The golden ahem … black ticket!
I look around and survey the crowd standing outside the Hilton’s Grand Ballroom. There’s not a single Chairman Kaga outfit in sight. Despite this lack of frills and puffy shirts, there is excitement in the air as about 300 eager diners holding a ticket enter the waiting area for the Iron Chef dinner, 2010. When I first started this blog just under three years ago, I had won myself tickets to the Iron Chef dinner 2007. It was an event that I thought was brilliant from start to finish and one that I pegged “A once in a lifetime experience”. Little did I realise that only a few years later I would have the privilege of dining at the Iron Chef Dinner 2010 thanks to the lovely people at Chef’s Armoury who specialise in Japanese knives.
Autographed books for sale
Beef and black bean canapes
Pork ball canapes
At $385 a ticket, prices are lower than the previous event we attended (where they were $495) and they’ve managed to fit in a lot more people whereas at the Observatory Hotel, they fit 120 people. The function staff serve us canapes provided by Sushi Samurai. There are porcelain spoons with deep fried beef pieces in a bean sauce, scallop sushi, salmon roe sushi and oyster tempura with the oyster tempura being the pick of the lot. Sparkling wine and soft drinks are flowing and everyone is excited to start. There are signed cookbooks in Japanese available for purchase for $60 each.
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Taiko drummers
The music starts from inside the ball room. There’s a frisson of excitement throughout the crowd as we sense the start of the event proper. There are taiko drums beating and they open the doors to reveal the space. There are two huge projection screens on each side of the stage and on each one reads a quote:
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| June 7th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Today’s post has been written by Not Quite Nigella’s other half, Mr NQN.
The cursing was loud, I could almost hear it from work. The issue? My wife Lorraine (aka NQN) had been invited but was unable go to dinner at Tetsuya’s for a launch of his new Singapore restaurant. Let me introduce myself, I’m Mr NQN. From time to time you’ve read stories about me. I often take the photos here when we eat out although I have have never had the need to write anything. Unfortunately (for her) on this occasion NQN was mortified to find that an invite to Tetsuya’s had never arrived and she only found out when the PR’s for YourSingapore.com followed up to see whether she could come. She had already committed to another event at the same time so I offered to take her place, of course a huge inconvenience to me 
Several years ago we celebrated Lorraine’s birthday at Tetsuya’s. However me being a fan of quantity over quality (something we debate often as NQN likes quality over quantity) the only way she could get me to go along was by paying for my meal ($150 a head at the time). It was many times what I considered normal to pay at a restaurant but I actually really enjoyed the meal and while at the time I wouldn’t have paid that price, over the years and eating out at some rather fine places I think my taste buds have slowly changed and I am closer to accepting quality. But don’t tell her that or we won’t be able to hassle each other about it
Avocado soup with potato ice cream & mountain caviar
I’m not a very regular cook. In fact, I’m pretty much the opposite. It used to be that once every 2 years I’d cook dinner, though, well lets just say that my latest cooking effort is running a long way behind schedule although I’d like to count our time at Chef Saravia’s Peruvian cooking class as one. One year on Valentines day I cooked for Lorraine and I thought I’d make it a bit challenging by making some dishes from her Tetsuya’s book. I thought I’d be clever and only chose the ones that were extremely easy yet would score points The first dish I made (it also made the biggest mess) was an avocado soup which as strange as it sounds was delicious! Tonight we start off with this dish though with some tweaks – it’s an avocado soup with potato ice cream & mountain caviar. This dish is beautiful with a very smooth creamy texture. The potato ice cream (which isn’t your typical ice cream) has a nice soft texture which goes perfectly with the avocado soup. This is topped with mountain caviar, the saltiness balancing the sweetness of the soup very nicely.
Warm salad of Kingfish with Black Bean and Orange
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| May 24th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
“There’s no such thing as too much pork” Yas says with authority and I know he’s right. We’re ensconced in a leather booth in Tokonoma Surry Hills which is the bar and restaurant right next to Toko next door (Noma means “small space” although this is not really a small space). Having walked in in possession of a booking (yes thankfully they take them here unlike Toko next door) we’re deciding what to order from the menu when Benito the bartender comes up to us and explains the tasting we’ll be having this evening.
