THE JAPAN EXTERNAL TRADE ORGANIZATION AND SETAMONO OFFERED UP A FEAST OF JAPAN-INSPIRED DISHES TO SHOWCASE THE COUNTRY’S INGREDIENTS
If you’ve enjoyed a meal at one of the many top restaurants in SA, it’s likely you’ve come across Setamono, the distributor’s fine Japanese crockery having been used to plate up dishes at a plethora of restaurants across the country.
Now with the launch of Japan Street it’s likely you’ll be tasting their imported Japanese fare too. The importer, who already boasts an impressive selection of hibachi grills and chef’s knives in addition to tableware has added produce to their portfolio too.
The company having partnered with Jetro — The Japan External Trade Organisation and their online platform Japan Street, to offer these top ingredients to our local chefs, celebrated the occasion with a lunch at Chef Luke Wonnacott’s Table Seven.
The lunch, which was attended by the likes of Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia’s chef Ivor Jones, Foxcroft’s chef Glen Foxcroft and chef Vixa Kalenga from Tang, was used to show off both the produce and how it can be used.
The likes of salmon cooked on the hibachi grill, ribeye on the bone cooked on the fire, yellowtail sashimi and even beef tongue were used to demonstrate the versatility of the offering. The portfolio included the likes of the umami rich Moshio Salt — which viewers of the Netflix show “Salt Fat Acid Heat” will no doubt recall — spicy miso pastes and wasabi and yuzu both in pure form and used as flavourings for salts, oils and more.
Japanese food has been a mainstay of the SA culinary scene for years, beginning with niche sushi restaurants to becoming an accessible takeout option and evolving to being substantially incorporated throughout our fine dining culture — some doing justice to the noble cuisine more than others.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
It’s a cuisine we as South Africans can’t seem to get enough of and the recent openings of Japanese cuisine focused eateries such as Ramenhead and How’s Your Oni? indicate its progression is showing no signs of slowing down.
Japan Street here offers chefs the opportunity to do justice to the cuisine with ingredients and cooking techniques they may not have been able to access — at this quality at least — before.
Setamono’s online store or recently opened shop in De Waterkant’s Cape Quarter, make these same ingredients accessible to the aspiring cooks looking to explore the wonders of Japanese cooking at home.
Setamono Japanese Homeware Store
Waterkant St, De Waterkant, Cape Town, 8005
VIA: WANTED ONLINE
