Seed Writes....: Japanese Food

Showing posts with label Japanese Food. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2015

Eat to your heart's content at Oishii Japan 2015

Once again, ASEAN's largest dedicated Japanese food and beverage, Oishii Japan has arrived in Singapore. This is my second year covering this exhibition. See my last year coverage here . This year is bigger and better.

F&B players and Japanese food enthusiasts will be able to experience the best of Japanese seasonal produce and discover the latest food trends in Japan. As usual, there will exciting series of live demonstrations, seminars, and tasting workshops, the annual gourmet affair is a gastronomic odyssey that will immerse visitors into Japan's rich food culture.

Three of Japan's most prized exports, Sake, Wagyu Beef and Japanese Tea will be greeting you at the event.

This year event has the largest number of representation of Japanese prefectures, 42 out of 47 prefectures in Japan which is 31% increase in participation from 2014. Nearly 300 exhibitors will present more than 500 new products, including the latest food technologies from Japan.

There will be a demonstration on the art of sake making as well as a massive 60kg maguro flown in from Ehime Prefecture for a live maguro-cutting demonstrations.

Event Details

Trade : 22-23 Oct 2015 10.am to 5.30pm daily

Public : 24 Oct 2015 11am to 4.30pm

Venue : Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre Halls 405-406

Website : www.oishii-world.com/en

If you require an event photographer, wedding photographer or any other professional photography services, do email me ( Derrick See ) at see323@yahoo.com.sg . You can also message me at my FACEBOOK account. To view my photos, click My Flicker Photos

A refreshing Okinawa Gelato, South & North. The milk in South & North's gelato comes from two locations, Hokkaido, Yamakawa Natural Farm Milk and Okinawa, Miyahira Dairy Milk. Gelato contains less fat than commercially-sold ice-cream. and so relies more on the flavour, aroma and texture of its ingredients.

This is an interesting stall, Miyone, which the Singaporean Auntie ( worked as a Japanese Tour Guide in Singapore ) invited me to her stall. She is helping the owner as a Japanese interpreter.Although it is quite common to have processed Oranges and Lemon such Yuzu, Amanatsu, BloodOrange, Lemon etc but the good thing is that there is no food colouring, no fragrance and most importantly, no preservatives. It is natural and refreshingly original taste. Well, I promised our Singaporean Auntie to review that in my blog Oishii Japan posting. I took back a Lemon package and my family finished in a record time of less than 1 minute. Unfortunately, it is currently not sold in Singapore. Any Singapore distributor interested ? For contact, please visit website at www.miyone.com

With all the good ingredients, you cannot go with Famous Japanese Rice.

I was hunting high and low for quality Japanese Beef. This year seems to have less beef stalls but glad that I found this one from Gunma Prefecture. Not too bad as I help myself to two servings.

This is one customised cream bun worth queuing up. From Japan, Hattendo Cafe will soon be available in Singapore. They started in 1933. Why did they took so long to come to Singapore? With the choice of fruits toppings, sauce and bun type, this is one refreshing cream bun. You only need to taste it to feel it's goodness.

Famous Japanese Udon

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The Best Ramen of 2015 emerged from the Ramen Champion Tasting Competition 2015

Ramen have been a very popular Japanese food in Singapore. Ramen Champion Singapore was started in July 2011 which bring in reputable ramen brands to Singapore. The 2015 Ramen Champion Tasting Competition event was held at Bugis+ which was to celebrate Ramen Champion’s evolution since its inception in 2011.

Besides the first outlet at Bugis+, there are two other outlets of Ramen Champion. One at Changi Airport T3 and the other one at Great World City. There are a total of 6 Ramen brands which include a new brand, Tonkotsu Ikkyu joining in 2015.

The new brand Tonkotsu Ikkyu was created by Ramen chef and producer of Ramen Champion Singapore, Chef Koji Tashiro. He is known as “Son of Ramen God”. He is the disciple of “Ramen God” Kazuo Yamagishi, the legendary Ramen chef credited for inventing the wildly popular Tsukemen or dipping noodles.

The event started with a Japanese traditional drums performance. You can feel the energy and excitement of the drummers during this short but high energy performance. This is followed by a sweet Japanese lady compere together with the Chef Koji Tashiro, translating every words of what Chef says.

The panel of judges were a mixed group from our local Singapore top chefs, chief editor of BITES etc. In the tasting competition, we were given a voting card which we will be submitting at the end of the tasting competition.

There are six brands and each dish out one Ramen dish. Here are the Ramen.

(1) Ramen Brand : Menya Ryu, Ramen : Sapporo Miso Special Ramen. The original flavour come from the capital of Ramen in Japan, Sapporo, Hokkaido. A minimum of 7 hours spent for making the broth. The Chef, Melvin Yeo uses 3 kinds of Miso which is just like the traditional miso ramen of Sapporo. My Opinion : It has a rich, tasty and thick soup. The meat is tender. The half boiled egg is soft and juicy. This is definitely one of my favourite Ramen.

(2) Ramen Brand : Buta God, Ramen : God Ramen. Buta God specialises in port ramen. Chef Mamoru Kana create a perfect combination of the slightly sweet Tonkotsu broth with sliced marinated pork belly and proached egg. My Opinion : You can feel the softness and yet the tasty sliced pork belly. The soup was really nice. This is my favourite and I voted on this Ramen.

