Shojin cuisine and cooking class

There aren’t too many places were you can eat vegan food in Tokyo, but recently the number of vegan cafe and vegan restaurants has dramatically increased and we’ve been trying quite a few. Yet to enjoy Shojin cuisine, there are still very few places. There is the most famous Daigo we went to last February, that provides the highest end of kaiseki shojin cuisine with a real unique experience. Then Itosho. Both being on the Michelin with respectively two and one star. Then there are a few temples providing a simpler experience, more rustic, but also interesting. Lucky enough there is one of these temples close to where I work: the Sanko-in and when I have visitors I like to take them there for lunch, for them to experience something different. At the Sanko-in you can eat some vegan buddhist cuisine in a budhist temple. Entering the temple and walking to the back building where the dining room is, is already setting the tone: quiet, simple and peaceful. The dining room is very simple, a little kitsch, but the chef and her assistant are really nice and welcoming (it’s run by two ladies). The cuisine uses seasonal ingredients of course and their famous matured tofu in miso, something close enough to a creamy cheese. The chef also prepares tea to accompany the lunch and it is a rare chance to enjoy macha and susuricha for my foreign visitors. A place I recommend if you don’t have the chance to go to Koya-san, or if you want to learn Shojin cuisine. I will enroll soon to her cooking class!

Ah! She also recommended me a book on Shojin cuisine that Soei Yoneda, the previous chef-abbess from the temple wrote. It is unfortunately not edited anymore but thanks to amazon I got my hands on one and should receive it soon!!!! Can’t wait!!!

May 25, 2016

Shojin cuisine – 精進料理

I love kaiseki cuisine (懐石料理) and in particular cha-kaiseki (茶懐石). I’ve learned it for a year and it helped me a lot understand Japanese cuisine and cooking, it also helped me to train my palate. But what I really troubles with kaiseki because it includes quite a lot of raw fish, shellfish, fish eggs etc… And so it is when you go to kaiseki restautants. In particular it is always a fixed seasonal menu, and it kind of doesn’t really make sense to go to a high end kaiseki restaurant and pass on the half of the courses, or ask for a special menu. But hopefully there is Shojin cuisine! You may think of Shojin cuisine as the rustic vegetarian they serve at Mount Koya, but actually there are several places where it is treated as kaiseki and this is just awesome. I know I can eat everything without worrying and it shows the potential of vegetarian or vegan cooking to be super high cuisine. Shojin cuisine is related to Zen Budhism and is meat-fish free, while being very ingenious in using gluten, soya beans etc.., it is also a seasonal food, so somehow the precursor of Japanese macrobiotic eating in its original meaning. I’ve planning to learn Shojin cuisine for a few years but my lab kept me to busy. I’m hoping that I can start this spring.

Example of seasonal dish served at Daigo (from Daigo wesite)

Our dessert last night and the view to the garden

In the meantime while we were looking for a place to celebrate our anniversary I suggested we could try a kaiseki Shojin cuisine restaurant that I randomly found while looking for vegan places in Tokyo. So we booked at Daigo (http://www.atago-daigo.jp), near Atago shrine in Tokyo. The place has something a bit magical, since it is a little Japanese heaven in a high rise with the service expected from any high standard ryotei. The food was amazing as expected (and as usual I won’t show you badly taken pictures of this deliciously and beautifully designed food, you’d rather try yourself) and once back home we realized it is actually a 2-star Michelin restaurant. I can only but recommend the experience when visiting Tokyo!

The most impressive dish from our menu is hard to choose but I was impressed by the bamboo shoots with kinome dressing (or for the fashionable word “pesto”), which take both ingredient to perfection. Something I will definitely try my way very soon!!!

Individual dining room at Daigo (from Daigo website)

February 25, 2016

Ochanomizu-Akihabara revival

The west of Tokyo with it’s big centers like Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Shimokitazawa… has been for long the most lively and trendy places of Tokyo, while the east was mere old areas attracting old people, sometimes falling appart or for the tourists: Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara, Nihonbashi, Ginza… The area between Ochanomizu ad Akihabara, and the one between Asakusa and Nihonbashi (right where we live), have changed slowly in the past 5 years with a lot of cafes and craft shops opening here and there. The trend was confirmed by two big initiatives using the under-track space of the Yamanote line in Okachimachi and the Sobu line in Manseibashi: aki-oka artisan 2k540 and Maach ecute. If I knew about both for some time and have been to aki-oka quite often, I’ve never really had the chance to go to Maach which opened more recently, until yesterday. Since it is an “ecute”, the usual name for stations shopping mall I was expecting to see the same fashion and accessories brands as in every ecute, but it was a completely different thing. Under the arcades of the tracks there is a path and shop, or rather stalls continuously span, without knowing exactly what brand it is. The space is very beautiful, and since I went there around 20:30 it was extremely quiet. The majority of shops are interior and natural clothing shops, which is again the typical new image of Tokyo east side, with similar trends in Marunouchi, in Nihonbashi… There are also a number of cafes and restaurants. I went to Fukumori, because I like their food from the north of Honshu and their simple concept very much, and have been often to their other shop in Bakurocho, but there are several others cafe I’d like to try. I’ll keep you updated!

