- We are Sorted, a group a foodies from London,
who today,
(record scratch)
are way out of our comfort zone.
(upbeat music)
- I feel like I need some moral support.
- [Ben] We've been sent to Toyko in Japan
and tasked to cook up a food and sake pairing menu
for some locals.
- I'm so nervous.
- [Mike] So, first job is to immerse ourselves
in the culture, food and sake, to work out how we achieve
probably our biggest challenge yet.
- This might be the hardest thing we've ever done.
- Konnichiwa, my name is Jaime and this is Ben.
- If you remember back to the start of this year,
we were able to explore sake, in London and New York,
thanks to Jay Fudo.
- And thanks to your comments all saying,
wouldn't it be great if you could go to Japan
and explore Japanese food and sake.
Guess where we're going!
(lively music)
- Genuinely, the most exciting place I've ever been to.
- Century overload, this place.
(lively music)
- [Jaime] So of the five of us,
only Ebbers had been to Japan before had you?
- Yes, although walking around eating
whatever takes your fancy on holiday
is very different having to cook
for a restaurant of Japanese diners.
- And seafood has a particular cultural significance,
which we don't have a lot of time to grasp.
- Yeah, so we started with sushi,
which was (smacks lips) very different.
(playful music)
- [Barry] Instantly, you couldn't help but notice
the care taken over what seemed just a few ingredients.
- [Ben] But wow, it was probably
the best sushi I've ever had.
- Ben, stop filming.
Stop filming it.
I tried to pick up my oyster sushi with the chopsticks
and it went terribly wrong.
(laughs)
And they're having to redo it for me.
That is incredible.
(background laughing)
That is unlike anything I've ever had!
- I know!
- It is incredible.
And, with yet another sake, a plum sake, unreal.
- And we went from what seemed to me,
very traditional sushi, to very cool, experimental dishes.
- As if sitting at a sushi bar
wasn't feature enough, you then get this
and this is like their signature, a really hot stone,
and now it's kind of being steamed within that.
I'm so intrigued.
I've never had hot sushi.
The fish, literally just melts away.
- This is really dry, almost sour,
with a really strong flavored fish it's perfect.
- [Jaime] And of course, the food was just one part
of this challenge, we also needed to pair it
with our choice of sake, Japanese rice wine.
Luckily, we had an expert on hand.
- When you think about pairing sake
with seafood and why it works,
it's because you have,
not only just the access of sweetness and acidity,
which you have with wine,
with sake you have sweetness, acidity and umami.
I like to always think of it as the tool
that allows your tongue to taste in three dimensions.
- So with that lesson learned,
we need to eat a lot more seafood.
- [Ben] Japan is a country surrounded by water
from the ocean on the coastlines,
to the freshwater lakes and rivers
flowing through the mountains.
And as a result, Japan has access to some of the most fresh
and diverse fish and seafood in the world.
- It's octopus on a stick, it's been blowtorched,
it's been griddled, covered in barbecue sauce.
I was expecting that to be really tough.
It kind of flakes apart, it's so fresh.
It's charred, bitter, sweet, it pulls apart,
that is spectacular.
He's got one, he's going home.
- Mm mm mmm.
- [Mike] Thoughts?
- I put myself forward for this so--
I like oysters.
- How do you eat that?
- One shot.
(gulp) (gulp). - [Mike] One shot?
(group laughs)
- This is homemade ponzu dressing.
I feel like I need some moral support.
All right okay.
- [Mike] Three, two, one.
Got it.
- Oh, it's really good.
But it's so much, it's just so big.
Lemony, creamy and sweet.
That was very exciting.
- Very exciting.
- I don't know why (group laughing drowns out speech)
- When it comes to Tokyo's best fish market,
and one of the first things you see is wagyu beef,
then obviously you're gonna get wagyu beef on a stick.
It says it's Japan's highest grade.
- [Ben] We can get it with sea urchin on.
- I think Jaime just spent 30 pounds on meat on a stick.
