With close to 30 years of culinary experience, Chef Tsuzuki Naoki is currently the head chef and general manager of Kuriya Dining at Great World City. For the workshop, he would be demonstrating the cooking of two savoury dishes: Amberjack claypot rice and salt-baked salmon.

The class fills up quickly with dozens of participants, some armed with iPads and notepads, eager to learn some useful tips for the kitchen.

The claypot rice that we are cooking here is a very different rendition from the one we learned from Chef Mervyn Phan at Tiong Bahru Plaza.

For one, this is the Japanese version that uses amberjack cheek and Japanese eel rather than the oriental version with salted fish and Chinese sausage. The tasty fragrance permeates through the mall. As part of the audience, the tempting aroma sure is making us hungry!

One tip for claypot rice is that the amount of water used should be less than when cooking regular rice, as the moisture from the various ingredients would seep into the rice.

The final dish comprises baked salmon, shiitake mushrooms with the claypot rice, accompanied by a miso sauce.

And the best part? Everyone in the audience gets a plate of it for lunch! Not bad for a free hour-long class where you not only get to learn some useful tips, but you also receive S$100 worth of goodies at the end.

Download recipe (in PDF)

If you would like to try these at home, download the recipe for the two Japanese dishes.

Throughout this month, this series of MasterClass culinary workshops is happening at the six AsiaMalls: Hougang Mall, Tampines 1, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Century Square, White Sands and Liang Court. The first 30 participants at each mall to spend S$200 (maximum of 2 same-day combined receipts; S$400 for supermarket receipts) can sign up for the workshops.

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Sushi-making workshop

Check out the eager kids readying to get their hands dirty with sushi-making. Each group is given a stack of seaweed, sushi rice, strips of cucumber, and plastic gloves, although the emcee helpfully reminds the audience that the sushi should not be eaten.

We zone in on this group of Japanese children hard at work. They’re doing such a terrific job making their native food.

If you’re wondering how easy it is for the children to make sushi, the answer is: very! Here’s the little plastic contraption they use to mould and shape the rolls.

Within minutes, everyone has a very professional-looking sushi roll proudly displayed in front of them! The children had fun. Mission accomplished.

Sandwich-making workshop

For the second workshop of the day, the children get to make sandwiches this time round. Perfect for a picnic, don’t you think?

At this Japan-themed mall, the sandwiches have to be kawaii. With the help of special bread stencils, sandwiches in the shapes of adorable piglets and lovely hearts slowly form.

The activity looks so fun, we see many parents lending a hand to shape the bread. Mission accomplished.

AsiaMalls Food On Parade 2011

Check out the events calendar to see what culinary activities you and your young ones can take part in at the six AsiaMalls. We would continue to bring you some of the action here on Sparklette in the upcoming weeks, including a workshop with Master Chef Tsuzuki Naoki and cooking competition. You can vote for your favourite restaurants in the Best Food Awards on Facebook to win shopping vouchers.

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• Events calendar of 6 malls

Each mall features a unique cuisine, namely

• Malaysian cuisine at Hougang Mall (3-12 June)
• Korean cuisine at Tampines 1 (6-15 June)
• Hong Kong cuisine at Tiong Bahru Plaza (10-19 June)
• Taiwanese cuisine at Century Square (17-26 June)
• Thai cuisine at White Sands (17-26 June)
• Japanese cuisine at Liang Court (17-26 June)

If you don’t have time to drop by the malls, you can join the festivities on Facebook. Vote for your favourite restaurants in the Best Food Awards on Facebook and you may win shopping vouchers.

Here on Sparklette, we would be covering a few of the activities in the upcoming weeks. Look out for the event features here!

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That’s the name of a Japanese restaurant we checked out recently. Truth be told, it is the unforgettable name that enticed us to pay it a visit in the first place. There’s a Japanese movie that goes by the exact same name, and cheekily calls itself a “Noodle Western” movie (you know, like Spaghetti Westerns?). Aside from that we have no inkling beforehand on what the food would be like.