I didn’t regret paying a visit there, and I think that’d be one of my hide away for rainy days!

October 27, 2015

Unpredictability

Well, well, well, Friday evening after an other long day at work and a busy week, I was really happy to get back home, finish packing for the week-end and go and pick-up the car downstairs to leave.

It was without counting on a little unexpected event: damned new car with tones of high tech sensors and the ones measuring tire pressure… OK, so let’s put some air in the damn tire, drive a bit, decide that it’s not a good idea to drive to the country in the middle of a rainy night with a defective tire, park the car back and go back home with the luggage and just a bit upset: it’s rainy, and I can sleep one more night on my dream pillows!!!

Saturday morning we went to had our tire check: flat tire due to a vis!!! And while it got repaired we walked in a nearby open house village, you know these places where they have models home you can visit. Found a nice one and decided to visit, and got plenty of ideas and hints for the reform of our bathroom in Ohara, a thing that we’ve had in mind for a few years already!!! First nice discovery of the day!

With our repaired tire and ready to drive car we finally head to the country but we decide on our way to stop at Ichihara lakeside museum to try their pizzeria with view on the lake. They serve homemade pizze prepared with local products, and really enjoyed it: fresh, simple, delicious, and local! Perfect, second nice discovery of the day!

We then decided to have fun and drive the small roads of inner Chiba: Naka Bosso (中房総) and took the long way to Ohara. We discovered the beautiful Yoro valley, its old fashioned onsen and a very mountain like landscape and atmosphere, extremely different than the one of the Pacific coast, though it’s only 30km away! A recommendation to enjoy soon the autumn colors and a good fun drive! Third discovery!

And we finally arrived home at tea-time, for which I quickly baked an apple tart with a thin sable dough and one apple thinly sliced on top, nothing else. This unpredictable flat tire just led us into a beautiful day!

October 18, 2015

Hectic week

This all week has been pretty crazy. I knew I would be very busy at work and that I’ll have to go early to the lab too, but what I didn’t expect is that the train to commute would let me down so many times. Usually trains are super reliable in Japan, but once in a while there are incidents, and usually they happen all at the same moment. Spending more time to commute then usual I didn’t have so much time left to spend in my kitchen and still needed to indulged with some simple food to keep : rice with sesame seeds, and greens with soya sauce, and since I knew that wouldn’t be enough for my husband, I stopped by Saboten and added some pork filet katsu to the menu.

August 23, 2015

Art and nature in Niigata prefecture

In the summer of 2006 while browsing the internet to find some nice contemporary art event and exhibition I found information about the Echigo-Tsumari art triennale (ETAT) and some special performances that would be held on the week end, so we jumped in a car and drove up there with no plan but our “triennale passport” and triennale catalog. We completely felt in love with the concept of the triennale, the with the beautiful mountains and rural area. We also met there some unique people: S. and K. that have become very good friends and that work in Tokyo and live up there most of the time n their beautiful house by the forest. Since 2006 we’ve made trips there more than a dozen times, we’ve been there at every season, went snowshoeing in deep snow, attended new year ceremony in the local shrine, went to pick wild vegetables and herbs in spring, young wild bamboo shoot in the beginning of summer, seen traditional bull fight, the red leaves in the mountains in autumn and we have never been disappointed. This area of Japan is truly beautiful with a strong personality.

After some time when we couldn’t go because of too mush work on week ends and because of our new house in the country that needed some maintenance, we finally went again, and it was again the triennale. And again it was a perfect stay. Our friends always welcome us in their beautiful old house (that is not completely innocent in the choice of our own house in the country), they feed us with delicious local products and a lot of fresh vegetables from their potager garden, I usally cook with K., and then we drove all over the countryside small roads to visit the art space and see artworks. And we’ve came back to Tokyo with tones of delicious products. I have my shopping list ready anytime we go there: natural honey and pollen from Akiyamago, 2-5-8 to prepare my own salted pickles at home, Koshikari rice, buckwheat flour from Tsunan… Plus our friends always treat us royally with tons of gifts from their own garden which vary depending on the season. Though very short (we stayed only 2 days) the perfect summer break!

