With intrepid friends D. and R., we managed to get in on a Sakenet Australia event, at Ume Burger, which focused on aged saké. Apparently, the first event was young sake, about a month ago. So, there were 13 of us in the back room of Ume Burger, and Rey took us through a tasting of six sakes (officially five) and then we sat down to a feast of food and more sake (I knew there were burgers, but this turned out to be a nice spread).
The sakés were conveniently lined up on the table left to right, in the order of tasting, and we got to taste them at room temperature and heated (to about 50 degrees, which goes down to 40 when it’s poured). They taste completely different at different temperatures. We also got to try a young saké for comparison. I thought it had stronger flavours and was pungent, and had a liquorice note that I associate with a lot of sakés.
- Suiryū: Jumnai Kimoto Hiyaoroshi (2011): The first one, to me, had a note of whiskey or spirit, but was more mellow and with less flavour than the young saké. This has only been pasteurised once, and used wild yeast, a traditional method (that’s the Kimoto in the name) where you let the yeast bloom, rather than having the control of adding the exact amount.
- Hiokizakura: Junmai Koshu “Toki no Takumi” (2008): “Master of time”, this was even lighter and cleaner. Koshu, in the name, means aged saké. One of the tasting notes for saké is whether it is ‘clean’ or not, meaning whether the taste lingers. People also often compare saké to Japanese savoury flavours like shiitake mushroom, soy and miso.
- Okuharima: Junmai Yamahai “Hakuéisén” (2005): I thought this had a less distinct anise note, but a rounder, fuller flavour. I loved it. But my friends thought it was too medicinal.
- Umetsu: Junmai Koshu “Sachi”(1998): So twenty years old, this tasted like a light sherry to me. It’s made by just one saké master and his helper. I found this a bit strange.
- Morinokura: Junmai Komagura “20 years” (1994): Apparently, you can’t even get this saké in Japan anymore! This tasted more balanced and full than the previous one, a bit like a spirit that you might at the end of an evening.
It was very interesting tasting these warm too. I couldn’t figure out how to describe them when warm (alcohol soup?). I’d always heard that saké is best cold and they heated it up to disguise when saké is of cheap quality. But Rey explained that saké went through different historical trends. Before the period of the samurais, you drank saké hot half the year (when the season was cool) and cold when the season was hot. Then, it became fashionable to drink it hot all year round (as the Japanese were drinking everything hot: like tea). Now, it’s simply a preference. My friend R. was enjoying the warm saké better; I like it room temperature or cold as I can recognise the flavours more and it tastes to me, more similar to, say, a white wine.
Something I’ve always wanted to know is how long you can keep an open bottle of saké. Apparently, as long as it has been pasteurised (young sake must be refrigerated), you can keep it for a long time… I think I’ll keep mine in the fridge anyways, but I’d always rushed to finish any saké I bought so it wouldn’t go off. Now I can take my time.
And finally, we only got to taste aged Junmai, which is just one of the four different styles of saké. Seems like I have some more research to do…
Other interesting info:
- Saké has the highest natural alcohol level of beverages though they’re not sure why. Is it the process, made in the cold? Or the gradual build-up of yeast? Unlike when sugars and yeasts die in wine and the alcohol content goes down, the alcohol level if saké can get up to 22%.
- Saké is made from rice grown over the summer, harvested in October and then young saké is presented over the next 6 months. The ageing of the saké is counted from the time of harvest. There are two pasteurisations usually, though unpasteurised saké or those only pasteurised once have a different flavour.
While I knew we were getting burgers after, I didn’t expect such a feast, for accompanying the burgers were edamame, delicious fries (in miso salt?) and super crispy brussels sprouts. And the rest of the saké! It was really a fun and educational afternoon. Check out Sakenet’s Facebook Page for more information about their events and tastings, and you can order saké from their website too. I bought a bottle of the second saké ($55 on special) and the third one ($60 on special) so I’ll see how long they last me. Not long I suspect.