For those unfamiliar with Shochu, it is is a Japanese distilled beverage made from rice, barley or sweet potato and there are two types of Shochus fermented with the yeast Koji.. There are the mass produced Shochus that need some infusing for flavour and then there are the artisan style Shochus that feature on the menus by name, the base ingredient used and the area it comes from. Each glass of shochu is between $8-$10. Benito shows us the big jars of the homemade shochus in the display at the entrance. Fruit bobs within them and there are combinations like nashi pear and pistachio, buckwheat, goji berries and green papaya, and peach and lemon and each one takes about 3 months.
A drink I recall seeing a lot when I lived in Japan is Chuhai which is Shochu mixed with a fizzy drink and is more palatable for those (like me) that don’t like bitter alcohols and strong alcohols. A selling point is that there are 15-20 calories per serve for Shochu (up to one quarter of other alcohols) and that is is said to leave the body quicker meaning it’s less likely for hangover. Benito says that he likes recommending the sweet potato shochu for the entree as it’s a nice smooth, introductory shochu, the barley shochu for a main as it’s more robust and the sugarplum for dessert as it’s similar to a dessert wine.
Edamame $6.30
“Is that the Awamori?” Yas says with excitement and a touch of trepidation. The Awamori is one type of Shochu from the Okinawa region and is said to be known for its strength. Benito confirms it is indeed and that they have a lot of trouble getting the Awamori and Torikai shochus. He starts us off with two chuhais without alcohol while we are waiting on our food and they are agave and pink grapefruit soda (my favourite) while Yas’s favourite is the aloe vera, peach and citrus soda. We nibble on the salty but moreish edamame beans while we peruse the menu.
Watari-gani no kara-age $16.90
The deep fried soft shell crab is crunchily good when dipped with the mild wasabi mayonnaise and the salad is dressed in a wafu dressing.
Dengaku Nasu $12.80
“Oh. My. God. I want to marry this” I say. I’m not prone to declarations of marriage. Well I am already married and having two husbands seems like a foolhardy existence but this innocent looking eggplant is so soft and delicious and definitely marrying material. There are two kinds of miso on top, a red miso and a black miso and scooping the softer than soft flesh out is pure pleasure. I prefer the red miso a bit more than the black miso which is reminiscent of hoi sin sauce. Click here to read the full story
| May 21st, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Tetsuya Wakuda
I do have a few dreams left and many of them involve eating at spectacular restaurants around the world. One of them is located here in Sydney and it’s one that I haven’t visited in over seven years as the last time was for my 30th birthday. So I was very happy to be invited to attend a Electrolux Masterclass with Tetsuya Wakuda at his world famous restaurant Tetsuya’s. Only twelve classes are held a year and needless to say, spots are very much limited to a lucky few. Tetsuya would be showing us how to cook some dishes and talking to us about how he likes to cook and answering any questions that we had for him. To top it all off, we’d be sitting down to one of his famous degustations, an epic 10 courses that no soul in their right mind would ever pass up. And the best part? One of you Dear Readers, have a chance to win a spot at a Masterclass including, flights, accomodation and transfers! 
Yes the Electrolux Tetsuya Masterclass is a “money can’t buy” event and tickets to it are not available to the general public so the only way to get to attend one is through invite only-or of course a competition like this.
The evening started with a chauffered car pick up. The driver opens the door for me (don’t you just love that?) and I get into the car and we pick up Christie and Peter on the way. We arrive along with the other bloggers invited and enter the upstairs newly fitted kitchens. We mingle with some champagne while Tetsuya and his staff are busy prepping for the evening’s class. After a short time we are ushered into the new kitchen, a stunning marble topped island with knee pad activated sinks, a sleek fridge and a shiny induction cooktop. And this would be this kitchen’s maiden voyage!
His first tip after welcoming us and confessing his nervousness is about induction saucepans. People are apparently put off from buying induction cooktops thinking that they will need to buy new saucepans but he tells us that if you place a magnet on the base of a pan and it sticks, it will be induction cooktop safe and he also mentions that 80-90% of pots made today are induction suitable.
Tetsuya and Christie
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| March 5th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
“Dear Lorraine,
Im sorry for the late notice on this but wondering if you’d like to come as my guest to a new food safari we are running this Sunday – its a Japanese lunch with Mr Azuma in the city. They have a mission to bring Japanese food to people and will be doing some interesting things.
Hope you can make it.
All the best from Maeve”
“Oooh!” I squeal happily before realising that I have a huge eating event scheduled for that very day. After a bit of juggling and some understanding dining companions, Teena and I are headed towards Azuma Kushiyaki in Regent Place for our very first Gourmet Safari with Maeve with Mr Azuma Kimitaka!
Bonito Shaving Box
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| February 15th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
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