Report on the 2nd Delicious Lalala Dining, a one-day feast hosted by up-and-coming Japanese chefs (Part XNUMX)
#Fujinokuni Tea City Museum #Delicious Lalala Dining #Dining
Shizuoka Prefecture is promoting gastronomy tourism in order to promote tourism by taking advantage of its advantage as a nation's top-class "kingdom of food products". As part of this effort, on Thursday, February 2024, 2, the ``15nd Delicious Lalara Dining'' was held at the ``Fujinokuni Tea City Museum.''
This time's dining concept is "Fuji no Kuni's new Japanese cuisine."
In this era of global boiling, where there is a growing awareness of being more eco-friendly, what can chefs do in Shizuoka Prefecture, which is blessed with a variety of ingredients? Two of Shizuoka's most up-and-coming Japanese chefs, who are also known as ``Creators of Fujinokuni's Food Capital'', have teamed up to take on the challenge of creating new Japanese cuisine using their ideas and techniques. It was an event to express our gratitude for everything from the sea to the mountains, and to connect the richness of Shizuoka's food from ancient times to the future.
[Venue]
Fujinokuni Tea Capital Museum
Address: 3053-2 Kanaya Fujimicho, Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture
TEL: 0547-46-5588 https://tea-museum.jp
A one-day feast for Shizuoka's up-and-coming Japanese chefs. A challenge to "new Japanese cuisine".
We moved to the cafe restaurant "Maruohara" on the second floor and began dining.
First, let's introduce the profiles of the two chefs.
【profile】
Toshiya Ichiki (Kaiseki Ikki/Hamamatsu City)
After training at Kikunoi Honten in Kyoto, he opened Kaiseki Ikki in Hamamatsu in 2006. Introducing Shizuoka ingredients, sake, and Japanese dashi at the Japan Pavilion at Expo Milano 2017. In 2024, he won the Worker of the Year award for the fifth time and earned the title of Maestro Chef.
Ryo Utsumi (Seiyu/Shizuoka City)
From 35 to 2013, he consecutively won the SILVER EGG at ``RED U-2016,'' one of Japan's largest chef competitions that discovers the latest young talents. Utilizing his experience in restaurants and hotels, he currently serves as the head chef at Seiyu in Okitsu, Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City.
Shizuoka Prefecture is one of the leading flower-producing prefectures in Japan, and is also known as the ``Flower Capital,'' with 704 types of flowers produced. The venue was decorated with cherry blossoms, Christmas roses, rose bushes, rape blossoms, tulips, goldfish, and other flowers to express the early arrival of spring. In addition, tables were decorated with kaishi paper and cherry blossoms, which are essential for tea ceremonies and kaiseki cuisine. From the perspective of SDGs, flowers could be taken home after the event.
At the start of the dining session, Governor Kawakatsu announced that Shizuoka Prefecture is the "food capital" producing 439 items, the highest in the country, and commended the chefs who focused on Shizuoka's ingredients as "Fujinokuni Food Capital Creators." They talked about what they are doing and that they are promoting gastronomy tourism where people can enjoy food and food culture.
This time, we are excited about the collaboration between two chefs, Mr. Ichiki and Mr. Utsumi, who are the creators of the food capital of Fujinokuni.
The servers on the day were students from Suzuki Gakuen Central Cooking and Confectionery College under the supervision of Okura Act City Hotel Hamamatsu (Hamamatsu City).
Introducing each dish, each of which incorporates proposals for "new Japanese cuisine."
When you open the lid, it has a special mechanism that emits tea smoke, and the fragrant aroma of tea will whet your appetite. The dish does not use dashi, allowing only the flavor of the ingredients to stand out, and is made with Shizuoka milk, which is rare in Japanese cuisine, making it a delicious appetizer.
During this time, Mr. Ichiki also demonstrated how to make dashi using plenty of bonito flakes at the venue. The pleasant scent of bonito stock spreads throughout the venue.
"Gyokuro tea soup made with Omaezaki nine pictures sake steamed"
Combine the dashi made with Gyokuro tea instead of kelp and the dashi made with flower bonito, and steam it with sake. The knotted carrots and rape blossoms are a perfect decoration for this occasion.
``It is said that someday we will no longer be able to harvest kelp.Glutamic acid, which is abundant in kelp, is also found in tomatoes, but also in gyokuro.We proposed this as ``Shizuoka dashi.'' I hope we can continue to do so,” said Ichiki.
"Haruno-cho sturgeon chajime Tosa soy sauce" and "raw caviar"
Sturgeon sashimi made with tea instead of kelp. Please add just a little soy sauce so as not to lose the slightly fragrant tea flavor.
In fact, sturgeon farming is carried out in Haruno Town (Tenryu Ward, Hamamatsu City). The tsuma is not only made with radish, but also salad celery from Hamamatsu and yellow and red carrots, giving it a colorful flavor. Sweet and easy-to-eat vegetables were also included, such as princess paprika from Iwata and fruit tomatoes from Hamamatsu, which have a high sugar content and are soaked in dashi.
We were also provided with fresh caviar. The caviar was freshly roasted two days ago, so it had a bluish color and a very creamy taste, unlike typical salted caviar.
“Fuji no Kuni: Various tastes and aromas”
Mt. Fuji was molded using rice paper, and snow was expressed using Parmesan cheese. Hassun is a combination of traditional methods and creativity. Flower wasabi soaked in miso, Mikatahara new potato flavored with salted bonito, dried persimmon kumquat Kinutamaki, Amera tomato pickled in salt koji, cauliflower white vinegar, and butterbur with cheese injection.