The concept of the triennale is quite simple, it is a contemporary art event that tries to boost this rural area that is depopulated and where there are many empty old houses, farms as well as unused schools because of the lack of kids. So a few houses and schools each time, and some outdoor spaces in the rice paddies, in the forest are also used for installation, exhibition, landscape art… Some of them also use traditional craft of the area, or local history. Since the very first edition in 2003 they’ve called for some famous artists such as Botansky, Turell, Kusama, Guo-Qiang… and mix with younger less known artists and art students. Of course the quality of the artwork is also very wide, but there is always very very nice discoveries. The art works span over an wide area, so driving is the most recommended, distances are not huge but roads are small and can be quite busy with beginners/paper drivers on week end so it takes time and it’s not a fun drive, week days are better for a more intense experience. There is also a number of performances: music, theater and experimental work almost every week worth checking.Since the triennale seems to be quite a success and drains a lot from of people from the city the event is slightly evolving and this time there were lot’s of temporary cafe in the main art spaces promoting local food (mainly for penniless urbanites so expect a lot of curry-rice). Local people are also selling local products, so it’s good to pack with an icebox in your trunk to bring back the country freshness to Tokyo!

August 14, 2015

Lyla restaurant

Chef Narikiyo (picture from Figaro Madame Japon)

Since Prunellia has written a post about the restaurant Abri in Paris, I couldn’t help writting a post about the restaurant Lyla in Tokyo, which was recommended to Prunellia and Aurore by the chef at Abri when they came to Japan last February. So we went there together to discover and really appreciate the refined, delicate cuisine prepared by chef Narikiyo. And since then went again to enjoy some more seasonal food.

Each time the food was perfect, with special attention to each member of the party likes and dislikes and with a genuine style to prepare vegetables mixing French cuisine and Japanese kaiseki. The plating is also a delight, and desserts are as good as the rest. As a personal policy I don’t take picture of food in this kind of restaurants and prefer to remember the taste and colors, so you won’t see anything I have eaten there. I can only give you hints like bisk sable, greens with carrot leaves jus, lemon curd in kuzumochi…

Since I’m not a big eater I always picked the “carte blanche” menu which was just perfect in proportion, and allow you to enjoy everyhing from start to end.

Even though Lyla has received a lot of attention in the press, the chef is always there to say good bye and chat with you, and for the moment it is still possible to book a table on late notice which is really apppreciable.

http://www.lylatokyo.com

Once the booking’s made the staff will call you back to verify your likes, dislikes, allergies, special diet etc… because there is no menu, it’s all up to the chef.

Sardines, radish and comte cheese (picture from Asahi)

June 5, 2015

Soya fallafel

While in Capetown last year, thanks to our hosts at the Manolo we managed to have a table at the very demanded Test Kitchen. One of Capetown best restaurants, and sometimes ranked in the top 10 xorld’s best restaurants. The experience was great abd what I apprfciated a lot is their flexibility to propose vegetarian full course and vegan full course menus that have nothing less than the regular full course menu. I picked the vegetarian one and was delighted, in particular there was some mini fried tofu balls presented as tofu fallafels. With a crispy deep fried outter shell and a melty inside. Since then I’ve been thinking about it and finally I’ve finally come up with my own idea of a soya fallafel. What I like in the fallafel is the mixture of texture with roughly cut peas and the pureed ones. So my recipe is really simple: I used dry soya beans (daizu-大豆) that I rehydrated and boiled, then roughly blended them and add some firm tofu, stirred well and then made balls and fried in a pan (probably deep frying is ideal).

Though different than the fallafel from the Test kitchen in Capetown it was really delicious!

May 21, 2015

Tokyo’s croissant ranking

My experience of making croissants was great but not perfect, so before I manage to make the best croissants in town, I am still looking for the best you can buy. You know, the one that are light and buttery, crispy outside and melty inside, well… THE perfect croissant. Hunting truly delicious croissants in Tokyo is as difficult as in Paris and I must admit. There are really a lot of bakeries that make croissants, and I’ve tried quite a lot of places already. In many places the taste of butter is not present, in others they top the croissant with some sirup making them too sweet, and sometimes they just have the appearance but nothing for the tate. Here is my list of bakeries in Tokyo making “real” croissants with hopefully a permanent address (a lot of shops move, open, close in a short time so it’s hard to track them):

1. Johan (in Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, but there are some other places for sure)

2. Le grenier a pain near Hanzomon

3. Kobeya kitchen at Hiroo crossing

4. Vie de France (pretty much everywhere near a train station)

There might be some local stores I haven’t tried yet, so if you have a good address let me know!!!

There are a few big names in the bakery market but for croissant you can forget about Paul (never liked them, even in Paris), Viron (too dry and crispy, baked too long it seems), Kayser, Le pain quotidien (not fresh enough, and buttery enough)…

I’ll keep you updated if I find anything to add to that ranking, but you can send your addresses too and I’ll try!

May 14, 2015