Renowned South African chef Peter Tempelhoff believes sushi is one of the most revered foods in the world. “What other cuisine do you end up eating out of the chef’s hand?” he asks. “I think it’s the most mysterious, most amazing cuisine in the world.”
It’s no surprise then, that his restaurant, Sushiya, recently hosted a sushi demonstration at the V&A Waterfront’s Time Out Market. The event, for which he partnered with chef Shin Takagi, co-founder of Sushiya and owner of two-star Michelin restaurant Zeniya in Kanazawa, Japan, was all about how to make and enjoy the Japanese dish.
The menu on the day comprised small dishes with classic pickled and preserved Japanese-style vegetables, nigiri, maki, temaki and gunkan maki infused with local and classic Japanese flavours. And no mayonnaise — this was sushi in the Edomae (Edo) style, based on Tokyo’s “fast-food” businesses of the 1820s. Because the flavour is focused purely on rice and fish, “there’s nowhere to hide”, says Tempelhoff. That means “you have to have the best ingredients — the best wasabi, the best fish, the best nori”.
Take the rice. Sushiya uses rice from Takagi’s native Ishikawa prefecture, on the west coast of Japan, that’s nurtured by fourth-generation rice growers and aged for up to two years before being cooked. Tempelhoff brought in 3t of the stuff just four months ago.
How the rice is cooked is equally important. Once it’s washed, it’s placed in a rice cooker with distilled spring water from the Cape’s mountains. After that, it’s tipped into a tray and seasoned heavily with rice vinegar, mirin, sugar and salt. “It’s incredibly important to get the right seasoning on the rice,” says Tempelhoff; “you don’t want to get soy sauce on the rice”.
The darker the nori sheet, the better the quality. And when you bend it, you want to hear that crunch.
The event wasn’t just about the food. Tempelhoff brought in sake from the Fukumitsuya brewer in Kanazawa, which is committed to making Junmai-sake (using only rice, water and yeast). It’s pure sake without distilled alcohol; a sip packs a powerful yet refreshing punch.
However, bringing the product into the country proved to be a struggle; it took five months “because of the old apartheid laws to protect the wine industry and they didn’t know what to do with 720ml sake bottles. It was stuck for months,” says Tempelhoff.
Layered knowledge
As for Takagi, he’s an old hand in the sushi business — his parents opened Zeniya back in the 1970s. Not that he knew from the get-go that this was the business for him. It was when his father passed away suddenly while Takagi was in college that he had to step up to run the business. Today, his wife does the service dressed in a kimono, and table-wear consists of traditional pieces — some old enough to be in a museum. With pieces more than 400 years old, it’s no surprise that Takagi quips: “In my restaurant we don’t have any dishwasher.”
For Takagi, sushi is about enjoyment above all else, but if you want to be a good chef, you need to know more than just the restaurant business — you need knowledge in subjects such as maths and history; you need to understand where ingredients come from. Knowledge, he says, adds layers to your product. “We have to know other things as much as possible.”
So does he consider cooking an art form? He says today a chef in fine dining is considered an artist, but 30 years ago it wasn’t that way — he was considered a craftsman. “For me,” he adds, “the art is important.”
You won’t find salmon on the menu at Sushiya, Peter Tempelhoff’s restaurant at the V&A Waterfront’s Time Out Market. The “sushi shop” uses only local and sustainable fresh seafood. On the day we visit there’s yellowtail, tuna, octopus, prawns and squid on offer.
Sushiya is known for its 10-piece platter, which includes an array of nigiri, as well as gunkun (rice wrapped in seaweed and topped with tasty ingredients) and tamago (a small, sweet omelette meant to be eaten at the end).
But bring along a teenager to throw in a demanding curve ball. “Can you basically do everything famous but with just veggies?” he asks. Chef Ryan Reyes suggests the vegetable futomaki, which means “fat roll”. It’s a like a big vegetable maki with lots of ingredients; it comes with a variety of vegetables, some raw, some seared. It’s colourful and festive and, most important for the teenager, it’s filling.
“What really makes us different is we focus on a lot of the Edo-style techniques and features, but it’s all about the ingredients,” says Reyes. “With all due respect to the sushi we see with the salmon and mayonnaise, what sets us apart is we have ingredients that come from Santo; our rice comes from Kanazawa; nori comes from a district in Japan known for having the best seaweed; and the ginger and wasabi come from that side as well.”
It all adds up to an impressive package; we leave with one happy teenager.
* The writer was a guest of Sushiya
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