“I love sushi” our conversation begins. US film director producer David Gelb has grown up with sushi, visiting Japan as a child on his father’s business trips. His mother is a chef and food writer, so perhaps its no wonder he’s so deeply interested in food. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is Gelb’s celebration of the mystique behind sushi, and the performance aspects of the sushi master. It’s also a story about how Sushi Master Jiro Ono, now 86 years old still strives daily for perfection, at his three star Michelin restaurant. At just 10 seats perhaps the smallest three star Michelin in the world. While talking to David Gelb this morning in New York, he evoked pictures, tastes, smells of a culinary ideal that had me wanting to immediately hop a plane to Japan. “Sushi is as complicated as any national cuisine” he shared and then revered how Master Jiro Ono perfectly matches the rice to the fish. “You’re really tasting the essence that he has worked so hard to perfect. The rice is unlike any I’ve had here in the states.

If a single piece of rice was to fall off the sushi you’d go after that one grain”. He describes how the harmony of rice, soy and wasabi elevates the pure soul of the fish. Just the selection of the fish is a story in itself, as Gelb follows the older Ono son to Tsukiji fish market where every day he selects the absolute best fish from specialist suppliers. And so Gelb says, he has tried in the more formal elements of the film, through the use of refined lenses for the cinematography, and the use of master composers, Bach Mozart and Tschaikovsky, in the music to reinforce this perception as food in its elevated form. In particular, the music of Phillip Glass was selected to express the repetitive nature of Jiro’s work, used as a metaphor for the building towards perfection through repetition. Each day Jiro looks to this same process to continual improve, and to move closer to an ethereal ideal of perfection. Jiro Dreams of Sushi screened with standing ovations in Sydney during the 2011 Sydney Film Festival.

As the surprise box office hit of the US spring, this glorious celebration of food and Japanese culture is back screening in Australia to a wider audience – from May 10 at the following cinemas:sushi in suhl zuschauerzahlen The Chauvel Cinema, Paddington (Sydney)jiro dreams of sushi bloggang Greater Union Manuka (Canberra)jiro dreams of sushi movie2k “BREATHTAKING, INSPIRATIONAL AND HUMBLING. Anyone passionate about craft, cooking and excellence should watch.” – ERIC RIPERT, the acclaimed 3-star Michelin chef at New York’s Le Bernardin – ANTHONY BOURDAIN, writer of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. “★★★★★ A DOC SO DELICIOUS YOU COULD EAT IT.”

– Keith Uhlich, TIME OUT NEW YORK “MOUTHWATERING An intrinsically compelling hymn to craftsmanship and taste in every sense.” – Leslie Felperein, VARIETY “CINEMATOGRAPHY AS LUSH AS THE TUNA BELLY” – Betty Hallock, LOS ANGELES TIMES “MAKE SURE YOU’VE ALREADY STAKED OUT THE NEAREST SUSHI PLACE. By the time the lights go up you’ll be ravenous.” – Daniel Walber, INDIEWIREJiro Dreams of Sushi – Ticket giveaway! I have to admit, I’m just but a lowly office worker, eating and dreaming of an escape – this blog serves as my little time out of my life where I can fantasise that I work with food!  So naturally, I totally admire people whose lives do revolve around eating, sleeping and breathing food.  There are so many food legends I admire – Peter Gilmore, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal of course.  Not everyone has had a smooth ride but the common thread is dedication and perseverance.  And so enter Jiro.  A sushi master – the godfather of sashimi, revered by all who know him, with many desperately seeking to eat food that has been cooked under his watch.  

So if you haven’t been so fortunate to experience his cuisine, there is now a film made about his passion – Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Here is a link to the trailer to whet your appetite: I have four double passes to give away to the first four people who comment on my facebook page about who their food idol is! Note, the passes are only valid at Chauvel Cinema, Palace Centro, Palace Nova Eastend, Cinema Paradiso or Greater Union Manuka.  Entry is open to Australian residents.  FoodieChat has sole discretion to determine the winners, which will be the first four comments following the post titled “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 9:28 pm and is filed under News, Random thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.The requested URL /index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=11 was not found on this server.

