(eggshell cracks)
(skillet sizzles)
- Hello, and welcome back to SortedFood.
- This is the Mitsubishi TO-ST1-T toaster,
said to be the most expensive in the world.
- [Barry] Right so here's the thing,
it cooks one slice of toast at a time
and it costs over £300.
So why wouldn't we get professional chef here,
to review it?
- I can't wait.
Neither of us have played with this.
So here it goes.
This appliance is designed for use in Japan
- [Both] Only.
- And cannot be used in any other country.
- Let's get started.
- Oh, it is entirely Japanese.
- I just realised, I just realised what the TO-STI,
not STI,
- Not an STI.
(laughs)
ST-1, ST-1.
(laughs)
- ST-1.
- It's a little spatula.
- [Barry] As an unboxing experience,
it doesn't exactly feel premium, does it?
It doesn't kind of reflect the price you paid for it,
but then...
- I don't know, I've never unwrapped a car before
and that's what I thought they made.
- [Barry] I know.
Okay.
Oh,
(laughs)
it doesn't look like a toaster.
It doesn't feel like a toaster and it doesn't...
(hand knocks)
- Sounds like a toaster.
- Opened like a toaster.
- [Ben] Literally enough space for a single slice
of bread at a time, engineered to within an inch
of it's life.
We've got a converter, so we're only giving it 110 volts.
And unlike our hot dogger, we're not doubling it up.
- For full transparency this,
this is actually the second toaster.
First one we opened and we didn't use a transformer,
and we blew it up.
- It's got a lot of buttons on it.
- Guessing you've got like from defrost,
or steam, or length, or colour.
I don't really know.
- Less guessing, more scanning.
I've got the Google translate app.
Let's do it.
- [Barry] That's a lot to translate.
- So, we've got between toast,
frozen toast, toast with a topping, and French toast.
That's what the FR is for.
Thickness is four, five, six, or eight.
There doesn't appear to be a seven.
It depends on how many slices you get in the loaf
of your Japanese bread.
And then we go from fluffy to a dark and dark colour,
or a crispy colour.
- [Barry] So nowhere is there a timer.
and it worked out for you.
- But I guess if you do this and this
and this, it'll work out a time,
and then you push go.
- This is blowing my mind.
(lively music)
So our plan here is to test this toaster
to an inch of its life.
We've got lots of ingredients, lots of things to make.
I'm going to start with, well, let's just make toast.
So shall we.
- We have managed to get some Japanese bread.
So a milk loaf.
This comes as a four slice loaf,
which is the thickest one number four.
- I want like a light brown finish,
fluffy in the middle.
- Let's pop it in there.
- I don't see a heating plate on the top side,
but I do see four little holes, which I'm guessing is...
Do you just steam toast?
- It literally just seals it in.
- That was, that was Ben, not the machine.
- Soft bread a four slice.
- Medium.
- Medium? - Yeah.
- Start.
It's ticking.
- We have no idea how long it's going to take,
do we?
- So I think in the UK,
I always associate Mitsubishi with cars.
- So when they brought out a toaster
that is this expensive, it didn't quite add up to me.
- I think it's literally about perfecting one thing.
- Yeah,
- It's doing something.
A little bit of a steam vent.
(beeps)
Are we happy that it's done?
I mean, that was very quick.
- Trust, in the machine.
I mean I can't be amazed yet,
'cause it's just toast, a piece of bread.
That was probably what?
90 seconds, two minutes.
- It felt quick.
A toaster doesn't exactly take a long time.
I think this is all about keeping the moisture in the bread,
whilst toasting the outside.
- And we're working with bread
that I'm less familiar with,
but it feels outrageously spongy and caky.
- That is, on its own without butter and condiments,
everything I like about milk bread.
- Yeah, yeah.
A slight crisp on the outside,
but light and fluffy in the middle.
With lovely sweetening throughout as well.
- So they say they've managed to design a toaster
in a way that totally traps and seals the moisture
inside to make perfect toast.
- How is it going crispy and not soggy in there?
- Oh, this is bothering you.
What happens inside the magic box, is magic.
- No. We've got to work it out.
- Then let's try some more stuff.
(lively music)
- Okay, so straight away
a loaf I'm more comfortable with.
But there's no setting for one.
- No.
- This is one slice.
- If you could cut that to,
not through the...
(record scratches)
- Oh my word!
- What are you talking about?
- Who does that?
Have you not heard about micro plastics in our ocean?
Don't put micro plastics in our bread.
- Oh, it's fine. Do that.
- And now you can't wrap the bread back up
afterwards to keep-
- That's what cling film is for.
- Yeah, more or more turtles.
If you can get six slices out of that bread, then
it's perfect for this machine.
(laughs)
Six even slices without the crust.
Excellent.
- Let's go slightly darker.
- [Ben] Oh, okay.
The person who is in charge of the technical development
for the company's home appliance division has said,
I quote, "We wanted to focus on the single slice
and treat it with respect."
And I do feel like that captures
so much of what we learned when we were in Japan
and that was do one thing and do it really well.
I didn't expect it to be like one thing,
like one slice of one thing.
- One, at a go.
