Tag Archives: Gatsronomes

レシピ, Bistro, Cafes, 美食, 野菜, 静岡県, 静岡美食, 静岡市, 観光, 農業, Food, Food Health, Gastronomes, Gastronomic Photography, Gastronomy, Japan, Japanese Culture, Japanese Gastronomy, Photography, Recipes, Recommended Lunch Restaurants, Restaurants, Shizuoka, Shizuoka agricultural products, Shizuoka Cuisine, Shizuoka Prefecture, Tourism

Healthy Gastronomy: Vegetable Sommelier Lunch at ICN cafe in Shizuoka City!

February 18, 2014 dragonlife Leave a comment

Service: Easy-going, kind and smiling
Equipment & Facilities: Overall very clean. Excellent washroom
Prices: Reasonable
Strong points: Healthy food. Great beer list. Can be patronized as cafe, restaurant or bar.

having to eat out for lunch also means a constant search for healthy food, otherwise….
Shichiken Cho, Aoi Ku, Shizuoka City, is an area where you can find a few trendy cafes/bars/restaurants serving healthy and tasty food!
The latest is ICN cafe!

It is part of a concept combining show room, shop and cafe/bar which can also be booked entirely for private vents!

You will find some interesting items and collectibles!

Very modern and slightly zany kitchen!

You can patronize it all day a cafe or bar as well!

Very reasonable and plenty of variety for lunch!

Although the pasta, pizza and locomoco look delicious, I would recommend the Vegetable Sommelier Lunch for your first visit!

This particular lunch is designed with the help of a top Shizuoka vegetable Sommelier. Ms. Tomoe Amano!

And they also provide a full description of the dishes down to vitamins and all that!

My lunch!

Now, what did we have there?

Chinese cabbage, carrot and chicken soup!

Very tasty white rice with a few grains of black rice!

Chinese cabbage and rape flowers salad rolls!

Very original kabocha marinated with Shiozuoka Oranges and rosemary!

Chinese cabbage, rice flour and soy milk gratin!

And lemon tea to wash it all down!

Expect a few more articles as I have to not only sample their pizza, pasta and locomoco, but also Baird beer (Numazu City) among the 31 beers they have on the menu!

ICN cafe
420-0035 Shizuoka City, Shichiken-Cho, 5-8, 2F
Tel.: 054-273-8178
Opening hours: 11:00~23:00 (lunch, 11:00~16:45, Dinner: 18:00~)
Closed on Sunday evening and aal Monday
300 yen cover charge from 18:00~
Cash only

FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM: hushtag: #ICNcafe
account: icncafe
Free Wi Fi service: spot-ICN

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

So Good Sushi Restaurant in Nice France
Navigating Nagoya by Paige, Shop with Intent by Debbie, BULA KANA in Fiji, Kraemer’s Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pierre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Ichi For The Michi by Rebekah Wilson-Lye in Tokyo, Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in Kansai by Nevitt Reagan!
ABRACADABREW, Magical Craftbeer from Japan
-Whisky: Nonjatta: All about whisky in Japan by Stefan Van Eycken
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents

HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City

レシピ, 美食, 野菜, 静岡市, 農業, Gastronomes, Gastronomy, Izu Peninsula, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Recipes, Seaweed, Shizuoka, Shizuoka marine products, Tokoroten, 心太

Japanese Vegan Gastronomy: Tokoroten-Agar-Basic Recipe

September 9, 2013 dragonlife Leave a comment

“Toroten” or 心太 (or 寒天) in Japanese is Agar or agar agar.
It is made with a variety of small red Gelidiaceae.

The seaweed is called Tengusa/天草/Heaven Grass in Japanese and is particular abundant in Western Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture!
The picture above was taken in Western Izu peninsula where it is regularly harvested in its natural element and sun-dried before being processed.

It has been for unknown ages in Japan and is still used extensively in food and even cosmetics and fertilizers.
It is first washed in clear water and su-dried 4 to 5 times before use.

Its use has been recorded in Izu as far as 1822!

This is the form it is sold in Japan. The red color has naturally disappeared after all the washing and drying.

In a large pan add plenty of water and rice vinegar.

Boil it over a medium fire for an hour or until the liquid becomes a boiling syrup.
make sure ther is enough though during the boiling, otherwise the the syrup will stick on the bottom of the pan.

Take off fire and sieve the tengusa into a large bowl.

Then pour it into a clean cloth and press it out. Proceed twice! The agar must be pressed out at least twice for best quality!

Pour the agar into a flat square cooking metal dish and let cool down for 20^30 minutes at room temperature.
The agar should slide out if you incline the dish.