Stone grilled beef curry rice
S$16.80++
Rating:

One of the dishes that we have tried and liked is the beef curry. It is served in a rather dramatic fashion, with the stone bowl elevated upon a wooden holder. There’s ample cheese, egg and beef slices in this, and the thick curry lending much flavour. As with most Japanese curries, it is not that spicy, too.

Baked scallop with cheese
S$12.30++
Rating:

The cheese baked scallop is commendable. Served piping hot from the oven, you would find loads of onion slices and mushroom underneath that cheese surface layer. Yum, that is a great combination! The real deal here is, of course, the half dozen scallops, which do not disappoint.

Check out the Japanese Engrish on the colourful menu. The noodle is “thick & chewie“! Who wouldn’t want that, right?

Pork bone & seafood soup ramen
S$14.30++
Rating:

Amidst all the dozens of options available for ramen, we go for the chef’s recommendation of pork bone and seafood soup. They really pile on the shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) in this one so the broth is extremely salty. The pork bone has been stewed in it and you can see that the broth is a little milky, but mostly translucent and runny. What baffles is that there is no hint of any seafood flavour in it, except for a few of this tiny shrimp.

I have seen packets of the shrimp sold in Japanese supermarkets, meant to be eaten as a snack like potato chips. I do enjoy the crunchy shrimp, but aside from that the whole bowl of ramen is a fiasco. Just not my cup of tea, I suppose!

As I was doing some research on Tampopo, I came upon their website that I find really adorable. I don’t usually fancy websites that are made in flash or has music that plays with no warning. But this colourful website is made in the distinctively eclectic Japanese style that I find very interesting.

What is your favourite Japanese food? Where do you usually go for a Japanese meal? Share with us in the comments!

Tampopo Restaurant
2 outlets:
- Liang Court Shopping Centre #01-23/24 – Tel: +65 6338 3186
- Takashimaya Shopping Centre #B2-33 – Tel: +65 6235 2318
Website
Service:

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One type of coffee that I find particularly intriguing is the Vietnamese Ca Phe Phin (drip coffee). The coffee cup comes with a stainless metal drip filter on top that allows the coffee to slowly trickle through the press and into the cup.

The Trung Nguyen Coffee chain from Vietnam opened an outlet at Liang Court in recent months. I first encountered this café during my undergrad days, when they had an outlet within the National University of Singapore. It is no longer there today, but I think they have another outlet at Changi Airport Terminal One.

Various kinds of traditional coffee are available here, along with helpful descriptions to aid you in selecting your brew. We went for the “Thoughts” coffee, which is described as having an “elegant aroma” and “bitter sweet”, as well as the “Fiscover” coffee, which is “light and flavourful”.

The coffee is a deep shade of brown. Patience is required as it would take some time to slowly drip, drip, drip into the cup (which would contain condensed milk if that’s the one you opt for). I consider that a good sign, really. I have visited a few other Vietnamese cafés where the coffee was so thin and mild, all of it trickled smoothly into the cup in no time.

Traditional Vietnamese coffee (hot/iced)
S$3.20 – $5.90 (without milk), $4.20 – $6.90 (with milk)
Rating:

Initially I was lamenting the fact that the coffee only filled half the cup. But after taking a sip, I realised that a full cup would probably induce a sore throat. The coffee is extremely rich and robust, and this still holds true for the one that is described as “light”. I have never been to Vietnam, but some people say that the coffee there is even richer than this!

So caffeine aficionados would totally love this; the aromatic and full-bodied coffee gives a real kick. Casual coffee drinkers might find it too strong though.

Perhaps to cater to the Starbucks crowd, ice blended drinks and cappuccinos are offered on the menu too. Similarly, you would place your order at the counter and wait to collect your drinks. There are some seats by the counter, and if you venture across the aisle there is an even larger seating area available.

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