- [Mike] A steak lollipop.
- [Jaime] Both the flavors mellow each other out.
- "Sugoi!"
It is kind of salty from that sauce,
but it is beefy beefy charred.
And then the sea urchin gives you kind of a,
a rich, sweet, I've compared it to like mussel meat before,
like the meat of a mussel, except on steroids, it's insane.
- Next up we have takosen, which is essentially
squashed octopus rice paper.
- [Ben] Cracker.
- [Barry] Cracker.
- Big long queue for them,
you vend your own ticket and pay for it.
You take your ticket to a window and you then queue
and they do them real-time, right in front of you,
between two very heavy, clasped, hot plates
and I'm amazed at how quickly they cook.
It's like a stained glass shellfish.
- It's art, that is art.
That is art, not food.
- It's like a salty prawn cracker,
but lighter, less foamy and more crackly.
- It's so crispy, these were octopus five minutes ago.
- Definitely like the cracker.
(lively music)
- Everywhere you look, more food.
(active music)
- [Barry] You're now in Cafe De Fleur, trying kakigori.
I've got a mango one, you've got (mumbles).
- Roasted tea, bubble milk tea.
- [James] Ah, it's so weird.
- Refreshing, zingy, clean.
This is just (mumbles).
- Another thing that would quickly dawn on us,
was that no matter how many or few ingredients we use,
the looks, the care and even the crockery design
were taken into consideration.
♪ Check, check, check, check ♪
- We are at Sincere, which is a fusion
of classical French and Japanese cuisine.
Which I think is quite good for me,
because I'm not sure that I like Japanese cuisine yet.
- Ooh!
- [James] Right from the off, every plate looks amazing.
(upbeat music)
- This is Japanese crab, with tomato jelly,
there's a mousse and there's some Japanese herbs.
The tiny flowers on top have got
really floral flavor to them.
Which is amazing, but the best thing about them is
they're grown just outside the restaurant.
- Cheers.
- [Group] "Kampai."
(glasses clink)
(electro music)
- (foreign language), started with the big stuff.
- Probably the best sake I've ever had.
- I think we can confidently call this Japanese Tapas.
- (laughs) No.
- Why not, no?
It's a selection of hors d'oeuvres that all look unreal.
Before we dig in, can we just appreciate that
these guys have been to the James Currie school of plating.
- That might be the biggest compliment you've ever given me.
- I'm going for breakfast, obviously.
It's toast, sausage and a quail's egg yolk.
Could we get like, four more of them,
to make a real breakfast.
No.
(Barry laughs)
They are decent. (Barry hits head)
(laughs)
- So this is a turnip round, with sashimi prawn,
so raw prawn in the center and then a jelly on top
with more of those fragrant, floral flowers.
The prawn just goes (bloop)
and it's almost creamy, almost dairy-like.
- I've come to the sea snail croquette
'cause I thought, that's more Japanese.
The closest flavor I can compare that to, is mushroom.
It's really mushroomy, but with a slight seafood tang to it.
- [Jamie] All of those hors d'oeuvres
were served with one sake,
and it's a sake like we've never had before, I loved this.
- [James] And it seemed the more sake
we drank with the food,
the more we were aware of the umami taste Melinda spoke of.
- Just imagine for a second,
if we could plate up any of our dishes,
(group laughing)
our dinner, like anything like this.
- [Barry] Probably easy for you to say innit?
- [Mike] You could get off serving it.
(upbeat music)
- Oh this?
I just got this from one of those fruit and veg
vending machines on the side of the road.
'Cause they grow them in these fields.
(upbeat music)
- It's ramen time, we've come to Motenashi Kuroki.
And the reason that we've come to this specific place
is because, this ramen restaurant
has won Tokyo's best ramen, two years consecutively,
and this is these guys finding that out for the first time.
- [Group] What?
- They've even opened early, so that we can get in,
because normally there's a queue all the way out the door.