Looking over the menu, it felt pretty expensive, but we decided to share two items off the ‘sharing’ section of the menu. Things got off to a poor start. Considering the amazing coffee you can get in Sydney, the lack of coffee art on this seemed like a real fail.
And then our share plate of charcuterie was a good portion and delicious, and all up for the two us, lunch was not as expensive as I thought. Zomato has taken away the ability to give half stars recently. I’ll lean towards a 4/5 rather than a 3/5 as the food really was quite OK.
Is Beijing Legend legendary? Maybe not. But it’s pretty great food. Located in a part of Pyrmont I’m unfamiliar with, it’s basically above the John Street Square stop on the light rail. I don’t know the history of the light rail but this entrance looks like nothing else in Sydney, almost like descending into a Disneyland ride. What else lies beneath the surface of this neighbourhood?
My favourite dish, as recommended by Eddie, our host, was the oxtails simmered in tomatoes and wine. It’s a family favourite of ours. The meat of oxtail, cooked long enough, is deliciously tender. I think all the bones can freak out some people though. I loved this one.
I’ve always been a fan of hot and sour soup, so this was my one disappointment of the night. Not tons of flavour.
Pretty can, anyways.
The Cantonese villagers who moved to Vancouver in the 1900s populated Chinatown and opened up Chinese businesses. One of them was the ‘Hong Kong Cafe’ which apparently was located at the 
Apple tarts seem to have been their most famous legacy. My brother remembers the apple tarts as being two for 35 cents. They are a kind of flaky pastry, round, with an apple filling, that tastes of real apples, perhaps like a spoonful of apple pie. The layers are light around it, almost like a donut. The flaky coating, a sugar crust, is similar to a nice French pastry. It is certainly not particularly Chinese, but probably found nowhere else in North America, so is an original Vancouver Chinese-Canadian creation.
Walking to the hospital, I am noticing the plain, boxy apartment buildings of Vancouver of the 40s and 50s, none renovated, in colours of pastel and forest. I can hear the voice of a friend Bert who left the city years ago, moving to Calgary. ‘Everyone says Vancouver is so beautiful but look at the buildings. If you picked up the whole city and plunked it down in the middle of the Prairies, people would notice how ugly it is without the mountains and the water’.
Lai Heng took me here for lunch once, and I didn’t manage to blog it, so am glad to get an opportunity with a lovely dinner with some friends from the United World Colleges. We did the $70 banquet menu (and has some *lovely* wines with it) and thought it was a great variety and very decent-sized portions.
To start, a Sydney rock oyster each and then delectable little bites of potato rosti with smoked eel, sour cream and chives (one of my favourite dishes, top of the page).
The duck liver pate with pear jam, served with grilled bread, was, as you can see glistening. My homemade patés never get so smooth and creamy (but are tasty nonetheless).
The two mains were ricotta gnocchi with king brown mushrooms, black russian tomatos, cavalo nero, black garlic and reggiano…
And NZ Greenstone Creek scotch fillet with horseradish butter and fried onions. Very tasty. Is the photo fuzzy because I was salivating over the scotch fillet. Perhaps. It came with some very crispy hand cut chips and a bit of salad too.
For dessert, a chocolate mousse with campari caramel, raspberry and coconut and a pretty much perfect baked lemon tart with vanilla cream.
I needed a little sustenance on my way to a pottery sale at Claypool. And this pastry shop looked very appealing. Ringing with the authentic sound of French accents, it looks like they serve up classic pastries and savouries too, and do catering in the area. I didn’t see a croquembouche anywhere though.
My latte was of the very creamy variety but not in a bad way; it still had the right hit of espresso, but was frothy and milky too.
Izakaya is, I think, the original degustation, but much less formal. Originally Japanese pubs that served small plates of food, it’s a great way to get a varied selection of tasty treats. And basically everything that we tried that night was very delicious and beautifully presented.
I love that they have a little sake tasting set; it was only $10 for a taste of three. We had a set each and both opted for the two dryest, Karatamba and Jumnai Chokra, and a fruitier variety, Jumnai Daiginjo. Very nice.
We were particularly amused at how pretty the plating was – and the salmon roe tasted good too.
