“an initiation into the secrets of sushidom” – Anya von Bremzen, Travel + Leisure,"America's Best Sushi,” March 2001 There are no strict rules about how to eat sushi, but there are a few customs that will enhance your experience. We invite you to try these customs and have fun. “The restaurant takes pains to advise against overly liberal dousings of soy, wasabi or pickled ginger. No better opportunity may exist to take, on its own terms, what sushi has to offer.” – Eric Asimov, The New York Times,"Quiet, Please: Sushi Being Served,” 3 stars, November 16, 2011 Shoyu, Wasabi and Gari Shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), pure ground wasabi (a delicately pungent, mountain-grown Japanese root) and gari (pickled ginger, sharp and slightly sweet) are intended to be used in moderation. More than a touch of shoyu, for example, upsets the delicate balance of tastes. Avoid mixing the wasabi in the shoyu—allow the distinct flavors of the fish, rice and condiments to “meet each other” rather than blend.

If you like, eat a piece of gari to refresh your palate for the next kind of fish. Use the gari sparingly and avoid putting it on your sushi or sashimi (or in your shoyu), as it will overwhelm the flavors of the rice and fish. Traditionally, a sushi meal consists primarily of sushi (fish or other ingredients with vinegared rice). However, you may start with sashimi (fish without rice) to awaken your mouth to the pure flavors of the fish. Begin your meal by cleaning your hands with the warm, moist oshibori (hand cloth). Pour a small amount of shoyu into your shoyu dish. If you like, take a bit of wasabi between the tips of your chopsticks and put it on top of a piece of sashimi. Then pick up the piece of sashimi with your chopsticks, dip only the edge into the shoyu, and place the entire slice in your mouth. Between bites of sashimi and depending on which accompaniments the sushi chef provides, enjoy some tsuma (paper-thin ribbons of daikon—giant white radish), kaiware (daikon sprouts) or seaweed.

You may also add a bit of tsuma, kaiware or seaweed (but just one at a time) to the top of piece of sashimi to eat together. The daikon provides a refreshing but subtle peppery note. “Yasuda's impeccable sushi is traditionally pure and pared down” – Time Out New York, Eating and Drinking 2004 When you are ready for a more rounded-out and classic taste, move on to sushi. The two main kinds of sushi are nigiri (hand-formed mounds of sushi rice with fish or other ingredients placed on top) and maki (fish or other ingredients with sushi rice rolled in nori—a thin sheet of dried seaweed, handmade in Japan exclusively for Sushi Yasuda). When you are presented with sushi, it is best to eat it right away—while the rice is still slightly warm and the fish is slightly cool. Carefully pick up a piece of nigiri or maki with a finger and thumb (chopsticks are fine, if you prefer), and place the entire piece in your mouth. Place the bottom of the sushi (the rice side) on your tongue for the best intersection of flavors, textures and aromas.

The rice, which is the most important part of a sushi meal, is prepared throughout the day by the master sushi chef.sushi cape town waterfront When preparing nigiri, the sushi chef usually applies a delicate topping to the fish, such as a sheer coating of Sushi Yasuda’s special house shoyu. sushi new york chelseaTherefore, nigiri is best eaten “straight” without adding extra shoyu. how to roll sushi ballMaki will usually be presented without shoyu. sushi online johannesburgDip the edge of the maki into the shoyu, applying only a small amount as an accent.play sushi chef online

The sushi chef adds a certain amount of wasabi to nigiri and maki, depending on the type of fish being used (fattier fish get more wasabi) and your preferences. proper order of sushiIf you would like more or less wasabi added to your sushi, it is customary to let the sushi chef know. sushi in montreal northAlso, if you want extra, you may pick up a bit of wasabi with your fingers or chopsticks and put it on the top of your sushi. For cleaning your fingers during a sushi meal, a yubifuki (a small finger-cloth made of sarashi—fine Japanese cotton) will be provided. To enjoy a sushi meal in the most relaxing and satisfying way, particularly at the sushi bar, we invite you to order omakase—which means “selected by the chef.” Following Japanese tradition, omakase is not a prix fixe meal. Rather, you will be presented with a sequence of sushi—and sashimi, if you wish—tailored to your tastes and the sushi chef’s sense of an ideal meal based on the many varieties of fish and other ingredients at hand.

