The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Week

 

Well, this week, events are taking place all over the country to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation and the Platinum Jubilee.

In the midst of all this, we will be offering afternoon tea on both holidays (2nd and 3rd), one of the things we have been wanting to do since we moved in.

Japanese Afternoon Tea

and

English-style Japanese afternoon tea

The two types of tea are served this time. 

As you may know, we have been to the Japanese Afternoon Tea several times in the past, but it is almost (?) plant-based (plant-derived food). It is an afternoon tea with a focus on Japanese sweets, although it is vegetarian food.

English-style Japanese afternoon tea is an afternoon tea that incorporates Japanese elements into the basic afternoon tea. This is a vegetarian afternoon tea, with ingredients such as gelatine replaced with kuzu or agar.

Both are £20 per person. (As this is during half-term, each adult can share with one child (under 14 years). However, for the second child or more, each child will have to order their own afternoon tea.)

Please note that on both public holidays (2nd and 3rd), afternoon tea will only be served from 1.00pm to 5.00pm and no hot food will be served on the day. Please note that there will be no hot food service on the day.

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Menu

Japanese Afternoon Tea

Sushi and kobachi of seasonal vegetables

Seasonal Japanese sweets (strawberry daifuku, stemed cake with rose, green tea and strawberry Agar jelly)

Roses and corgi Nerikiri

(contains soy)

English-style Japanese afternoon tea

Three sandwiches (pumpkin croquette, egg roll with cucumber and eggplant dengaku)

Scones (choice of green tea, fruit or plain) + cream & jam or an-an's special sweet bean paste

Strawberry shortcake, Yuzu trifle, dark Matcha mille crepe

(Contains wheat, gluten, dairy, egg and soy).

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So, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy this historic week!

Congratulations, Queen Elizabeth!

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June opening hours

Please check before you come as many days have changed opening hours.

Report of Japanese Arts and Crafts workshop - Kintsugi -

Sorry for taking so long to write about this event.

Here is a report on the Japanese Craft Workshop that took place on Sunday 3 April.

Because of the short notice and the fact that the first craft was kintsugi (metal-joining), there were only three participants, including myself. So, I think we were able to take our time and satisfactorily kintsugi.

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The mug on the left was a one-off piece made by a friend of participant A's in France, and it had a very good grip, but it had a big chip on it and had been used as is for a long time.

The plates in the middle and on the right were a gift to the café. They were just right for serving a special lunch, but in an accident two of the five plates were broken, and I kept wondering whether I should throw them all away. On the right side, the cracks were so bad that I had given up, but the instructor said, "Let's do it!" and he helped me.

First, the cracks were attached with a special glue and the missing parts were filled with quick-drying clay. After it dried, it was actually very difficult. Anyway, we sanded and smoothed the unevenness so that it wouldn't disappear. This was probably the most time-consuming part. My arms hurt!

And then a short break for a snack😋

When we regain our strength, we knead a mixture of gold powder and nikawashi, and fill in the cracks. This is where the beautiful lines of gold unique to kintsugi are formed.

Here is the mug after restoration. The colour matches so well.

And this, oh my! These are the plates that were cracked to pieces!

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but the colouring, combined with the gold lines, has taken the plates to a whole new level of charm💖.

We will continue to serve special weekly lunches on these plates. Enjoy!

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Now, I'm going to invite an instructor to conduct a workshop like this once a month, which is associated with Japanese art techniques.

Next time in May, we are planning a workshop on flower arrangement, as it is the beautiful season of flowers.

Please keep watching this space!!!

Let's start from April (or May...)

  Spring has come... flowers in full bloom...

Where has the blue sky I was looking up yesterday gone? and who said we might get snow at the weekend?

Some of you may have already noticed, or I think we all have, that we are seeing the prices of products going up one, two, three or even four times.

The hardest part is that the overall price of imported foodstuffs from Japan has gone up, and is still going up. On top of that, the price of chicken has gone up by 125% and rice by 115%. It is becoming doubtful whether we will be able to make katsu curry at a price that people afford to eat it for lunch.

I had sincerely hoped that the price increase would only be a short term issue, but the situation has become unbearable.

But there are still people who have to eat lunch while they are working... So we tried to keep the prices as unchanged as possible, including the weekly menu and basic sandwiches.

And I really don't want everything to be just sad news, so I thought, as it's April in the new financial year, after Covid's restrictions are lifted, I'd like to talk about something positively new to start.

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One
Once a month, on a Sunday, I would like to run a workshop related to Japanese arts and culture, and the first one in April is 'Kintsugi' - a process of metal-joining. As there is a risk of allergic reactions to lacquer, it is a simple 'kintsugi', a method that does not use lacquer. The process can be shortened from a few weeks to half a day. In May, I may have Wagashi workshop. 
Other instructors are also always welcome.

Two
We would like to start a Japanese craft group every Thursday, called Morning Coffee & Craft Club. The language can be either Japanese or English. Let's have fun chatting and making needlework goodies. We will start on 5 May and make coasters with Sashiko. (The fee depends on what you want to make, so please ask when you make your booking.)

