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Food, Unsolicited Advice

Everything You Could Ever Want to Know About Sake

November 15, 2016

Guys, I’m obsessed with Japan (if you didn’t know that you can read about it here and here) so, WSET (Wine & Spirit Educational Trust) invited me to do their Sake level 1 course, but I’m an idiot and got the day mixed up. I’m so upset. I was so excited to learn about this (gluten free bitches!) Japanese Rice Wine.

When I went to Japan, you could get sake in a can like you can get beer in London. It was so so incredible. While I wasn’t able to do that actual course, WSET was kind enough to show me the course materials and I learned soooooo much in such a short time:

Sake is impossible to make without a special mold called Koji. They let the mold coat a portion of steamed white rice and then add the mold to water and yeast. The mold turns starch to sugar and the yeast eats the sugar and farts out co2. Then boom! Alcohol! Yeast is the answer to all alcohol. Without it, wine, beer, and other wobbly pops would just be different varieties of rotten food.
Koji is a science. Do not try and grow your own on some old take away and brew your own sake. It will probably kill you.
There are different kinds of premium Sake. The variations have to do with how much the rice is polished before it’s steamed and that is regulated by Japanese law. The best is 50% or less polishing ratio and called junmai daiginjo.

Sake should be consumed young. YOLO peeps, drink the dranks while they’re fresh. A special occasion is that you woke up today literate enough to read this blog and have enough money to own a device you can read it on. That’s better off than most of the planet. Celebrate!

But, if you have adult responsibilities (Sake is typically 15-17% alcohol) and can’t down a whole bottle on a whim, Sake will keep in your fridge for about a week. For reference, drinking bottle after bottle of sake in Tokyo will cause you to have a phone full of pictures like this in the morning:

Store it upright and away from light (side note: olive oil is also damaged by light and should be optimally stored in cans).

So, if you’re serious about sake, you can take the next WSET course in March (which I will hopefully get my shit together and go to) or if you want to fancy yourself a connoisseur of any other tipple, check out their course offerings: https://www.wsetglobal.com/wset-school-london/

Two places I recommend in London to have some sake and sushi:

Roka

Sexy Fish

Food

Sexy Fish London

November 8, 2016

Stephanie

Sexy Fish. Not two things you usually associate with each other, but when you have a look at the amazing interior, I can see why they chose the name. I’m not usually into hype and there’s been no shortage for Sexy Fish but the Japanese restaurant pretty much lives up to it.

And yes, I know it’s annoying to have to book a month ahead of time. I actually had a reservation when Sexy Fish first opened but had to cancel. However, this Saturday, we just walked right in and sat at one of the high tables near the bar for lunch. TIP! You can also go by 6pm during the week before all the hedge funds let out and try to get a seat at the bar and you’d probably do well.

Anyway, the atmosphere and service were fantastic. This restaurant has style. From the paper fish lighting, to the art deco feel and the oldies music playing, walking into Sexy Fish immediately made me forget all the passive aggressive honking going on outside.

We ordered a range of food from their menu and, although primarily a Japanese fish restaurant, there are items on the menu for picky eaters including chicken salad and sticky pork ribs.

BEWARE: this restaurant is not cheap. In fact, it’s really expensive, but we knew that going in. So, now that that’s out of the way, onto the food!

We started with the Wagyu and Truffle Gunkan which, at £7/piece, you really need to savor. It was absolutely delicious though and easily my favorite dish we had.

The Yellowtail Sashimi was good but unremarkable, as was the sushi. Great quality fish, but there wasn’t anything that special about it.

The prawn gyoza was crazy hot. Might want to let it sit for a few minutes before you tuck in or risk burning off all of your taste buds.

The salt and pepper squid was pretty good. I loved the sauce, but the lime it was served with was super dry.

I highly recommend the beef skewers. They came with some asparagus and were very tender. Had we known that, we may not have ordered the extra asparagus, which was tasty, but essentially just grilled asparagus.