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 Posted in News, Random thoughts | Monday, April 11th, 2011 Dont’ get me wrong – I love summer  - it means tropical fresh fruit, gelato every afternoon and picnics at the beach, followed by sunset cocktails.   But with each new season comes its familiar friends you haven’t seen for a year, and for me this means slow cooking, braises, soups, stews and curries!  What better way to warm your hands and heart after a freezing day at work than over a steaming bowl of ?   One thing that I’ve been pondering over the years is – what is the best slow cooking cookware for me? There’s the traditional french bakeware/stove top ready Le Creuset – top of the range, lifetime warranty.  These babies will certainly help you build up your biceps lifting them to and from the oven and stove!  There are so many gorgeous colours too!  Hot and traditional red, mellow yellow and my favourite – creams.    If you can’t afford to invest in the premium Le Creuset, Le Chasseur is also a great option.  

It’s approximately half to 2/3 of the price (depending where you buy it), and is apparently so because Le Creuset uses each mould once, whilst Le Chasseur may use the same mould a number of times.   Can I tell the difference? But my wallet can!  That’s like saying what’s the difference between the Kitchenaid and the Kenwood.  To some people, brand and prestige matters, but to some, they achieve the same result so why pay more? Next option is the slow cooker.  Slowly simmering away for hours – prep before work and at a very low heat, your dinner’s ready for you when you come home.    Slow cookers are great if you don’t have time to stand and stir.  But for me, I’m a bit wary of having an appliance turned on all day when I’m out of the house.  I’m occasionally accident prone, and always paranoid as a result! But with the advent of numerous slow cooker simmer sauces, this is a very convenient option that has saved many a working mum! How about the pressure cooker?  

Slow cooking in a fraction of the time?  I haven’t tried one of these, but you know what, I’ve seen shows like Top Chef where contents have exploded! (admittedly, the appliance was faulty).  But what if you accidentally burned yourself with steam?  Have you got one? Do you like it? Having pondered all my options:  Creuset – exxy, Chasseur – still heavy, Slow cooker – it’s on all day and pressure cooker – me scared! I decided on the ultimate Asian slow cooker, the thermal cooker.  Have you heard of these? Manufactured by Tiger or Thermos, they cook by vacuum.  You simply cook your soup or casserole on the stove in the inner pot for 30 minutes, then put it in the vacuum container and then leave it for 2 -4 hours… and it finishes the cooking off! No joke, my Taiwanese beef noodle soup took 30mins on the stove – I made it at 11am – and by the time I ate it at 8pm, it was still hot – tasty and tender.  It serves me well. No need to have electricity on while I’m out of the house, no need to have it on the stove for hours, in these days of electricity price hikes it’s certainly handy!

Posted in Random thoughts | Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 Spotted – Pete Evans – equal first place for hottest celebrity chef (along with Curtis Stone) – grabbing a quick bite of lunch (linguine) at the bar at Sean’s Kitchen at Star city. I love Gossip Girl. Christmas presents I bought for ME! This year, Santa (myself) was very good at picking up great gifts that will just keep on giving.  Just arrived in the post, I got the New Larousse Gastronomique. A food encyclopaedia that rivals none other. It’s revised every few years and the 2009 edition comes beautifully boxed and hardcovered, weighing in at over 2kgs – it is in the league of Ferran Adria’s cooking manuals and other Phaidon Press anthologies! I can’t wait to dig into it! I also bought myself the Veggie Twister: King of Knives is selling it the cheapest. Dare you trick your kids with carrot spaghetti?? And also I FINALLY found a mini petit four madeline tin from Pantry in Bondi Junction, as well as some crinkled cookie cutters.