- I don't know about you guys,
I'm feeling a little uncomfortable,
we're about to watch our two closest friends foodgasm.
(James laughs)
- All I'm hearing is, it's the tiny little details
they're adding up to make this Tokyo's best ramen.
The head chef has designed his own bowls,
so that they're the right shape, depth
and have the right lip so that
you can slurp the ramen properly.
It's crazy!
- You must be really excited to watch me and Ben eat this.
(happy music)
- First of three bowls, and it is a chicken ramen
so they call it salt.
Fried chicken from Kyoto, some ginger,
some tomato in a broth with some kombu.
Oh.
Ah.
(James laughs)
- [Jaime] Oh no, - [Barry] It happened,
- [Jaime] they like it - [Barry] it happened.
- Oh good it happened.
- So, yes it is salty,
but it's like the most intense chicken broth
and there's almost like a chicken ball in there,
it reminds me a little bit
almost like Matzo chicken noodle soup.
Except you've then got that kombu in there,
which has that super savory umami finish.
- [James] And that might be
the best chicken I've ever tasted.
- James' actually shaking with excitement, this is nuts.
- As if one of Tokyo's best bowl of ramen was enough,
we're now gonna have a second.
This has got clam, it's got pork lard in it,
it's finished with blackened garlic,
it's got this amazing piece of pork on top
which is 50 pork, 50% fat.
And in this bowl, the noodles are thinner,
so you get less of a flourness and more of the fragrance
of the clam and the lard and they soy.
At the table, we got a sprits of soy sauce
and that gives you that final fragrance,
but also, that's where you slurp from,
so you get that as you drink.
- [James] Spoilers, spoilers.
- Look at those noodles.
I would put the clamminess
halfway between like seafood and seaweed.
It's kind of the sweetness of seafood,
but it's not quite the salty umami of seaweed,
it's somewhere in between.
- You really do take up a lot more
of the broth with these noodles.
- And they've specifically paired this one
with this incredible Jinmai.
And it's, yes it pairs beautifully with the soy flavor,
but also the richness of the pork and the lard,
you kind of have this, which is slightly more acidic,
kind of just cuts through it,
and it's just a pair that is meant to be.
(lively music)
- Wow!
(chilled music)
- We've come to Ebisu, to check out the restaurant
that we're gonna be taking over tomorrow.
Ben and James are so nervous.
(Barry laughs)
- This is all getting very real.
- I think everything we've learned
over the last few days is just sinking in.
The amount of respect, care, attention that is required
for food and for people to be able to enjoy the food.
It is actually quite a big deal.
- So, we'd learned a lot, but then for the real pressure,
we need to decide what on earth we were gonna cook
and how we were gonna pair that with sake
to unlock that three dimensional umami flavor,
to win the approval of a restaurant of local diners.
- Challenge on.
(energetic music)
- What do you think about our journey so far?
Give the video a like if you're enjoying it
and comment down below with your favorite moment.
- It goes without saying there are
two collective people we need to thank,
one of those is you guys and all your comments,
'cause that's what got us there,
and two, Jay Fudo for making
the whole thing possible, thank you.
- The rest of the journey's gonna unfold
over the next couple of episodes
that we launch on the channel,
so make sure you're subscribed,
you got your notifications on, so you don't miss a thing.
- I know what you're waiting for.
- A relevant dad joke.
- Have you got a relevant one?
(exciting music)
- What's the most popular font used in Japan?
- I have no idea.
- Times New Ramen.
(Ben laughs)
You're welcome.
(laughs)
Arigato!
As we mentioned, we don't just
make top quality YouTube videos.
- [Background Voice] LOL.
- We've built the Sorted club,
where we use the best things we've learnt
to create stuff that's hopefully interesting
and useful to other food lovers.
Check it out if you're interested, thank you for watching
and we'll see you in a few days.
(beep)
- She's just grated about 200 quid's worth
of truffle onto that.
- That roll is worth more than my house.
(laughs)