If cost isn’t an issue, I recommend giving Sexy Fish a shot. The food is tasty, although some of it isn’t necessarily anything special. That opinion may be clouded by the fact that we have so many amazing Japanese restaurants in London (you can check out my review of Roka here).

What to wear: Something chic, although I showed up in jeans and flats after a Friday night out and they still let me in.

What you’ll see: Lots of mermaid boobs, and if you go at the right time, a celebutante pretending to eat.

Sexy Fish

1-4 Berkeley Square,
Mayfair, London
W1J 6BR

020 37642000

www.sexyfish.com

Food, Travel

The Basic Girl’s Guide To : Tokyo Food

May 10, 2016

Stephanie

4 Comments

I had such an amazeballs time in Tokyo that I had to split the posts up into all the fun you can have (which you can read here) and this one: FOOD!!!! Tokyo is arguably one of the biggest foodie capitals in the world. Since 2009, it has had the most 3 Michelin starred restaurants in the world. Side note: If you don’t know what a Michelin star restaurant is (I had no clue for ages), my eating at a fancy restaurant guide is here. Anyway, in the land of sushi and teppanyaki, I was bound to eat myself into a coma. Below is a detailed guide to a gluttonous trip. Enjoy my Basic Girl’s Guide to: Tokyo Food!

First and foremost, I would recommend downloading Waygo. It’s a translation app for Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters to English and this really helped when pictures weren’t available. Although not always accurate, it was sometimes overly descriptive. Case in point, uni, which is essentially sea guts, comes up as blow ones nose. When our dish arrived, it looked exactly like someone had blown their nose into some rice.

Sushi – Tsukiji Fish Market

We went here straight off the plane while we waited for our hotel room. You can’t actually get into the market anymore as a tourist, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of gross fish heads for you to see in the surrounding area. There are hundreds of little sushi restaurants/stands around the market, all with fantastic fresh fish.

Our friend knew of a place just around the corner from the main entrance and I’d like to tell you exactly where it was, but it was literally a maze. We went up some stairs and through a back door somewhere… then, surprise, amazing sushi!

But you really can’t go wrong. These are the experts and once you eat sushi at this market, everything else will taste sub-par.

There are also lots of little stands with ‘try me’ baskets. I have no idea what was in them, but it tasted like fish jerky. http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm

The Kill Bill Restaurant (Gonpachi)

This place was really yummy. They have a set menu for lunch as well as a la carte. I really liked the shrimp tempura dish, especially if you are as hung-over as I was from Karaoke the night before. It’s a pretty lively atmosphere and we went during Sakura, so I’m not sure if the cherry blossoms are always there, but they were a lovely touch. http://www.gonpachi.jp/nishiazabu/?lang=en

Those little white things on the salad are little fishies. I tried one and then scraped the rest off because they were really fish-y.

Korean BBQ – Yoroniku Yakiniku

Oddly enough, if you ask locals, they will say some of the best restaurants in Japan are Korean BBQ. Basically, you get a whole bunch of meat and cook it on a little grill in the middle of your table. Try not to be deterred by the meat selection. I was persuaded to try beef tongue and it was actually pretty tender.

https://savorjapan.com/0006044267/

Convenience stores

I didn’t actually eat at one of these because we had so little time, nobody was willing to risk a bad meal out of a 7/11. But I WISH I had. They have everything in weird colourful packaging and I imagine the ramen is out of this world. If you are strapped for cash and a little peckish, definitely give this a shot. They also have little cans of sake which I did try and it was very very tasty.

Starbucks

It wouldn’t be a basic girl’s guide without a sampling of the Japanese Starbucks. I’m as basic as it gets, so I just had a skinny vanilla latte. However, I was really impressed with their special offerings. Apricot honey soy frappuccino? If it wasn’t 20 million calories, yes please!

