Lost in Tokyo (and other japanese cities)

I am here to highly recomend a trip to Japan to anyone who wants to find some food inspiration and excitement that has been lost in the mondain day to day ritual.

I have just returned (and by just I mean it's been a little while, but I've only just gotten round to talking about it) from a trip to Japan. My mother and I went to Uji, Kyoto, Ossaka, Nara, Tokyo and Kyoto again for 10 days and spent as much of that time eating as we possibly could.

I must start by saying that I'm going to focus here on the food, but of course the scenery was absolutely fabulous: the bamboos, the shreins, the zen gardens (with all the moss that I have now realised is one of my favourite things in nature), the temples... and also, the people who were always so very kind. All in all it was a fabulous trip, but lets get down to the food.

I think what I enjoyed the most in Japan, was finding remote typical places to eat and ordering off the menu according to the pictures or simply  pointing to something and hoping for the best. These soba noodles with tempura shrimp were my first experience of barefoot eating. They were delicious. Not only was the food nice but it turned out the restaurant had a view of a river and cherry trees, could this have been any more idyllic?

I love finding new ways to eat food. I think that's one of the reasons I loved Japan so much, everything was done very differently. I particularly enjoyed restaurants were food was ordered on a vending machine at the entrance. This pork donburi was probably one of my favourite meals throughout the trip, accompanied by a yuzu lemonade which actually complemented the fattiness of the pork beautifully.

It turns out that going for a Coconut Coffee Frappucino at Starbucks every morning did bring us of occidental joy, i'm sorry to say we did get a bit homesick, but this morning stop was just the ticket.

Takoyaki from the market - not a fan. Where they fun to see being made? Yes.
Are they an ingenious idea for food on the go? Yes.
Do they technically contain all umami flavours you could wish for? Yes.
Was the runny custard egg texture mixed with a fishy taste for me? No.

Chazuke - This dish was a completely new discovery, and  it was undescribibly good.
This version was quite intricate yet simple.
Three bowls are presented to you: Rice, Vegetables (greens, sweet potato, tofu, mushroom), and White Fish in a Sesame Marinade. And on the side you are served green tea, so far nothing out of the ordinary.


But then, you are given instructions on how to aet what is in front of you.
I can't remember the exact order, but the important part is you end up with rice, marinaded fish and green tea in one delicious spoonful. 
10/10, would eat again, and again, and again

Had to throw in the amazing imitated raindrop dessert with brown syrup and bean powder, although this one wasn't in a rain drop, just strips.

Couldn't resist... look at all that moss!

One dish I did not adhere to at all, were the cold noodles you reheat mouthfull by mouthful in a bowl of broth. But perhaps it was just a particularly unflavourful one...

Traditional breakfasts were... interesting.. Soy marinated runny eggs with pickled seaweed and smoked fish is probably extremely nutritious and quite the umami experience. I can completely understand how you could find this very luxurious and deliciuos if you were brought up with it. However, I'm already not a morning person and not the biggest fan of fishy tastes, therefore coffee and buttered baguette is sort of what I've been used to my whole life.

If you have time, go to a good cocktail bar. This one in Nara was an amazing and relaxig experience with tailor made cocktails.

Are they strawberries? Are they pineapples? We'll never know...

Had to stop for some Wagyu beef in Kobe. 100% worth it if you like butter that tastes of beef, which as it turns out... I DO.

Ichibancho Teruya - A Sushi Master in Tokyo.
I will never be able to eat sushi the same way again. In fact, I have yet to encounter a worthy adversary for the sushi we ate in this restaurant. 
I also discovered sea berries are my favorite seaweed... who knew?!

Had to mention these gyoza meals in Kyoto, because gyoza are just mouthfuls of love really. Let's be real.













And there you have it. Other highlights included a lobster roll in Tokyo and an Omakase meal in Osaka where my mum had a lotus root Congee she still thinks about to this day.
Also a speacial shoutout to Bob in Nara who introduced us to Shu, my new favourite drink. If you ever come across YuzuShu, just trust me and pour yourself a glass.

One thing's for sure, We'll be going back to Japan.

Catering

I was asked in September to cater for a business meal of 25 people, so I thought I'd share the experience and recipes with you.

