TalkWednesday 5 June 2013
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Sake Tasting and Japanese Canapés
Drinks reception from 8:15pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle, London, NW1 4QP
Organised by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Both sake and Japanese cuisine have become very popular outside of Japan. But how many people can actually cook Japanese food that goes well with sake at home? Our contributors introduced both the art of cooking simple Japanese-style canapés and the basic knowledge that will allow you to better select and understand sake through a talk, sake tasting and a cooking demonstation.
This event brought together Natsuki Kikuya, independent sake sommelier; Masa Noguchi, Chef at luxurious Japanese restaurant Zuma, London and Sake Samurai UK Representative Rie Yoshitake. They discussed their respective fields, exploring the attraction of this Japanese traditional drink, and discussing life in the kitchen of a top-class Japanese restaurant. The talk was followed by a tasting of specially selected sake and a demonstration of how to make exquisite tsumami (Japanese-style canapés) with ingredients easily found in supermarkets in the UK.
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Videos of this event can be viewed on YouTube:
Part One with Yosuke Kawakami and Rie Yoshitake
Part Three with Natsuki Kikuya
About the contributors
Natsuki Kikuya
Natsuki Kikuya’s family has been making sake for over 360 years in Akita Prefecture. She grew up in Tokyo, studied documentary film making in the US, and on returning to Japan, worked at a company in Tokyo. However rediscovering her family roots lead her to a career in promoting sake to the wider world and she took up a position at Hasegawa Saketen, a well-known sake store. She then became a qualified Sake Sommelier in 2009 and in the same year moved to the UK in order to further understand and expand the overseas market for sake. She worked at Zuma and Roka Restaurants as Sake Sommelier and has recently founded the Museum of Sake, London to educate the British public about Sake and give them the opportunity to taste and experience sake . She won The IWC Sake Communicator Award in 2011.
Masashi Noguchi
Masashi Noguchi is a Chef at Zuma restaurant, London. He is in charge of the sushi section and also supervises training and education of the staff. He began working at Zuma in 2007. Before that he lived in Hokkaido, where he worked as a chef in a Japanese restaurant and he also promoted locally produced Hokkaido seafood across Japan. He has also worked as a chef and supervisor at Isettemari Italian restaurant and Ark Hills private members’ club in Tokyo.
Rie Yoshitake
Rie Yoshitake is UK representative of the Sake Samurai Association. In 2007, Sake Samurai Association asked her to take on the role of UK Representativ and she is heavily involved with promoting sake in the UK. The Sake Samurai is an organisation formed by young sake brewers in Japan to promote sake in overseas markets. Since her appointment, Rie has been involved in the organisation and operation of the sake category at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) In 2011, she featured in the Guardian in a series of online videos introducing sake
Yosuke Kawakami (MC)
Yosuke Kawakami (MC) is Minister for Financial Affairs at the Embassy of Japan. He is on secondment from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, representing also the National Tax Agency that supervises the
Japanese sake industry as a significant contributor to tax revenues. He will act as MC for this talk, giving an introduction to “Sake-nomics”.