Simply tell your sushi chef or server about your sushi preferences and appetite. Sushi Yasuda welcomes you to try these customs and to enjoy your sushi experience!Roll Rules: Dining Etiquette at the Sushi Bar Hmmm, seems you've already signed up for this class. While you're here, you may as well check out all the amazing companies that are hiring like crazy right now. Everyday Etiquette by Diane GottsmanWe’ve all faced unfamiliar or hard-to-eat foods, or wondered whether the way we eat a particular food at home “isn’t right” in public. What you do depends on the situation. With friends, don’t be embarrassed to say, “I’ve never eaten escargot before. Please show me how.” If you’re at a formal function or among strangers, just delay eating until you can take a cue from your host or other diners. Reviewing the guidelines below will keep you from wondering how to serve or how to eat “tricky” foods. Artichoke leaves are always eaten with the fingers.

Pluck off a leaf on the outside, dip its meaty base into the melted butter or sauce provided, then place it between your front teeth and pull forward. The idea is to use your teeth to scrape the meat off the leaf. Continue leaf by leaf, placing discarded leaves on the edge of your plate (or on a plate provided for the purpose), until you’ve reached the artichokes thistle-like choke or the leaves are too small or meatless. Use your knife at a 45 degree angle to remove the remaining leaves from the choke, exposing the artichoke heart below. The cut the heart into bite-size pieces and eat it with a fork, dipping each forkful into the sauce. Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean cuisines are well established in America. While there’s no real need to follow the eating traditions from each country, it doesn’t hurt to know a bit about them. For instance, at a Chinese or Japanese meal it’s fine to hold the rice bowl close to your mouth; in Korean custom the bowl is left on the table.

And then there are chopsticks: While fun to master, they also have their own etiquette. Many Asian meals are communal, with dishes being shared. Ordering is a group effort, too, with each diner having a say. Courtesy and Chinese custom say that the elderly should be served first. Take your fair share from the platters and, near the end of the meal, don’t take the last serving of food left on a platter without offering it to the other diners first. It’s also nice to follow the Asian custom of serving tea to your fellow diners before you fill your own teacup. Since food as communal, take care in using your chopsticks when serving yourself. Ideally, ask for another pair of chopsticks that can travel with the communal bowl. Alternatively, you can reverse your chopsticks and use the wide end to chose food from the communal plate. Don’t rummage around in the communal bowl to find what you like and never eat directly from the communal dish. Instead, choose a piece close to you and transfer it to your plate or bowl.

Once you’ve touched a piece of food you must take it. And don’t pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks—always transfer food to a plate. Transferring directly recalls the Japanese custom of passing bones as a part of a funeral rite. Sauces are for dipping and aren’t poured over the food. As with Western etiquette, double dipping in a communal bowl is a no-no. (See below for “Sushi and Sashimi.”) Avocado slices are cut and eaten with a fork. When an avocado is served halved, hold the shell to steady it and scoop out each bite with a spoon. When tuna salad or any other mixture is served in an avocado half, its fine to hold the shell steady while eating the contents—this time with a fork. Bread and rolls are served either on individual bread plates or passed around the table in a basket, in which case diners take one piece, place it on their plate or bread plate, and pass it on. Use your fingers to break off a smaller piece. Butter and eat that piece before breaking off and buttering another one.

Toast should be cut in half before it’s served. Toast and hot biscuit and muffin halves can be buttered all over at once so that the butter has a chance to melt in. Fried or flat bread. Naan, pappadam, and puri from India and pita bread from the Middle East are brought whole to the table on plates or in flat baskets. Break or tear off a fairly sizable piece with your fingers and transfer it to your plate, then tear off a smaller piece to eat.When a whole loaf is served on a cutting board, use the accompanying bread knife to cut the loaf into slices for everyone at the table. Grasp the bread with a clean napkin (ask for one if one is not provided) while you are cutting it. Cut a round loaf in slices rather than wedges. Start by cutting the loaf in half; then turn the loaf 90 degrees and, beginning at one side, cut into thin slices. The trick to eating a whole cherry tomato is to use your knife or the edge of your salad bowl to hold the little tomato steady as you stick a fork into it.

