Learning Japanese cuisine at Tokyo Sushi Academy
PUBLISHED August 13th, 2013 02:00 am | UPDATED April 14th, 2016 04:41 pm
Sushi.. ridiculously delicious AND allegedly good for you? It’s single-handedly taken the world by storm.. alright maybe with the help of its sidekick soy sauce and a slight, often unrequired, input from that fiery, green wasabi. It’s become so globally friendly that you can get a pack of sushi almost anywhere these days. Even some gas stations stock little emergency packs. What worries me about those ‘sushi express kits’ is that with all the effort that goes into making sushi, how can it be sold so cheap? Ok, I mean it’s not really selling itself looking pappy and if anything a bit shy, but it’s cheap nevertheless. It makes me wonder.. what really goes into the process of making sushi? Is it really a health food or is it secretly packed with rubbish?
Making some sushi myself was the only way to find out and I wasn’t going to be able to make my own without the instruction of a highly-qualified chef. So, I headed down to Tokyo Sushi Academy, the first professional Japanese Culinary School in Singapore, for some proper, hands-on education from Mr Asano, ex Master Chef from the Japanese Embassy in Europe.
So I suppose in short the answer is – the ingredients are all natural and the processes are laborious which means making sushi is one thing and actually being any good at making decent sushi is another. It can take years of dedicated experience to truly master the art of really good-tasting, well-presented sushi. Tokyo Sushi Academy (TSA), provides professional classes to chefs as well as beginners with an interest in learning about Japanese cuisine. There is also a leisure class, although this is really a taster and whilst you’ll pick up the general idea, don’t expect to come out a pro.
For the leisure class ($90 – $180) you can choose either Art-Roll sushi making..or Nigiri sushi making. We tried the latter, which is the less hands-on of the two. The class is extremely thorough and explains the necessary steps to replicating authentic Japanese cuisine. It’s not a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ job, but instead covers the full process of each step. For example, Mr Asano demonstrated the correct method of washing Japanese rice to remove the starch, which differs from methods which are employed in other cuisines.
The Nigiri sushi making class consists of 8 separate items, which Mr Asano prepared, allowing us to touch and taste where possible, but this class really is just a thorough demonstration. Besides, if a whole class of people were to make their own you’d need more than just a few hours, so this way provides all the first-hand experience, but in a much quicker style. The only part which we were able to get actively involved in, was the presentation of the food. However, this isn’t by any means to be knocked, as Japanese chefs take a huge amount of pride in presentation of the food. Here’s one I actually did make earlier and it took me probably longer than it should have..
Mr Asano prepared sushi classics from Tomago to Tempura prawns. After every everything was ready we filed through to another room and gorged on the scrumptious selection. Witnessing the effort going into each of the sushi items first-hand made the food even more delicious. I’d recommend this as an experience day with friends or even as a team-building exercise.
Aside from all the fun we had, if you want to get serious these classes are a bit more pricey ranging between $2000 and $2400 for a 4 week course. BUT if you think about it, if you want to learn and were to practice at home you’d have to buy ingredients, equipment and even with both of these you’re on your own…attacking the world of sushi completely solo. In actual fact it works out pretty-good going. TSA hosts a seamlessly experienced sushi class for people of different abilities and I guarantee you’ll learn something, even if you feel like you already know your way around a sushi-roll.
We love TSA because the classes are professional, the staff are friendly and it provides a whole new concept and experience to Singapore.
Written by Superpat