How long do you reckon it's gonna be?
- Ah, listen, a long while yet, it's a long while
between ticks, so it's a long while until it's done.
- A five-minuter.
(toaster ticks)
The toaster serves a very key role in my kitchen,
to what this does.
One slice would be torture for me.
- It's beginning to speed up.
- Beat, coming in.
- Let's have a look.
Oh, toasty.
Golden.
I might take mine a bit further at home, but-
- That is toasted, I'm guessing because
there's less sugar in this loaf it's browning a lot less.
- Compared to the milk bread, for sure.
Would you like butter on your half?
- Oh what'd you bloody think?
(laughs)
I'm a chef, right, I'm sure.
- I don't want to force the saturated fats on you.
Now, here we are.
Oh.
- Oh.
- So it says it's toast, but it really only is
on the outside, 'cause the middle is just hot bread.
You've never been offered a fluffy middle at breakfast?
- Shut up, eat it.
(bread crunches)
- Oh!
(laughs)
- That is not what we know toast to be.
- The outside layer doesn't get any deeper
within the bread.
You have a slice of bread on it's own.
It's fluffy in the middle.
But it's not moist. This is moist in the middle.
- This is hot bread with a crunch.
(hand knocks)
It's not what I know toast to be, and yet it's quite nice
'cause it maintains the moisture of a fresh loaf
that you want.
- It's almost like re-baked it, refreshed it.
So it's like toast.
But a really, really thin layer of crusty toast.
- Surrounding warm bread.
- Wow.
- Interesting.
- I did not expect to enjoy this thing as much as I do.
- You're getting a bit sour, I'm glad that worked.
- Right!
What happens if we try toast with a topping?
- Yeah, yeah let's do it.
(lively music)
- [Ben] This is fabulous, I love this.
There's recipes in this booklet that comes with it.
We've used the Google translate app again,
and I'm going to go for this one.
- [Barry] What's that?
- [Ben] Butter the toast, cover it in slices of apple,
sugar, and cinnamon.
- Don't worry, he is actually a professional chef.
- [Ben] And this excited.
Whack that on.
- And we go for the toppings setting.
- [Ben] Oh, it's very thin, so it's at least an eight.
Middle ground.
Go!
Interesting, it says cooking time about 15 minutes.
That literally took us less than two to throw together.
This is dessert.
This with a scoop of ice cream, mwah!
- This, scoop of ice cream, £300, mwah, perfect!
- [Ben] I'm smelling apple pie vibes, but I'm also smelling-
- I'm desperate to look, I want to lift it.
- Yeah.
- We're getting there, this is it.
(finger taps)
- I like the metronome it gives you as well.
(toaster beeps)
Ready?
- No.
(knife scrapes)
- It's going to be hot on the top cause that's-
- Pussy.
(laughs)
It's fine, just go for it.
Oh.
Oh oh oh,
oh, this is ridiculous.
- Such wonderful textures.
- All right, next one.
Mental.
- Hang on, hang on, hang on.
- That is mental. This can't be happening.
- Such wonderful textures
because it's still soft and fluffy.
Maybe that's the apple juice.
- We've been doing this for a decade.
How indeed am I surprised by a bloody toaster.
(lively music)
- [Ben] Let's play again.
- [Barry] So while on the theme of making dessert,
we'll crack on, we're making a French toast?
- Which is breakfast.
We've used a classic egg cream and a little bit of sugar,
vanilla, cinnamon mix soaked into the bread.
Butter the toaster, pop it in.
(loud imitation of top sucking shut)
Set it.
You only get a medium option on this one.
If this gives it the like perfect fluff in the middle
- Gooey
- and crispy on the outside
- No!
- Can't be crispy on the outside.
- I really wanted this to be a waste of £300
so that we could get angry at it.
And I was at loving this!
- And now, I'll make everything in it now.
- Maybe it flips it when you're not looking.
(laughs)
- [Barry] In a previous life. You used to be a magician.
So I wouldn't be surprised if he has a trap door down there.
- Notice I haven't rolled my sleeves up today.
- This is the longest one yet.
This is probably...
- Still not letting out any steam.
- [Barry] Here we go.
No, together.
(laughs)
- We've been on a journey.
- I know.
- Let's have a look.
- No.
Okay.
- [Ben] Even golden on one side.
Oh, actually more golden on that side,
but happy with that.
- [Barry] Oh.
- It could have soaked for another hour or so,
Cause I forget just how thick this Japanese bread is.
- And you can see how thin and crispy the outside layer is
- and the rest remain soft and fluffy.
We hope, cheers.
(dramatic music)
- Mm hm
- Oh my god.
- Mm hm
- Oh my god.
- As a texture. It's a cross between the-
- (growls)
- custard bun,
- Yeah.
- and toast.
- It's just,
it's so...
- Perfect.
- Yeah.
- [Ben] The textures you get off of that,
from that machine is on par
with an excellent pan, but in a pan, you need to flip it.
That you just pop it in and let it do its thing.
- Very, very clever
- Let's try a savoury filling.
- What's next monsieur?
