Gourmet Japan 2013 Singapore – A celebration of Japanese culture & fine cuisine

Savour 2013, World Gourmet Summit 2013 & now Gourmet Japan 2013! Singapore has so many cool gourmet events!
Heck, I might consider moving down to Singapore soon. 🙂

Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto of Ki-Sho, Scotts Road

Gourmet Japan 2013 is in its 2nd year and presumably will be an annual event just like Savour and WGS. This is my first year being involved and things kicked off with 2 days of back-to-back cooking workshops by some of the famed chefs in Singapore, of which I had the opportunity to be present.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-020

For starters, Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto of Ki-Sho, Scotts Road (previously chef-in-charge at Waku Ghin in Marina Bay Sands) took us through 2 simple Japanese dish, very duplicate-able at home and yet impressive if you’re hosting some guests.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-002

Kinki Sakuramushi – serves 1.

recipe 1

The Kinki fish was a first for many of the participants (me included). Apparently it is a very expensive white fish, and with one weighing in at 200g or so costing almost SGD70-80. That’s a small fish for the price!

Kinki
(image from Google)

The fish was filleted quickly and blanched briefly. Immediate after it was transferred to a basin of cold water. Chef said that helps to remove the skin as well as to eliminate any fishy odour.
After towel drying the fillets, a bit of scallop paste (refer to recipe as above) was spread over it. Lastly each individual piece was topped with chopped bamboo shoots for a bit of crunch.
The MC joked at this point that Chef is making “yong tau fu” and frankly, it did seem so!

gourmet japan 2013 (2)

Majority of the participants was housewives and serious cooks. They had plenty of queries about the cooking methods and especially so on the availability of the ingredients. It was a good session as there were active 2-way participation.
After all, it defeats the purpose of attending a cooking class if at the end of it all you’re still clueless on replicating what you have just learnt right? It’s important to note the exact ingredients used, even the brand and of course, the exact shop to get it if possible.

The sakura leaves was a major concern. Chef Kazuhiro kindly shared the name of the outlet in Ang Mo Kio where the participants could get their supply. Same goes for the Kinki fish (Isetan) and sakura flowers. For the Kinki fish, it can be substituted with any other white fish such as seabream, garoupa or snapper.

gourmet japan 2013 (7)

After the fish was wrapped it was left to steam in the oven.
Next Chef Kazuhiro worked on the broth. The dashi stock he had was prepared in advance, but he did shared that it was basically kombu seaweed boiled in water and with added bonito flakes to taste.

He bought the dashi up to boil, added mirin and soy and even a bit of sea salt. He stirred in kudzu starch (a type of Japanese root starch) to thicken the broth. Cornflour is acceptable as a substitute should kudzu starch be a bit elusive to obtain. The consistency we are looking for here is just slightly thicker than the popular sharkfin soup.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-012

Once the fish is ready, the dish is assembled easily enough – each fish parcel was bathed with the stock, garnished with sakura flower and warabi.

chef ken

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-013

One of the best part of attending workshops like this must the tasting session! We helped ourselves to the sampling portions prepared and I did enjoyed the Kinki Sakuramushi. The fish was sweet and delicate while the scallop paste was rather tasty. The leaves are edible but I found it to be salty so I abandoned it. Anyhow the leaves are meants to flavour the fish which it did nicely.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-021

Chef Kazuhiro moved on to the lobster next. He cooked the live lobster by boiling it first. Again once done it was transferred to a cold water bath. He left it in the cold water for a few minutes before deshelling it.

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He made the process of de-shelling lobster looked really simple. First was the head off, followed by cutting along the sides of the underbelly. Strip off the soft shell under the belly and carefully pry the soft flesh of the lobster out.

gourmet japan 2013 (4)\

Cut into desired sizes.
In another pot, sweat the ginger and shallots in white sesame oil – this is some Japanese version that’s odorless compared to our usual Chinese sesame oil. And no, Chef Kazuhiro said substitution of the chinese version is not an option here. Instead, grapeseed or canola is preferred; as long as it’s not the pungent like the original Chinese sesame oil.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-014

gourmet japan 2013 (6)

Add the cut lobster into the pot followed by some dashi stock. Simmer.

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recipe 2

From Step 3 as per recipe above, add the mixture into the pot according to taste. Let it the lobster braise for a while before transferring to the plates for serving. Grate some yuzu zest over each serving. Yuzu can be substituted with orange zest.

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-008

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-010

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-022

gourmet japan 2013 (1)

And that’s it for the first class. Next – Chef Kentaro Torii of Forlino, an Italian restaurant. Watch how he incorporate Japanese elements into Italian cooking! 🙂

The workshops are courtesy of Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd, (the event company and subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings Limited) handling Gourmet Japan 2013 Singapore this year.
The workshops was held at ToTT Store, 896 Dunearn Road. The ToTT store was impressive, stocking almost anything you might need for a professional home kitchen. Do check them out HERE–> http://www.tottstore.com/.

gourmet japan 2013 - singapore

For bookings of the exclusive dinners and events in conjunction with Gourmet Japan 2013 Singapore, please refer to the attached below. I wish I could join for some of the dinners for they certainly sounds promising.
And I have no doubt that of the quality of Japanese ingredients used as well as the skills of the chef behind each dinner!

gastromic Japan

gastromic Japan 3

gastromic Japan 2

Last but not least, I’ll leave you with 2 last pictures of the dishes by Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto of Ki-Sho, Scotts Road, Singapore. 😀

KINKI SAKURAMUSHI. 

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-015

BRAISED LOBSTER WITH WHITE MISO. 

Gourmet Japan 2013 - Chef Kazuhiro Hamamoto Ki-Sho, Scotts Road-023

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Sean

    if u move to singapore, i’ll happily come visit you one weekend! though one weekend would not be enough to sample so many delights! 😀

  2. Amber

    Yes there are many nice gourmet events in Sg! I wish I could join you for all these events!

  3. SG Food on Foot

    It will be great if you move to Singapore. We can go dinner, explore more food places together.

    1. rebeccasaw

      Ohh that sounds fabulous! :)) I would love that! When I’m in Sg again (later this month) I’ll give you a holla if you’re free to join me for some food adventures!

  4. ulric

    I will definitely go for the Contemporary Izakaya-style Dinner and A Kaiseki Experience with Suntory Whiskies…hehehe =)

  5. Peach

    Such wonderful gourmet adventures you have becky! I enjoy reading them all!

  6. anime

    Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after going through a few of the posts I realized it’s new to me.
    Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I discovered it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back often!

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