I was told to create the menu and prepare it for an evening meal with a budget of 400 pounds including wines. I asked my mum to be the Sommelier and Front of House for the evening, and I took charge of the food, this is what I came up with:

• Amuse bouche: Pesto Gougères & Honey Roasted Figs with Goat's Cheese
• Starter: Season Transition Salad
• Main: Moroccan Style Chicken with Herby Bulgur Wheat
• Refresher: Campari and Orange Granité
• Dessert: Chocolate Tartlet with Salted Caramel Cream and Cherry Compote

1) Chocolate Tartlets:

- I prepared the Chocolate Tartlets the night before using my favourite recipe, here's a link to an old post I wrote about these heavenly tarts: http://spoonfuloffelicity.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/chocolate-tartlets.html

Then on the day, I prepared:

- Cherry compote:

Stew depitted cherries with sugar until the cherries are soft, using a 1:3 (sugar:cherry) ratio.

- Salted Caramel Cream:

1. Make a caramel: Cook 250g of sugar with two pinches of salt and about 75mL of water until caramel brown. Take off the heat and poor in 250mL of double cream. Leave to cool.
2. Whip some double cream to a soft peak, and stir in the caramel (add to taste).

- Assemble

2) Amuse Bouche

- Roasted Figs and Goats Cheese: 

1. Slice the figs in half, drizzle honey over them and springle with thyme. Cook in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes.
2. Slice some goat's cheese in chunks and place on top of the halved figs, sprinkle with sugar and cook under a hot grilluntil brown.

- Pesto Gougères:

1. Make a pesto: blitz together basil, parmesan, gruyère, garlic, salt and linseeds to taste.
2. Make a choux paste, this is a good recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13020/choux+pastry
3. Mix the pesto into the pastry then cook. 
4. Reheat at 200°C for 5 minutes when guests start to arrive.

- Pre-Dinner Unalcoholic cocktail:

1. Burn rosemary and orange zest: cook in a dry pan to release the oils.
2. Place the rosemary, orange zest, halved blueberries and ice in a glass and pour some tonic water over it.

3) Salad : Transition from Summer to Autumn

- Pea purée:

1. Blanch Peas with salt and sugar
2. Blend with olive oil until smooth
3. Keep in the fridge

- Ricotta cream:

1. Mix together: ricotta, olive oil, lemon zest, grated parmesan, black pepper.
2. Keep in the fridge

- Blackberries: Cook them in a pan until soft with a bit of white wine.

- Crispy ham: lay some cured ham on a baking sheet and dry in an oven at 190°C until crispy.

- Other vegetables:

1. Blanche the peas and the sugarsnaps, and slice the sugarsnaps.
2. Slice the endives.

- Orange dressing:

1. Mix together orange juice and zest, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper.

- Assemble.

4) Main:

- Chicken stew:

1. Rub the chicken thights in harrissa paste and honey, then seize in a hot pan with olive oil.
2. Prepare a chicken stock by putting chicken wings, a carrot, and an onion in a pan, cover with water. Bring to the boil then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Then Strain the stock and eave to the side.
3. Sweat some onion in a deep pan (suitable for the oven) with oil, add carrots (sliced in big chunks) and leaks, deglaze the pan with white wine, add orange blossom, raz-el-hanout, cumin, coriander powder, and ginger powder. After a couple of minutes add tomato concentrate and cook for a minute, then add chopped tomatoes and confied lemons, the chicken thighs and cover with the ciken stock. 
4. Cover and cook in the oven at 170°C for about 1 hour.

- Bulgur taboulé:

1. Cook the bulgur wheat according to instructions
2. Add lemon juice, olive oil and chopped parsley, coriander and mint.

- Assemble.

 5) Adult Slushy:

1. Boil 200g of sugar with 400mL of water.
2. Stir with 600mL of orange juice, and add Campari to taste.
3. Put in a box in a freezer and stir with a fork after 10 hours, then every couple of hours.

That's it!

I really enjoyed this opportunity, and all the food was much appreciated (which is always nice).

N:B: I prepared a gluten free desert by pouring the ganache in a mug instead of the pastry case, and a vegetarian main using vegetable stock (and no chicken obviously) and a some extra parsnips and mushrooms. 

Day 7: Monterey

Next stop is Monterey Bay. We didn't stay very long, just enough for a quick stop in Loulou's Griddle in the Middle for my very first Tuna Melt, and I'm hooked! It was delicious, loved the atmosphere as well. After that we went for a little stroll and saw a few seals and cake shops, what more could you want really ?!

Day 6: Los Gatos.

And back in the car it is! Next destination: Los Gatos. 

Now you might be wondering why a french family, on holiday half way across the world for two weeks, travelling across California would decide to stop in Los Gatos of all places. I've got one word for you: Manresa, aka the best restaurant I've ever been to.