- So croque monsieur with bechamel in it. Butter, bread,
bechamel, ham cheese, bechamel, bread, butter.
- You've lost the plot.
- Cue montage.
(lively music)
Good ham. Don't tell the French.
- There's no setting for this one,
we're going for a thick bread.
I think because it's now a thick slice of bread
now on the brownest.
- and a crispy.
- [Barry] Yeah.
- [Ben] While we're waiting for it. Fun fact.
So a traditional breakfast in Japan would be miso, fish,
rice, maybe some vegetables.
But, a recent study by Insight Signal,
said that 51%
now prefer toast for breakfast, a change in tradition.
- Yeah, okay.
- And if you're going to apply the same amount of care and
precision and respect to toast that you do
a more traditional breakfast,
maybe that's why a machine like this exists.
- Whereas on our side of the world,
we've been taking toast, advantage of for too long now.
We don't really think about it.
- Taking advantage of toast?
- Taking advantage. You know what I mean.
- Let's have a look.
- [Both] Oh.
- [Ben] Gooey.
- [Barry] Let's take it out now.
Crispy bottom?
- Yes.
- [Barry] Look at that.
- [Ben] The bottom is perfect.
Oh my goodness.
- [Barry] Right.
I'm dripping butter.
- It's molten cheese.
- It's ready.
Hurry up.
- [Ben] Wait.
Cheers.
Ah.
(laughs)
- Are you an idiot.
I told you let it cool down and then you hurried me.
That was so hot.
You're so impatient.
- Worth it though.
(laughs)
- Don't give me this. You just burnt me.
(whimpers)
- That was a full-blown whimper.
- Yes, and third degree bloody burns.
I'm gonna try again.
- It gets crisper up. Not drier.
- But up until this point,
all that's been inside really is bread and water and
moisture and some apple.
This time we're putting fat inside and that
just oozes and melts.
But you still have that wonderful crispness on the outside.
- We've used dirt cheap bread in here,
and really naff cheese.
But it doesn't matter
because it's injected moisture into that.
- It doesn't inject anything.
- Well, it does something magical Ben,
and I don't understand.
It couldn't get any better if I'm honest.
- I've got something I want to try.
(lively music)
Korean toast.
- Okay. Bold, Ebbers.
Last time we had Korean toasts,
the bar was set extraordinarily high.
- A pop up in London by Josh and Ollie, Korean Englishmen.
They invited us down, and they did it properly.
They literally shipped in special South Korean bread,
their own kimchi, which we have got a tin of.
- But, they didn't have a £300 toaster.
- We're going to use thin sliced white bread,
so we can keep it shallow enough to not stick to the roof.
Buttered on both sides, cabbage, kimchi, cheese,
and the egg. I've already cracked into the machine
to make an omelette.
- Only a chef would look at a toaster and think,
I can make an omelette in that.
Omelette.
- Brown rice syrup.
- Monsieur.
- Clamper down.
Topping section.
- [Barry] Dark.
- [Ben] Four.
- [Barry] Four.
- [Ben] Crispy.
- [Barry] Yep. Go.
- While we wait for this,
if you want to see it done properly,
go and check it out on Josh and Ollie's channel.
Links down below.
Steam starts to escape.
Smoke signals.
- [Barry] Bit burney.
- [Ben] Does smell a bit burney to me.
- Oh no.
- We shouldn't keep experimenting.
We should just stick to what we know.
- Should I look?
- Yeah, we're going to have to have a peek.
If we peek in less than a few seconds,
let it carry on cooking.
- [Barry] It's done. It's done.
- [Ben] Well, a bit burney.
Perfect on that side. Very even and golden.
- Go. Ebbers, in.
- This one's not quite as hot.
I'm going to trust you on this one.
- I mean.
- That's what I remember.
Not quite as good, but that's nearly what I remember.
- It's really nice.
But it does give you something a little bit different,
because the inside of this is ever so slightly steamed.
- Yeah. It keeps some moisture in for sure.
But then I don't think we ever set out to compare this
toaster to one you can buy off the market.
The point is how has a toaster ended up on the market,
that expensive?
And as a result, I wanted to hate it.
I don't think I do.
- How is that possible?
- It's a phenomenal bit of kit.
Engineering expertise consolidated into a single appliance,
that did something to toast,
that I never thought needed doing to toast
until I've tried that.
- It made the best slice of toast I think I've.
- You nearly said the best slice of toast you've ever had.
- But it was.
- You very nearly said that.
- I nearly did.
I'm not going to say that in case that's used somewhere.
- Because this is not a hashtag ad.
We have spent a lot of our money on this.
Twice.
We broke one of them.
I've had a lot of fun today and been on one hell of a
journey. But what do you guys think?
What do you think of the toaster?
- And also, what would you like to see Ben review next?
Can we find anything as extraordinary as that?
Comment down below.
- Extraordinary.
- It's just a toaster.
- It's not just a toaster.
- It's a toaster.
(beep)
Babe, do you want a snack?
Apple on toast? Yeah, sure, no worries.
Five minutes.
- Thanks buddy.
- I said babe, not Ben.
- Oh. I just presumed that's how we referred to each other
after a decade.
(laughs)