London’s Best Japanese Restaurant?! | Sorted Food

- [Narrator] Hi welcome to Sorted.

We're a bunch of mates in London looking for

the exceptional things in food that will help

make our and your lives a little bit better

in amongst constantly ribbing each other.

Some of us are chefs, the rest of us well we're normal,

but every video we make always starts

with a suggestion from you guys.

(upbeat music)

- Hey everyone, I'm Mike.

This is Jamie.

- And today, we've teamed up with JFOODO

who are in charge of shining a light on

Japanese food and drink around the world.

- Now we went into this series of videos

with no idea as to what had been planned.

Go on then.

- Thank you Janice.

- It's like exam results day.

- In celebration of London Sake Week,

Barry, Mike and Jamie will compete in an ultimate Japanese

battle to create a winning dish that pairs with

their choice of sake.

Ben and James will judge.

- Yes. - We will.

- To research, they will each choose a London restaurant

at different price points to learn as much as they can.

- So London's best.

- London's best and then an ultimate battle.

- And we get to drink sake.

- You're saying sake as if you know what sake is.

- Well it's that Japanese wine isn't?

- [Narrator] Sake is an alcoholic rice drink from Japan.

It's made by fermenting rice and fermentation

is the process of turning carbohydrates into alcohol

using live microorganisms.

In the case of sake, koji is used.

Before the rice is fermented, it's get polished

to rub away it's outer layers and get to the core

because the core contains starch, carbs,

vital for fermenting.

After the rice, koji and added water ferments,

it's pressed, filtered and blended.

There are loads of factors and variables that can be tweaked

to alter the flavor of the sake

but today we're just covering the basics.

There are four basic grades of sake to look out for.

Junmai, made of just rice, koji and water.

Jamie is a craft beer drinker and he liked one of these.

Honjozo, same as the previous, only with a tiny

addition of distilled alcohol.

Mike is a lager drinker and he liked one of these.

Ginjo, premium, highly milled rice.

Barry is a cocktail drinker and he liked one of these.

Daiginjo, big, complex flavors.

Ben is a wine drinker and he likes one of these.

Sake's consumed in Japan with food because

when paired correctly some spectacular flavors can result

and that's what we want to encounter

and emulate in this challenge.

- There was one paragraph that

I didn't read out on our note.

Ben and James will accompany as they will also be competing

in an ultimate chef vs chef battle

featuring a very special guest judge.

Our first destination was my choice.

Central London, £30 budget, Flesh and Buns,

a Japanese South American fusion restaurant.

I'm easy myself, us in gently.

Dish one, octopus ceviche and dish two, yellow tail.

Both of these dishes are quite spicy so we've been

recommended this particular sake because

the sweetness counteracts the spice.

- [Male] Dig in boys.

(laughter)

- Kanpai

(upbeat music)

- Both of those dishes go so well with the milky pea sake.

- [Narrator] Our next dish was tempura corn

paired with a light and refreshing sake,

perfect for cutting through the fatty flavors.

- Course three, buns.

- [Narrator] With sweet, sticky, aubergine steaks.

- The glaze on top is almost jammy.

- [Narrator] Ebbers was in full swing as was Jamie

when the brisket and short rib showed up

with chipotle miso barbecue sauce.

- Oh my word, that's smoky.

- The sommelier has described this sake as the perfect

sake for whisky drinkers.

- Yeah, I'm into that.

- [Narrator] Some of us were not as into it as others.

And finally these babies,

kinako black sugar custard doughnuts.

- It's really good, like really good.

That might have been the best doughnut

I've ever had in my life.

- Number one done.

What'd you think?

- You have a made a strong start haven't you.

- [Mike] Yes I have.

Alright, we'll start this Japanese battle

with some Japanese food shall we then?

- Oh.

- [Narrator] Barry's place was next to Oxford Street,

but he kept on saying it was in Mayfair

and he had a £50 budget at Chisou, authentic Japanese food,

and he started well by getting all the

food and sakes in at once.

- I'm so excited to try truffle on sushi.

- I had no idea you could put so many things in batter.

- [Narrator] Dish one, maki Californian prawn,

salmon and spicy tuna paired with a clean,

light sake to complement the fish.

- And sushi's with our fingers right.

- You were told that literally 30 seconds ago.

You could not claim that as your own information.

- It feels weird.

- [Narrator] James was very happy.

- It's so fresh, sort of like clean.

- I'm doing my best to stop and appreciate

the flavors going on.

I'm not just smash it, that's really horrible.

- Don't know if you just got Ben picking

up the tempura on camera but I was always told

never pick up tempura.

- [Narrator] We added radish and ginger to a dashi broth

which then thickened and we then dipped our tempura

dishes in that incredible thick broth.

- When you were on making the food.

- Sake number two meant to complete the unami flavors.

- The what?

- Unami, no.

- Umami.

- What did I say?

(laughing)

I knew this would happen.

- Kenpai.

- Slightly more acidic.

- It's different again.

- Tangy.

- Slightly bitter.

- That is so good.

- [Narrator] And this was paired with snow crab,

wasabi, salmon and truffle mayonnaise

- This might be my favorite so far.

