.
Japanese… Oriental pleasures… a reminiscence, a book and a recipe, with wine to match… and special nights at the Hilton…
Years ago, when I was planning my first visit to Japan, my hosts informed me that in the week I would be there, Wednesday was a public holiday; what would I like to do? Having boned up a bit on Japanese food through a wonderful TIME-LIFE book (“The Cooking of Japan”) I had noted that the season was about to start for the picking of a rare wild woodland mushroom called ‘Matsutake’, considered to be one of the greatest gastronomic treats the country has to offer.
“I want to pick Matsutake”, I answered, which seems to have established me as a romantic in my hosts’ mind, or more probably as a madman. The place was too far from Tokyo, they said, for a day’s outing. (I later found out that restaurants paid US$2,000 for a kilo of them!) Instead they arranged a wonderful trip to a lakeside area within sight of the national shrine Mount Fuji. I went with a Japanese gentleman who would become a valued colleague and lifelong friend. He arranged we would leave Tokyo on Tuesday night and stay in a traditional Japanese hotel, where appropriate national clothing had to be worn. “Do you like Sashimi?” he asked me. I confused Sushi with Sashimi and replied, thinking I would be partaking of the large array of fish and other ingredients served with rice (Sushi). Instead I found myself in a restaurant entirely occupied by Japanese men where the only food on offer was slivers of many kinds of raw fish, which you dipped into two sauces. After eleven pieces I was forced to give up, never having eaten one piece of raw fish before in my life. It didn’t entirely put me off, but the word Sashimi can still make me tremble just a little. However, I took to Sushi, especially when it was served with other things in a beautiful little enameled box, called a “Bento”, often used for picnics.
Another, very simple Japanese dish also delighted and I first ate it on that lakeside day those years ago. A little oblong box filled with cold noodles which had been cooked in a gentle broth. Forked up with chop-sticks and dipped into Wasabi and/or Japanese soy sauce, they were fantastic.
Japanese food was (and sometimes still is) delicate and beautiful to look at. Meat is almost a Johnny-come-lately to the table, which accounted for the fact that in the past the Japanese were nearly all slim. Now, meat features heavily in the cuisine with the stainless steel griddle plate looming large – an invention I believe of the Japanese Benihana chain of restaurants in America. If they didn’t invent it they certainly popularised it.
Anyway, we in Cyprus have taken to Japanese style food in some style and many readers will have their own favourites. If you care to tell us, click on your Email, type MY FAVOURITE JAPANESE RESTAURANT IS……… BECAUSE……… and send it to [email protected]
