo.

 

Websites related to this story:

Fuji Shimizu JAPAN WATER (富士清水) - http://www.fujiseisui.com

Hotel New Otani - http://www.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/

Supermarket Sakagami shop list -  http://www.sakagami-cl.co.jp/store/index.html

Aqua bar style (online shopping site for water) - http://aquabar-stylestore.com/?tid=9&mode=f6