260520 Sat Oct 20 22:21:34 -0700 2001 2 26 International 0 1376710 Last Wednesday I attended a sake tasting at Kuraya, a restaurant in Yotsuya that often co-sponsors tastings with Kanda-Izumiya, the sake shop where I take classes. While some tastings are arranged around a thene--for example, new sake--this one was what I guess you'd call a horizontal tasting, with five different types of sake from the Jokigen brewery in Yamagata. We started off with Daiginjo Yamada Nishiki 40% seimai (yamada nishiki being the type of rice, 40% being what level the rice is milled down to). This had a very strong aroma of pears, and was very smooth, slightly sweet, and not surprisingly fruity tasting. It had a relatively strong alcohol taste, and a nice level of acidity. The next one was Tezukuri (hand-made) Daiginjo (don't really know why they chose to call this one hand-made). This one was less to my liking, with a very light fragrance and very light flavor, but I think it is actually more typical of the daiginjo style. Next was Omachi Ginjo (technically a daiginjo given that it's milled to 45%). I've mentioned this one before--it's a personal favorite. Again, very fruity, but strong-boned, and with a good acid balance so it goes well with food. At this point, we were all getting fairly happy, so I'm afraid my notes get less detailed. Also, when you've drunk the best first, the following ones do tend to seem disappointing. The Junmaishu, however, lacked the usual harshness of a junmaishu (junmaishu has no added alcohol, so the acid can be fairly harsh), and the Dewasan-san Tokubetsu Honjozo was a very light sake, with a slight taste of apples. For food with all this, we had a very nice sashimi selection, a cellophane noodle stir-fry, a crab stir-fry, croquettes, and a chicken and fish nabe (hot-pot), which was finished off by throwing rice and egg in to make ojiya. Kuraya's specialty is the fried stuff--croquettes and cutlets--although they do have other non-fried items on the menu. (I'm actually not a tonkatsu fan, but Andy P., you'll have to try this one and see how it rates!) As a special now, they have fried oysters. And, if you're so inclined, you can get the deep-fried whale cutlet special. When they have tastings, the charge for the evening is Y6000, but if you went on a normal evening I'm sure you could get out for much less--this place is CHEAP. I really have no idea how they make money charging so little for such good sake. Kuraya Yotsuya 4-31-7 Tel. 3358-8707 Nearest station is Shinjuku Gyoen. Sat Oct 20 22:21:34 -0700 2001 0 Rachel M. 1 1376711 Hi Rachel, Great post! I'm definitely going to give Kuraya a try. I can't find "ginjo", or "seimai" in my dictionary. Could you please translate? Does your sake shop give classes in English? If not, do you have any idea where I might find sake classes offered in English? And, um, one last, uh, question: Do you remember, from their menu, what's the Japanese translation for "deep fried whale cutlet special"? Yoroshiku, Andy Sat Oct 20 23:09:17 -0700 2001 1376710 0 Andy P. 2 1376713 No problem--here's a little sake terminology: "Seimai" means rice milling, so 40% seimai is rice milled down to 40% of the original kernel. Rice is milled down to at least 70% of the original size to make a purer starch for sake brewing purposes. When the rice is milled to 60% of the original size, the sake becomes "ginjoshu"; when it's 50% or less, it's "daiginjoshu" (the "shu" bit is the same character as sake, and sometimes gets dropped off). My place doesn't have classes in English, unfortunately. Have you ever checked out one of John Gauntner's tastings? He writes for the Japan Times and does some tastings--also has an e-mail newsletter and a web site (see link below). I think he does events at least once a month. He's got some books out in English, as well. There's also a book out in English I have called "The Insider's Guide to Sake" by Philip Harper that is quite useful for terminology, etc. as well as shop listings and sake reviews. He actually works at a sake brewery. Available through Amazon, but I bought my copy at your Shibuya store. Finally, the whale cutlet lunch is the "kujira katsu teishoku". Enjoy! Link: http://www.sake-world.com Sun Oct 21 02:22:54 -0700 2001 1376711 0 Rachel M.