Now let me first explain the pictures here, arriving at our destination, we were hungry for some lunch and decided we probably ought to keep it light knowing we were eating in an amazing restaurant that very evening, so that's why we ended up at the Cheesecake factory! I know, I know, we sound very intelligent. But to be fair, we only shared two cheesecakes between four of us, and it was mostly for the experience (and to check if they really wore the uniforms Penny wears in The Big Bang Theory, which they do not... What happened there ?!). To be honest, we weren't a fan of the cheesecakes, but they weren't horrible, and the choices were impressive!

So anyway on to the important stuff: Dinner! 

I decided not to put photos of all the dishes we had, firstly because there were so many different dishes with many different components and I'm lazy, but mostly because I would find that a lack of respect towards the Chef. Instead I'm giving you a little taster of what we had to try to convince you to live the experience yourself. And it really was an experience, not only from the journey the food takes us on, every dish being an absolute sensation, I loved all the new techniques and slight asian inspirations in the meal. But even the service was something special, like a coordinated dance taking place around the tables. Basically I couldn't say enough amazing things about Manresa, if you can, GO! Well done Chef David Kinch, to me you are a genius. 

San Francisco

Day 5 : SF on the dock of the bay.

We went back to San Fransisco since both my mother and my brother had some meetings to go to. My amazingly talented big brother was given a spot in the city to paint and here's what he created: "The American Dream" by Dada. If you like it, might as well check out his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DarryPerierIllustrator/?fref=ts  (shameless promotion there!).

Getting back to food now, we had lunch in a little restaurant that specialises in Grilled Cheese, so obviously I decided to get soup, don't ask me why! It was very nice though, and we went for the classic pink lemonade, home made and delicious.

After a busy day of working and exploring we ended up on the peers for dinner, I had a clear aim to try the famous SF sourdough so we ended up in a crab restaurant, obviously we ate all things crab, except for the classic clam (and crab) chowder...served in sourdough bread! So nice.

The Napa Valley (day 2)

Well I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! It's embarassing really, I started uni last september and I've just been busy, and not really cooking anything spectacular either :p . Anyway, I think for the sake of closure I'm going to try finishing these posts about my trip las summer to California, however I doubt I'll be able to go into much detail, like names of restaurants etc. It's still lovely to look back at thes pictures of the best holiday of my life.

Day 4: Calistoga day 2.

We started out the day with a visit of a vineyard outside Calistoga, unfortunately i'm not old enough to drink in teh US so I was unable to participate in the tasting, but it was still a beautiful property and very interesting to see how they produced wine in America (originally beingfrom Bordeaux in France).

We had lunch in a little town, don't ask me what it was called though... I doremember it being delicious !

We obviously had to drive by the Old Faithful Geyser, and wait 45 minutes to see it, twas quite worth it though, I mean I'm sure there are more impressive ones out there especially in the US, but for my first I thought it was beautiful !

My old time favorite...Frozen yogurt:

Dinner was lovely, we had truffle pizza and iced tea in a cute little garden, aka bliss !

And that was it for day 4, absolutely brilliant day again.

The Napa Valley

So...I'm sorry I haven't written anything since day 2, there was both a lack of internet and then jet lag that got in my way. But let's pick up where we left off shall we ?

Day 3.

Leaving the wonderful San Francisco today, and heading up to Calistoga, a.k.a the Napa Valley. I've heard a lot about this place so I'm very much looking forward to visiting it. Big day, means big breakfast ! I had the pancakes in the Hotel restaurant and they were absolutely fabulous , I just can't get enough of american pancakes ! 

After that we got in our very american car and drove up to the San Francisco Bay bridge, took a few photos, and crossed it.

We also saw a line of food trucks getting ready for lunch, unfortunately it was too early for us to try them out.

We stopped at Saucilito for lunch, it was such a beautiful town. We ate on the terrasse of Le Garage, where I had a ham sandwich ( home-braised ham, avocado, garlic aioli, basically heaven ) and shared some chickpea chips (they reminded me of cecina which is a chickpea crepe I had in Italy a few years ago and was one of the nicest things I have ever eaten ! ) 

We arrived in Calistoga late afternoon, and wondered around our hotel, admiring the beautiful scenery. Being originally from Bordeaux, it was very strange to see vineyards surrounded by pine trees and olive trees, and there was something quite poetic about seeing these fields of green in the middle of dry, almost desert like, hills. 

We stopped for drinks in the garden of a cute little restaurants, and then bought some snacks at the supermarket for dinner. I had my very first beef jerky, flavored with chipotle and honey, and it was very nice.