- Truffled, pickled wasabi, not two things I expected

in the same mouthful, but that's incredible.

- I'd love to use something that.

- I'm thinking the same thing.

- [Narrator] And then the arguments over who

was using which sake began.

- With what's up there.

- You know what I love most about all of this

is that me and Ben are under no pressure,

we're just having a lovely time,

whereas you guys are thinking oh what can I pair with this?

What can I do here?

- [Narrator] And finally, mochi ice cream.

Salted caramel, matcha and vanilla flavors

with a dessert sake.

This dish particularly appealed to me.

- Aged and buttery and rich, very sweet almost syrupy.

- That is so good.

- I hate to say it but do we have to congratulate

Barry on his choice of restaurant?

- We can just all agree ourselves that it was great

and won't tell Barry.

(laughing)

- Boys, my choice, I brought you to the actual

heart of real Mayfair.

There's art galleries, expensive shops,

authentic Italian pizzerias.

I booked us a two Michelin star restaurant.

Posh up.

- Now I'm impressed.

- [Narrator] Jamie's choice was Umu, two Michelin starred

and run by world renowned head chef, Yoshinori Iishi.

All the food was prepared in the open kitchen.

There was a huge variety of sakes and we started

with a sea urchin pairing. - I don't know if I told you,

the best mouth of food I had in Japan was sea urchin.

- So the sake that we're pairing with this

is very classic style of sake in the brewing process.

It's clean, it's smooth and it pairs incredible well

with raw fish like sea urchin.

- How do you feel?

- Nervous.

- Bottom's up.

- That's so different to anything, it's creamy

and it's a little bit fishy but really.

- It's almost got a texture of like really

good scrambled eggs.

- Next up we've got a Japanese fish and chips.

There's tempura fish from shrimp, scallops, mackerel.

There's Japanese potatoes.

It looks incredible and paired with it is a really

light, crisp and refreshing sake

which just like myself is very elegant.

♪ [To the tune of Sia's - "Chandelier"] I'm questioning ♪

♪ whether this was good idea. ♪

- That tempura rata is amazing.

- I'd just a prawn.

It was really beautiful sweet and meaty.

- At the start of today, if I'm being honest,

I was dreading the sake coming to the table

where as now it feels every dish isn't quite complete

without the sip of sake.

Am I a changed man?

(whistle)

- Nah.

- [Narrator] Dish three, lobster sashimi.

- It came in an incredible theatrical lobster basket.

Hello.

And then had bits and pieces added to it which was great.

It's also being paired with a really

rich classic-style sake.

Oh yeah.

- [All] Cheers, Kanpai.

- I just think the best bit for me is pairing the sake

cause it goes so well, the richness and the sweetest

and complexity of the sakes, it's delicious.

- [Narrator] Next dish, waygu beef.

- Gone for the steak, it's grade 11, which is the highest

grade you can get.

- I am chef.

- It hasn't even touched my tongue

and the smell alone is making me salivate.

- That was so good.

- Holy.

- On a normal bit of steak you get the fatty bit

on the outside of the meat.

This feels like you've got fat layered between meat.

Fat, meat, fat, meat, fat, meat.

- It's meaty but butter with a hint of meat.

That is outstanding.

- Worst thing about that is I'm not gonna

have steak that good again.

- Dish number four is a sashimi plate,

but to get the real experience, I think we're

gonna have to go into the open kitchen.

What followed next was not at all planned

as Jamie was invited to cut a 8.5 kilo, 350 pound

portion of tuna steak.

- I am so nervous, this is so fun.

I am two Michelin star chef.

(laughing)

I told you guys I have potential,

you've been holding me back.

- Das Michelin stars.

- I am very good.

- For me, the mackerel and how amazing that is,

is like number one.

- And to finish, we have a lovely glass

of sparkling sake, perfect for an aperitif

or at the end of the meal with a light dessert.

- This is mine.

I will have a second sip but I know that this mine.

That's the most delicious sparkling alcoholic drink.

- Some of the most exceptional fish preparation

and presentation and flavor I've ever tried.

There's so much to process from today.

The skill showed in that kitchen, terrifying.

- I had forgotten about the next part if I'm honest.

I just got comfortable with enjoying myself.

- Yeah and now I'm scared.

- Well shall we?

- Good job.

(applause)

- It's quite posh so quietly.

- If you want to try some sake we highly recommend it.

Go and give it a go.

If you're in London, London Sake Week starts

on the 22nd of February.

- There's a load of restaurants taking part in Sake Week

and they're actually gonna put on a set sake menu

so you can experience it like we did.

All the information is in the link down below.

It's foodandsake.com just in case you can't be bothered

to scroll down.

- And you know we love to chat with you

so comment down below.

Let us know what the stand out dish

for you was in that video.

- Waygu.

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We will see you on Sunday 4:00 pm for the battle.

I'm confident.

- [Mike] I do not know.

- [Narrator] As we mentioned, Sorted is just run

by a group of friends so if you like what we're doing

then there are loads of ways that you can support us

and get more involved.

Everything you need to know is linked below.

Thanks and see you in a few days.

- Oh Ebbers, I'm sorry, it just fell out of my chopsticks.