The Japanese use the above tool called ところてん突き/Tokoroten Tsuki!
Check the use in this video!

The agar will get through this grill to make “noodles”

Cut out strips of agar the size of the pushing handle.

Push the cut agar through the “tokoroten Tsuki”.

foe a better view!

Serve the tokoroten as they are seasoned with ponzu and whatever chopped seaweed or greens of your liking.
Naturally the agar can be seasoned with spices!
Enjoy!

Check this video, too!

As an indication in Japan the above containg 100 g of dried tengusa is sold for 698 yen (about 7 US$.

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

Shop with Intent by Debbie
BULA KANA in Fiji
Kraemer’s Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pierre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in Kansai by Nevitt Reagan!
-Whisky: Nonjatta: All about whisky in Japan by Stefan Van Eycken
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents

HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City

レシピ, Burdock, 美食, 野菜, 農業, Food, Food Health, Gastronomes, Gastronomy, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Recipes, Shizuoka, Shizuoka agricultural products, Shizuoka Cuisine, Vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian cuisine

Japanese Vegan Recipe: Deep-fried Burdock.Age Gobou.揚げ牛蒡

September 8, 2013 dragonlife 9 Comments

Burdock or Gobou.牛蒡 in Japanese is also called greater burdock.
Its Latin name is Arctium lappa.
Although it is a root vegetable with great nutritious and even medical properties, it is commonly eaten only in Japan and Taiwan.

This species is native to the temperate regions of the old world, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and from the British Isles through Russia, and the Middle East to China and Japan, including India.

It is naturalized almost everywhere and is usually found in disturbed areas, especially in soil rich in nitrogen. It is commonly cultivated in Japan.

It prefers a fresh, worked soil, rich in humus, and should be positioned in full sunlight. Burdock is very reactive to nitrogen fertilizer. Propagation is achieved through sowing the seeds midsummer. The harvest occurs three to four months after the seeding until late autumn, when the roots become too fibrous.
In shizuoka it is more and more cultivated in organic fashion with natural/organic fertilizer and no pesticides.

Here is a simple way to prepare it that should please vegans and and vegetarians alike!
Bear in mind to use a vegan dashi for the recipe!
This is a basic recipe. I will leave the proportions to your liking!

One piece of advice: when you buy burdock roots, choose them with soil still on them! Important!

INGREDIENTS:

Burdock
Cornstarch (katakuriko or kudzuko in Japanese, but any cornstarch should do)
Dashi
Salt
Black pepper

RECIPE:

First wash, brush/scrape skin off, rinse and cut the burdock root in small enough pieces.

Now, the most important point in the rcipe:
marinate the cut burdock root in dashi in a vinyl pouch or Tupperware box for at least half a day!

Drain the burdock root thoroughly. Roll in plenty of cornstarch.

Once fried to your liking shake oil away as quickly as you can, season with salt and black pepper and eat them like fried potatoes while hot. Great with beer!

Simple, satisfying and healthy!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

Must-see tasting websites:

Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents

HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City

レシピ, 美食, 野菜, 農業, Food, Food Health, Gastronomes, Gastronomy, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Natto, Recipes, Shizuoka, Shizuoka agricultural products, Shizuoka Cuisine, Vegan, Vegetarian cuisine

Japanese Vegan Recipe: Natto Cha Zuke・納豆茶漬け

September 7, 2013 dragonlife 2 Comments

I’m not a vegan and never will be, but I do have many friends who are and when I can find a recipe for them it os always a pleasure to put it online!
Now beans, especially fermented beans/natto/納豆 comes with a lot of healthy ingredients for such a priority.
Rice (you may use it whole of course and tea have also plenty!
Chazuke/茶漬け is a Japanese way to accommodate cold leftover steamed rice by basically warming it up through pouring hot tea over it. A cold version is also possible, especially in summer!

INGREDIENTS (I leave the proportions to your appetite!):

Cold steamed rice (leftovers)
Hot tea
Natto
Soy sauce
Chili pepper powder
Finely chopped scallions/white leek
Optional: sesame oil, grated ginger, etc.

RECIPE:

Pour some plain natto inside a bowl.

Mix/stir natto with chopsticks or fork long enough to see natto completely linked with sticky filaments. As a criteria stir it a hundred times!

Season it with soy sauce (and sesame oil as an option) and chili pepper powder and stir.

Add finely chopped scallions/white leek (and grated ginger as an option) and mix well.

In a bowl place enough cold teamed rice and natto on top.
Pour hot green (or oolong) tea over the rice up to the top of the ice.
For the cold version pour ice-cold tea.
Enjoy!

So simple and healthy!

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