Gently push the tines of your fork against the tomato until they puncture it. If the tomato is large, cut it in half by using the holes you just made with the fork as the spot to begin cutting. If the tomato is small enough to fit into your mouth whole, do so. Be very careful to keep your lips closed as you bite gently… they’re notorious squirters. Corn on the cob, eaten with the hands is served at family or informal dinners and is a staple at summer barbecues and seafood bakes or boils. At a formal dinner party corn should be cut off the cob and served in a dish. Perhaps the only rule to follow when enjoying corn on the cob is to eat it as neatly as possible—no noisy, nonstop chomping up and down the rows. Providing corn holders makes the job a lot less messy and can save burned fingers. Insert the prongs into each end of the corn and use the “handle” to hold on. To butter the corn, put pats or a scoop of butter onto your dinner plate, then using your knife, butter and season only a few rows of corn at a time.

There is another school that says that rollin the corn in a communal stick of butter is the way to go. In either case, try not to get your fingers greasy and make frequent use of your napkin. Frogs’ legs, which are similar to little chicken drumsticks, can be eaten with either the fingers as a passed hors d’oeuvre or a knife and fork at the table. When squeezing a lemon section over a dish or into tea, shield other diners from squirts by holding a spoon or your cupped hand in front of it as you squeeze. After squeezing, place the lemon on the edge of the plate (or saucer) or drop it into your iced tea. Eat olives from an antipasti platter with your fingers; you also use your fingers to remove the pit from your mouth while using your hand as a screen. The pit goes into a small dish provided, or on the side of your plate. When olives come in a salad, eat them with your fork. Remove a pit from your mouth either with your fingers or by pushing it with your tongue onto your fork;

then place the pit on the edge of your dinner plate. Shish kebab are eaten directly from the skewer only when they’re served as an hors d’oeuvre. When eating shish kebab as a main course, lift the skewer and use your fork to push and slide the chucks off the skewer and onto your plate. Place the emptied skewer on the edge of your plate and use your knife and fork to cut the meat and vegetables into manageable pieces, one bite at a time. Dip the spoon sideways into the soup at the near edge of the bowl, then skim from the front of the bowl to the back. Sip from the side of the spoon, being careful not to slurp. If the soup is too hot, it’s okay to blow gently over the soup before you put it in your mouth. If you want a bite of bread before eating your soup, don’t hold the bread in one hand and the soupspoon in the other. Instead, rest your spoon, then have a bite of bread. To retrieve the last spoonful, slightly tip the bowl away from you as well to reduce the chance of spilling in your lap.

Where do you leave you spoon when you’re pausing or finished? If the bowl is shallow, leave it in the bowl; if the bowl is deep or the soup is in a cup, leave the spoon on the underplot or saucer.This tricky-to-eat soup required a few pointers. That’s because it’s topped with a slice of French bread covered with melted cheese. To break through to the soup, take a small amount of cheese onto your spoon and twirl it until the strand forms a small clump. Then cut the strand off neatly by against the edge of the bowl; or you could use a knife for cutting. Using your spoon, and a knife if necessary, cut and eat the bread. Eat the cheese and bread, then enjoy the soup. If any strands of cheese trail from your mouth, bite them off cleanly so that they fall back into the bowl of the spoon. In Japan, the assorted raw fish dishes called sushi are eaten with chopsticks or the fingers. Whichever method you choose, there’s a correct way to dip a piece of sushi into the accompanying soy sauce.

So that the sticky rice won’t break up, only dip the fish side into the sauce. Then bring the piece to your mouth and eat it in one bite (or two bites if the piece is too large). If you skip tradition altogether and use a fork, cut any piece that are too large to eat in a single bite with your knife and fork. A typical Japanese meal begins with sashimi—thinly sliced, raw, boneless fish served without rice. Before eating sashimi, mix a dollop of the green horseradish mustard called wasabi into the dish of soy sauce that is provided. The fish is then dipped into the sauce with chopsticks or a fork. Brewed: Either the hostess pours and passes the cups, or the pot is passed and each person serves herself. Strong tea can be diluted with hot water poured from a second pot. Tea bags: After steeping, let a bag drip briefly into the cup as your remove it and place it on a saucer or plate (no squeezing it with your fingers or the strong). Some restaurants serve a selection of tea bags with a small pot of hot water.