Three
The always requested "Okonomiyaki" by everyone is back. First, we will serve it as a weekly lunch from 19 to 23 April, and from May we will be grilling okonomiyaki twice a month on Fridays in our trailer. Enjoy the Japanese street food feeling. Dates and times will be announced in our monthly newsletter and on Facebook and Instagram.

Four.
Extended opening hours until 5am.
As a recent trend, the road conditions are quite bad on top of the rising petrol prices. Therefore, we are shifting our opening hours so that staff can get to the café at the cheapest possible train times. We will serve brunch in the morning from 9.30am and lunch from 12pm until 2.30pm. Otherwise, enjoy drinks, cakes, sandwiches and sushi rolls.

Five.
The Japanese afternoon tea is back.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but reservations are required. Please book at least one week in advance.
￡18.00 per person. this will include;
     Seasonal veggie sushi set + miso soup
     3 pieces of seasonal Wagashi
     2 seasonal fresh Jo-Namagashi
     & Tea or coffee of your choice.

Sixth.
We will also have a Japanese-English language exchange.
First & third Saturdays from 3pm to 5pm. Free to attend with the purchase of food and drink from the café.
We'll give you some theme, but we'll have a good chat anyway!

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Well, now that I've made a public statement here, there's no going back!

Plans are subject to change, but everything new will be carried out in sequence.

First of all, we can't do anything without your participation, so we look forward to your requests. We look forward to seeing you.

Visit to Dojima Sake Brewery (part 1)

  On a cold day before the Christmas holidays, a thought popped into my head...

"I want to eat Kasu soup!"

I read in a Japanese article a long time ago that a Japanese sake brewery had opened in Cambridge, and if they make sake, they must have sake lees! And quite a lot of it...

I was born and grown up in a hometown not too far from the eastern part of Kobe, where are many large sake breweries, so sake lees have been quite familiar to me. And soon after I thought about the sake Kasu (lees) soup, I have a ridiculous craving for sake-kasu steamed cake.

First of all, we inquired whether they sell sake lees.

It's not easy to get any short holiday " I knew it's short notice, but can I come and buy some sake lees during the Christmas holidays?" I asked, and they kindly said that I could come.

Then my son got sick, and I thought it might be COVID... so I gave up the visit during the Christmas holiday, as it got too busy for preparing the New Year's Osechi. (It wasn't COVID after all, just a cold💦 so No one else in my family fell ill...).

At the same time, the brewery posted me 1kg of sake lees and the invitation for the private viewing of the woodblock print exhibition in February. (Thanks for her kindness. I really appreciate it!!)

The sake lees I received was very beautiful! I mean, the sakekasu I know is in the form of a very hard plate, but the sakekasu from Dojima brewery contains so much sake in it that I thought I could still squeeze sake out!

Using this, we devised a recipe, adjusting the various flours and steaming times. The result was a delicious steamed cake.

And with this, we visited them the other day on the 12th of February for the event of the print exhibition.

To be continue to part 2.

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This is the link to Dojima Sake Brewery website.

You can order their Sake leese by mail.

Dojima sake brewery

Visit to Dojima Sake Brewery (part 2)

Dojima Sake Brewery is located in Fordum Abbey, a manor house with extensive grounds, including a Japanese garden, a studio for In-house potters to create their works and a tea room under construction.

Mrs Sachiko Purser, a print artist, led us through an exhibition of her woodblock prints in the Manor House, and although not a large collection, there were many interesting stories to tell about each prints.

Mrs Purser used to be a woodblock print artist and I could not hide my excitement as I have sturdied and written essay about Ukiyoe in my Uni days. We were very much artists of the manual work and we enjoy it. Pen to paper, knives to curve the wood... We talked about how recent art require more and more a digital skills. 

In the living room with the fireplace lit, hostes of the tea ceremony made cups of tea and served sweets to all the guests. It was very dignifying atmosphere in the calm manner. I learnt about the tea lessons held three times a week at the House. If I lived a bit closer, I would really join the lesson! 
I have to mention eveyone in Kimono looked so beautiful. (I couldn't take the photo because it was too solemn. Sorry!)

At the end of the day, we were given a special tour of the sake brewery, which we thought we had missed booking. This year's brewing had not started yet, which was convenient for me as I get drunk from the smell of sake.

A small group of 6 (3 young guests joind us) followed Kumiko san, who is the Marketing Director of Dojima Sake brewery.

During the tour I was struck by how difficult it is to reconstruct Japanese traditional way to produce Japanese traditional food on the other side of the world.  I fully understood about the difficulties and differences in food hygiene laws, water and distributions in the UK.

(Left) The rice is very polished and the grains are much smaller than the rice we normally eat.

(Right) This is the koji (bacteria grows on rice) breeding room. Only the Toji (master brewer) is allowed to enter this room. This is where the Toji takes care of the koji for three days and three nights.