(3) Ramen Brand : Riki, Ramen : RIKI Chashumen. The brand was established in Tokyo. Very popular with men in Japan. It’s broth boiled for more than 8 hours, achieving a perfect milky-white broth. Riki means Energy Boost. My Opinion : The soup is a bit saltish but it still tasty. The meat is well done. Still this is not my favourite ramen.

(4) Ramen Brand : Menban Yamagishi Kazuo, Ramen : Original Tsukemen This is the legendary ramen chef, Kazuo Yamagishi who created this wildly popular Tsukemen, or dipping noodles. My Opinion : This is a ramen that is very different from the rest. The noodles are dipped into the soup for every mouthful of noodles. Quite interesting. In fact, it is quite nice. Should give it a try.

(5) Ramen Brand : Shodai Koji, Ramen : Triple Chashu Ramen. Chef Koji Takano is trained in Hokkaido, Yokohama, Tokyo, Australia and Singapore. He is the disciple of Chef Koji Tashiro. The uniqueness of this dish is that you can enjoy three kinds of meats. It is based on Yokohama-style ramen. It combines the elements of new generation with the traditional ones. My Opinion : For a meat eater like me, I really appreciate this ramen with three different kind of meat. It seems rather generous with it’s ingredients.

(6) Ramen Brand : Tonkotsu Ikkyu, Ramen : Special Tonkotsu Ramen. The ramen is created by Chef Koji Tashiro, disciple of Ramen God Kazuo Yamagishi. Eric Tsang, a Hong Kong celebrity and producer of Ramen Champion Hong Kong have request the chef to create this Ramen. The topping of cha shu which is pork collar is cooked in the western sous vide style and that the soup base comes in four vibrant colours and flavours. Finally, this ramen emerge as the grand winner. My Opinion : In my opinion, the soup is salty. I would prefer something less salty. Overall presentation is good. The meat is tender.

It is an experience to witness and be part of a Japanese culture of eating ramen in a competition. With more of such competitions, I believe the level of creativity and quality of ramen will greatly be improved.

Here are the Ramen Champion Singapore outlets

Bugis+ - Open Daily 11am to 10.30pm, 201 Victoria Street, Bugis+ 04-10, Singapore 188607

Changi Airport T3 – Open Daily 10.30am to 11pm, 65 Airport Boulevard #B2-58 Terminal 3, Singapore 819663

Great World City – Open Daily 11am to 10.30pm, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, Great World City, #01-22, Singapore 237994

Website : www.ramenchampion.com.sg

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/RamenChampionSingapore

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ramenchampion sg

Photos, Video and Write-up by Derrick See, Seed Image.

More Photos can be found at : Ramen Champion Tasting Competition 2015

Event Video :

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Oishii Japan 2014

Oishii Japan food trade fair first started in 2012. This is the third year in the running and it is my first time attending this event. With 266 exhibitors from 32 Japanese prefectures occupying an area of 6000 square metres, it is definitely growing in number of participants and F&B demand for this event. It serves as a bridge for F&B businesses between Japan and ASEAN.

This year, participating companies brought in strawberries from Tochigi which are well known for its sweetness and large size. Tochigi is also known as “Strawberry Kingdom” in Japan.

The atmosphere make me feel like I am attending an event in Japan.

Mr. Masanao Nishida, Director of Oishii Japan 2014

Our Singapore Tourism Board representative giving a speech during the opening ceremony.

Breaking of Sake or the ancient Japanese sake ceremony called "Kagami Biraki

The Toast of Sake

Shy Japanese girl refuse a photo shot from me. A Japanese elderly man said something and she finally agree to pose for the photo.

Other valuable products such as Olive beef from Sanuki where the cows were fed with olive resulted in award winning wagyu of superior quality.

From Kagoshima, shōchū (焼酎?) is a Japanese distilled beverage. The shōchū is put through a 30-day fermentation stage, accompanied by classical music Beethoven’ 9^th symphony played through a girdle of speakers wrapped around each tank. The producers believe the rhythmic vibrations it help to stimulate yeast activity during the production.

I have personally visited a Nigata booth at the fair where they grew premium rice. The unique thing about this that they release young carps into the wet padi field. The 7 colours carps help to keep the padi field healthy by eating away those pests. Once the padi field is ready for harvesting, the carps are also ready for harvesting. Through selection, better grade carps were sold while the rest of the carps were given away. It is truly a brilliant way of organic farming.

This year, MAFF ( The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan ) have planned a series of demonstrations and talks to educate event visitors on Japanese food ingredients and also invited chef to dish out nice food. I have attended Chef Stephan Zoisl cooking demo. We get to taste what he cooked. It was amazing.

Chef Stephan cooking demonstration

Chef Stephan's Takasago - Kouji Amazake & Ponzu Ice Cream

Chef Stephan's Yellowtail & Miso

In addition, J-Sweets Collection is introduced this year which include desserts, confectionary etc. Also, the return of J-Food tech which showcase latest F&B equipment and technology for food processing. Besides all these, visitors will be able to visit Hall 404, J-Food Street ( Japanese small bits, snacks and beverages ).

I get to try out interesting food such as the poisonous Puffer fish which is very popular in Japan and best quality beef. In my opinion, if you love food, you will enjoy yourself. Somehow, I felt that you are attending an event in Japan. And that’s a nice feeling.