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WINE&DINE
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January15
J
apan, as far as I can make out, is one of
those places that people go to and get
hooked on. I have Singaporean friends
who go (not for business – we are talking
strictly holiday) two or three times a year. And it
is
addictive; I certainly found “Japan bug” to be as real
as typhoid, figuratively speaking. I’malready longing
to go back.Duringmy last trip there, one of the things
on the culinary hit list was sushi at a proper sushi
restaurant. A lovely Japanese friend booked us in
to Tokyo’s Sushi Mizutani, mentioning after he had
done so that reservations here were hard to come
by and newbies only ever introduced if they came
recommended by a regular.
“You do know how to behave, don’t you?” he
asked questioningly. I was flooded with panic.
I’m a well bought up girl, natch, but can I behave
Japanese-style? What does that even mean?
One of the blogs I follow here in Sing is Aun
Koh’s Chubby Hubby and I remembered reading
a list he posted a while back on what not to do
when eating sushi.
DON’TS
• Never rub your chopsticks together after snapping
them apart (I do this all the time – someone
English once asked me if I was trying to start a
fire, caveman style). This is the height of rudeness.
• Never mix wasabi with soy sauce. Sushi should
be prepared with the proper amount of wasabi
on the fish. If you would like more, simply apply it
directly to the fish. This is key. At Mizutani it went
one step further: despite being offered an empty
bowl for soy sauce, I learnt that you don’t eat sushi
with added soy; instead, Mizutani’s creations are
brushed with his own version of soy sauce. (You
can
have soy and wasabi with sashimi – but as
above, don’t mix them together like a loser.)
• Never rest just the tips of your chopsticks on your
plate. And never leave your chopsticks sitting in
a bowl with the ends jutting out.
• Do not put the ginger on your sushi and eat
it together. Ginger is meant to be consumed
between bites to cleanse the palate. (I’m not
Japanese but I hate it when people do this. It
offends even me!)
• If you’re eating in a sushi bar, it’s considered rude
to handmoney to the chef. (This is quite obvious as
his hands are usually occupied and wet with fish.)
• My other addition would be: don’t take any
pictures of your food.
Aun also wrote a bunch of “To Do’s” which I forgot
to read – so entranced was I about what
not
to get
wrong. But here’s what I learnt fromMizutani about
positive sushi etiquette.
There’s a whole
lot of etiquette
involved when
it comes to
eating sushi.
FROG MICHAELS
of Changmoh.com
shares the
top rules for
sushi-scoffing.
HOW
TO EAT
SUSHI
LIKE A
PRO