Two types of rice are used to make sake. One is Akita Sakekomachi, which is used to ferment the sake, and the other is Yamada Nishiki, which is used to grow the koji. Speaking of Yamada Nishiki, it is very famouse rice for making Sake in Hyogo Prefecture...we share the same hometown! As I was saying so, two of the young people on the tour with us told me they were also from Hyogo Prefecture! They are neighbours, from Takarazuka and Amagasaki, next town to Kobe city. It really is a small world. We were talking about how we miss kasu-jiru, Lees soup! 

These are brewing vessels. You can see how large it is to compare with the gentleman, who is really tall! In the each brewing vessel, rice, water and koji are brewed in three stages. This is called San-Dan-Shikomi

Our guide Kumiko san told me she is also focusing the Sake Lees. It will be more interesting aspect of promoting the UK brewed Japanese Sake. 

For example, 300 to 400 kgs of Sake leese produced to make 1000 bottoles for Sake. As long as Sake is produced, Sake leese will be produced. So, we can make as many Saka steamed cakes as we want!!!

Finally, we had a sake tasting session. Oh, to compare ￡1,000 per bottle worth of sake!

What a luxury!

I can't tell you how much I regretted to have Alcohol intolerance then!  I only had a small sip of the sake I liked best, called "Kake hashi (can be pronounced Ken-Bridge, too)" it means a Bridge to bring together. I brought most of it home with me. I drank it before I went to bed and fell into bed with it. Heavenly!  This sake is fermented not with water, but with Dojima, a pure rice wine that has already been made. It was very rich, fruity and delicious. This Kakehashi can age like wines. 

From left to right: "Dojima" 2021, "Dojima" 2020 and my favourite, "Kakehashi".

And on the way back, we were allowed to buy a lot of sake lees.

Now I have a fridge full of sake lees, mmmmm💓.

Now, I'm going to make a lot of steamed cake, and then I'm going to make a sweet sake to serve at Ohinasama... Now I have to find some peach petals!

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You can find more about Sake and Sake leese on their website.

Dojima Sake Brewery is starting a tour.
You can apply here!

It's a bit far from Brighton, but from London it's just over an hour away.
The Japanese garden with cold cherry blossoms and snowdrops was lovely💓

Celebration for Setsubun!

"Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"

We throw some roasted beans in and out of house. Beans ward off all the evils.

We celebrate the eve of first Spring by eating Eho－Maki (an uncut big Sushi rolls) towards facing to the North-north East, the direction where this year's god from.

We prepare 4 kinds of Eho-maki. Please eat up the Eho-maki with filled up with all the happiness to come. 

One miso soup will come with each Eho-maki

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Kaisen Seafood Eho-maki  £9
(Steamed prawns, raw squid, raw salmon, seasoned tobiko, smoked mackerel, sea sticks, and cucumber)

Classic Eho-maki  £8 

(Steamed prawns, smoked mackerel, cucumber, Japanese omelette, Koya-Tofu, sea sticks, shiitake mushrooms)

Salad Eho-maki  £8 
(Breaded prawns, Lettuce, cucumber, sprouts, carrot, Japanese omelette, spinach)

Vegetable Eho-maki  £7 
(Japanese omelette, Ko-ya tofu, cucumber, spinach, red pepper, shiitake mushrooms, cooked radish)

*We will exchange the non-vegetarian/vegan filling to avocado and Inari skins

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Roasted soy beans are also on sale. By eating the number of soy beans of your age, you will ward off evils in your body. 

Happy New Year!!!

 " New Year's Day is the best time to make the whole year's plans. "

But I'm doing it today, on the 2nd.

(This in itself shows the inadequacy of time management in the future 💦.)

Well, no matter. In fact, every New Year's Day has been a day for me to sleep in and get my strength back to a normal level.

Here are some of my resolutions.

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1) Revival of the Japanese A-futa-nun-tee
　　　　In the last few months, traditional Japanese sweets (not the ice-cream and chocolate-covered ones) have suddenly started to attract attention. In my opinion, wagashi is a simplified version of Japanese culture and customs. Yes. That's why I want to focus on wagashi in the future.

2) Change the course of Japanese cafe an-an
　　　　We've been doing too many things, so we wanted to reorganise a bit.
　　　　I've also been getting requests from people all over the UK to give talks and sell wagashi. I am very grateful for that. I would like to respond to them somehow.

3) Reviving the Okonomiyaki event
　　　　We had a lot of help from everyone to buy the trailer. We cooked okonomiyaki once at the end of September last year and it was very popular. In the spring and summer, when we can sit outside more often, we would like to have more okonomiyaki events.

4) Support for Japanese language exchange study groups and Japanese craft groups　　　
                 Thankfully, we get a lot of customers who are interested in Japanese culture and language. So if we could get together with other customers who share the same interest, it would be a great opportunity for us to exchange knowledge with each other.

5) Repaire the damage from the pandemic.
　　　　　Be kind to the environment as well as people. Think all the time before moving to action "There should be a better way" all the time. 

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That's about it for now. There's so much more I want to do, but there's no end to it!

And my personal resolutions for this year are...

Not using car (as much as possible) !

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I'm looking forward to seeing you all again this year. Let's do lots of fun things💓