Commune 246

Near Harajuku, Commune 246 is this cute little outdoor market/food truck place where you can get different kinds of food from all over. We had the most delicious schnitzel burgers, my favourite being the avocado. They also have fantastic coffee and events throughout the year. http://commune246.com

Brunch/Breakfast at the Intercontinental

Most days we were so jet lagged that we woke up and went straight to lunch, but, it was my birthday so I insisted we have breakfast somewhere and that somewhere turned out to be the lobby cafe/restaurant at the hotel. They had absolutely everything, from friend rice, to dim sum to hash browns and hummus. But the best was the bacon. Oh my word. It was crispy and PERFECTLY straight! I had so many pieces, I was waiting for the wait staff to come over and tell me I’d exceeded my personal quota. The cost was ¥3400, or around $30 USD. http://www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp

Teppanyaki

So, this is my brother’s favourite kind of food. Like, we were in Portugal for his birthday and he found a Teppanyaki restaurant to celebrate in. So I was insanely excited to try one in Tokyo. Apparently one of the best ones you can go to is in the ANA intercontinental, but I insisted on going to the rabbit café when the reservation was available. Instead, we went to Teppan Bambina. It was ok, but there wasn’t really a show which is what I was most excited about. You really can’t go wrong when it comes to beef in Japan. They care about the quality of their beef almost as much as their fish, so always order the wagyu when you can.

The one you should go to: http://www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp/e/rest/akasaka.html

The ok one: http://teppan-bambina.com/en/

My advice? Come to Japan hungry! You might just have to trust the process though, because this is the real deal and the Japanese don’t bend to appease western cultures. Use that as an opportunity to expand your palette! Do you have any Tokyo food suggestions? Comment below!

Food

Roka Canary Wharf

November 4, 2015

Stephanie

2 Comments

First off, I’d like to apologize once again to the woman at Roka Canary Wharf sitting two tables down from me for hitting her in the head with my chopstick. I have no idea how said chopstick went from being in my hand to in your hair, but it happened. Thank you to the gentlemen at the table next to me for attempting to take the blame, when we all know it was me who clearly can’t behave in a fancy restaurant. Also, thank you to physics, the real reason hilarious stuff happens.

Anyway, onto the review. I’d been to Roka’s Charlotte Street location several years ago and remember being freezing cold the whole time. My experience in Roka Canary Wharf was much better than that. Our waitress Martyna was very very good. Our cocktails took a bit longer than expected and you could tell she was angrier about it than we were. When they did arrive, they were delicious! Rome wasn’t built in a day and my cocktail took 20 minutes. Both were worth the wait. I had the raspberry passion and it tasted like raspberry juice that gets you drunk. Like I said, worth it.

We had the premium tasting menu and the wine pairings to go with it. I couldn’t pronounce 90% of the menu, but it was all delicious. The best dish on the menu was the first thing we had, the yellowtail sashimi because it had a truffle dressing. The premium sashimi selection was good, but I did find the tuna to be a little fishy.

As usual, I really liked the spicy tuna roll, which is my favorite kind of sushi. I hate when restaurants cover perfectly good sushi with cayenne pepper and just call it spicy. Roka’s spicy tuna didn’t do that and was very mild but oddly (in a good way) geometric.

By the time we got to the black cod and scallop skewers, I was pretty full. The scallops were good, but I think Hakkasan has a better black cod.

The desert boat was huge! My favorites were the orange sorbet and the chocolate green tea fondant although, full disclosure, I just ate the outside chocolate cake part.

Overall, the meal was delicious, but obviously quite pricy. But that’s not really a surprise in Roka. Insider tip: getting there or home on a weeknight can be a nightmare. I was coming from west London and it wasn’t too bad, but there were massive queues to get into Canary Wharf tube station. This time it was because of the DLR strike, but apparently it’s usually quite bad. Things calmed down around nine. So prepare to stay for the long haul.

Roka

Canary Wharf

+44 (0) 20 7636 5228

http://www.rokarestaurant.com

(Warning: their website has a loud and annoying video that plays on the landing page)

Stephanie Wahlstrom

Hey! Cute top! Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Seriously, though, I like what you've got going on over there. Anyway, my name is Stephanie and I am a Canadian writer living in London. I like to eat, travel and make people laugh. The Accidental Socialite is the name of my debut novel and this blog where you'll find tales of my mishaps and far too many references to bacon. Enjoy!