Sake and squid snacks

Before heading to Japan, I had only tried sake a few times. After being in Japan, I have realized that I have not ever tried any credible or quality sake in my life prior. Much of my sake awakening came in the form of an afternoon and early evening tasting in Tokyo. Part formal, part informal, it ended up being one of the most fun things I did while visiting Japan back in the fall.

Prior to leaving Canada, I had arranged a “sake experience” via AirBnB that had been highly reviewed. The experience started out with some learning about the history and brewing of sake, as well as its classifications, all aimed toward helping make me a more informed customer. To make the learning go down nice and easy, there was some initial sampling involved. Nice touch!

The formal learning took place at the Japan Sake and Sochu Information Center. This part tourist information centre, part sake bar was a great spot to learn. My sake sommelier, Satoko, would explain a type of sake, then we’d wander over to a wall of bottles, then over to the bar for a sample. I was interested in trying a cloudy sake to see how much similarity it has with unfiltered/cloudy beers that I have been enjoying lately. This is my kind of learning.

With the formal learnings completed, Satoko and I headed by subway to the Monzennakacho neighbourhood to visit a favourite neighbourhood sake bar of hers. Before the bar, we wandered around this interesting neighbourhood I never would have seen otherwise and made a couple of stops. First up was a small restaurant with a market offering all sorts of fermented treasures… vegetables, small fishes, fruits – you name it, they ferment it. Lots of sampling later, I think this place could ferment a shoe and make it taste delicious.

The next stop was a lovely small Buddist temple, Fukagawa Fudodo. There were no pictures allowed inside, which is a shame, because there was a display of more than 9000 miniature Fudōmyō (which is a very intense looking Buddha). My guide Satoko rubbed many of them as we walked past for good luck.

This was a picturesque and quaint Tokyo neighbourhood, and immediately after walking into the sake bar she had chosen I knew I was in for a good time… Orihara Shoten felt like my kind of place.

Like many sake bars in Japan, this is both a liquor store and a bar with some great small snacks. Orihara Shoten had hundreds of bottles of sake chilling for either a drink there on-site or to purchase to take away.

Satoko and I got down to some very liberal sampling. In hindsight, I wish I took some tasting notes because as the bottles kept hitting the table, my memory got foggier and foggier. I do remember this one pairing very nicely with the cubes of Japanese cream cheese and the soy-based snack crackers.

Speaking of snacks, one of my favourite parts of this evening was Satoko trying to gross me out with traditional sake drinking snacks. I told her up front I was game for anything. The dried squid (far left) was chewy with the consistency of rope and, to her surprise, delicious to me. The fermented squid (middle, red slimy looking stuff) was something no one in the bar thought I’d eat. While taking some practice to figure out how to grip them with the chopsticks, I thought these were great. Slimy, slippery, salty and delicious. A cheer went up in the bar when I gave a thumbs up and kept on eating them.

I enjoyed every sake that Satoko picked and came to learn that I prefer a very dry and slightly floral taste profile. These two bottles ended up being my favourites of the evening.

What made this whole experience so great was Satoko. She was incredibly knowledgeable, was super helpful in arranging tastings so I could learn what I liked best, and was funny and engaging in her second language in a way I wish I could someday be in my second language. She also gave me some great tips on other places I could do sake tastings in Osaka later in my trip which led to me bringing home an exceptional bottle of sake to enjoy during a brutal Saskatchewan winter.