Cauliflower white vinegar is apparently made by emulsifying cauliflower with white sesame oil.
"Charcoal grilled trout with fresh onion sauce"
A pottery using rainbow trout from Izumi Iwamoto, the producer of "Mt. Fuji Salmon." Only the surface is cooked, and the underside is almost raw. It has a nice charcoal aroma and is a cooking method that allows you to thoroughly enjoy the texture and deliciousness of rainbow trout. The sauce that comes with it is a sauce made from new onions from Hamamatsu, and cauliflower that can be eaten raw, sprinkled with rape blossoms.
It expressed the transition of the season from the winter of ``8 inches of Mt. Fuji'' to spring.
Each dish is handwritten by Mr. Ichiki with ``Delicious La La La'' and a plum branch, giving you a sense of the chef's passion.
"Mineno Beef Mother Beef Roast Hamanatto Flavor Hamamatsu Candy Cabbage Dressed with Sesame Vinegar and Steamed at Low Temperature"
Based on the idea that future chefs must consider environmental issues and sustainability, he decided to use multi-parity beef, which would normally be discarded, and came up with a cooking method that brings out the characteristics of multi-parity beef.
This dish uses Hamamatsu's Mineno mother beef. The beef is marinated in Hamamatsu's traditional fermented food, Hamanatto, and is served with Hamanatto sauce.
Candy cabbage from Hamamatsu, which is said to have a high sugar content, is seasoned with sesame and low-temperature steaming to bring out its sweetness while retaining its texture.
``Mother beef, which is said to be a tough meat, is made soft using Japanese cooking techniques.I think even people who don't like the fat in beef will enjoy it,'' says Utsumi.
Takikomi rice cooked with Suruga gamecock and bamboo shoots using a special heat-resistant film. When you open the film, the soft scent of bamboo shoots and tree buds will whet your appetite.
At the end, add some gamecock soup for a light meal. This is a soup with a refreshing taste that uses the technique of making salt soup and quickly makes a soup stock with chicken bones and salt.
“Kuno Ripe Strawberry Zenzai Matsukaze”
On the right side of the photo is a proposal from Mr. Ichiki, who arranged the Japanese sweet ``Matsukaze''. It seems that raisins are often used in Japanese cuisine, but instead, he uses dried persimmons from Morimachi, dried potatoes from Iwata, and peanuts from Hamamatsu that Mr. Ichiki roasted himself to make ``Matsukaze.'' Other ingredients include kinako and soy milk jelly, navel orange, kiwi, and organic carrot jelly from Kakegawa's "Shiawase Vegetable Farm" on top.
This is a new proposal for Japanese cuisine, in which locally eaten dried persimmons and dried potatoes are cooked as a Japanese dish and topped with vegetable jelly.
On the left side of the photo is a ``Strawberry Zenzai'' made with three types of strawberries: ``Benihoppe'', ``Koi Minori'', and ``Kaorino'' from ``Yamasan Farm'' in Kuno, Shizuoka City, at the suggestion of Mr. Utsumi. Mr. Utsumi apparently went to pick the strawberries himself, and it was also impressive that the leaves were also included.
We combine fresh strawberry puree and boiled and concentrated puree to create something with a rich strawberry taste and aroma. Various techniques were used to make the color stand out, such as cooking it with shochu or making it into ice cream.
Lastly, we received a greeting from Yoichiro Sato, director of the Fujinokuni Museum of Global Environmental History.
The theme was "New Japanese Cuisine," and it would be no exaggeration to say that today is the "first year of Shizuoka cuisine." Although Mr. Ichiki has a background in Kyoto cuisine, he has a great sense of color and is a chef who skillfully uses Shizuoka ingredients, while Mr. Utsumi is avant-garde and has a masterful use of knives, giving his cooking an edge. They said that through their cooking, they felt the potential of Shizuoka's new Japanese cuisine.
Click here for Director Sato's special report After finishing delicious la la la dining
Compare Shizuoka's local sake and bottled tea. Introducing our specialty drinks.
Enjoy carefully selected drinks at Delicious Lalala Dining. This time, the alcoholic drinks mainly served by Okura Act City Hotel Hamamatsu were pure rice sake with the flavor and aroma of rice. For non-alcoholic drinks, we have selected bottled tea recommended by Marushichi Seicha (Fujieda City). In addition, as a surprise, we were served a rare, unreleased Japanese black tea brewed with desalinated deep ocean water from Suruga Bay.
In addition, the water was Yawaragi water from the Southern Alps, which is used by Haginishiki Sake Brewery for brewing water.
A final word from the two chefs. A project that expands the possibilities of Shizuoka ingredients and Japanese cuisine.
Mr. Ichiki and Mr. Utsumi went around each table of the attendees and spoke with each one of them. Finally, we received a brief greeting.
Chef Ichiki
“Thank you is all I can say. I am grateful for visiting here, taking your precious time, and providing a place like this for a meal. I would be happy if you could talk to me."
Chef Utsumi
``Shizuoka has a lot of ingredients, and there are many possibilities for ingredients.We, as chefs, want to expand those possibilities, and we also want to expand the possibilities of chefs.I personally only specialize in Japanese cuisine. Instead, I would like to study other cuisines and continue to promote Shizuoka's food.
Mr. Ichiki is someone who arranges orthodox Japanese cuisine, and I incorporate a variety of Western techniques, so I think it was interesting to see the contrast between the two of them. I would be happy if we could collaborate again if we have an opportunity like this.”
