We Are Sorted: Embarking on a Tokyo Food and Sake Challenge

As we stood in our kitchen, surrounded by cooking utensils and ingredients, I couldn't help but feel a sense of nervousness wash over me. We had been tasked with creating a food and sake pairing menu for some locals in Tokyo, Japan, and I knew that this was going to be our most challenging challenge yet. Our group, Sorted, had spent the last 10 years cooking together, but I wasn't sure if we were ready to take on something as complex as this.

We had spent the previous day immersing ourselves in the culture, food, and sake of Japan, seeking out the wisdom of brewery presidents, master chefs, and sake experts. One lesson that stood above all others was the importance of sake with seafood, which allows your tongue to taste in three dimensions. This incredible expression on the palate was something we had to incorporate into our menu, but with high standards and expectations, would we succeed?

James and I had a rough plan and were trying to work through a list of things that needed doing in a certain order to get where we needed to be. The guys were helping every which way they could, playing to their own skill set. Mike was focusing on attention to detail, one job that would take a while to get done but he did like to sit and do it carefully. Barry was put in charge of styling and dressing the restaurant, laying the table and making sure we had all the crockery ready to go.

Meanwhile, Jaime was helping James and I out in the kitchen, peering into the future as she worked on our first dish. We were going to take a Japanese take on an Italian dish that is normally made with pasta in a broth, swapping it out for kishimen noodles and making a daishi broth with konbu and bonito flakes. The seasoning would come next, using some of our sake in the daishi broth to season it with salt and mirin. Jaime was also working on pickles, using an old recipe that included bread and butter pickles, but with added mushrooms and daikon.

As we worked, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over me. We had spent years cooking together, and this challenge was just another opportunity for us to grow and learn as chefs. But as the hours ticked by and our deadline drew near, I started to get anxious. Where was Mike? Why was Jaime taking so long with her pickles? And what about James' salmon, which was still sitting on the counter, waiting to be deboned?

I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my own task, but my mind kept wandering back to the clock ticking away on our timer. We were running out of time, and I could feel the pressure mounting. Mike spent all morning learning Japanese, and then every time he opened the door, he said "Irasshaimase" – a warm welcome that we were going to need if we wanted to impress our guests.

Finally, the moment arrived when we would present our dishes to the public. We put on our best smiles and greeted our first guest with a warm welcome. Mike took a deep breath and opened the door, ready to face whatever lay ahead. But as he began to serve our dishes, I could see the tension in his body, the stress and anxiety that had been building up inside him.

As we waited for our guests to arrive, Jaime and James were putting the finishing touches on prepping, getting everything hot and ready to go. I was setting the scene, working on the ambiance and Feng Shui of the restaurant. But just as we were about to open, disaster struck. James hit a snag when he almost burnt his caramelized Panko breadcrumbs, ruining an entire batch.

We had only three minutes to correct our mistake before guests began arriving. I felt my heart racing as I watched James frantically trying to salvage what was left of the dish. But despite the chaos, we managed to stay calm and collected, knowing that this was just one small setback in a long day.

As the clock struck one, it was finally go time. We welcomed our first guests with a warm hello, hoping that our food and sake pairing would impress them. And as they sat down at their tables, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. Despite the challenges we had faced, we had managed to create a truly unique and delicious dining experience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- We are Sorted, a groupof foodies from Londonwho today are way out of our comfort zone.- Feel like I need some moral support.- We've beensent to Tokyo in Japanand tasked with cooking upa food and sake pairing menufor some locals.- I'm so nervous.- So, first jobis to immerse ourselvesin the culture, food, and sake,to work out how we achieve probablyour biggest challenge yet.- This might be the hardestthing we've ever done.- Hello, I'm Jaime, this is Ben,and this is Fridge Cam.- We've spent over 10years cooking togetherand yet I think this was perhapsour most challenging challenge ever.- Previously on Sorted.Our five protagonists havespent the last 48 hoursin Tokyo experiencingextraordinary new food,restaurants, and sake.- Wow.- They have sought the wisdomof brewery presidents, master chef,sake experts, and this wonderful man.- One shot, one shot!- And have learned the lessonsof 1000 winters but one lessonstands above all others.- Sake with seafood, thetool that allows your tongueto taste in three dimensions.- Such an incredibleexpression on the palate.- That is incredible.- They have designedtheir menu with this in mindbut with standards andexpectations so high,will they succeed in their challenge.(upbeat rock music)- James and I have a roughplan and we're tryingto work through a listof things that need doingin a certain order to get where we need.The guys are helping every which waybut kind of playing totheir own skill set.Mike, attention to detail, one jobthat'll take it a while to get it donebut he does like to sit.- One of the amazingthings about Japanese foodis the amount of carethey take in preppingand making and the attention to detail.It does not help when you're in a rush.- Barry was put in charge of stylingand dressing the restaurant.- So I've now just got to lay the table,get this all set, make surewe got all the crockeryready to go.- And Jaime was helping Jamesand I out in the kitchen.- I might be peering into the future herebut if we fail this challenge,there's gonna be one reason for that.- One of the stand outlessons from our tripwas that sake reallyaccentuates the taste of umamiwhen paired with the right food.So our first dish wouldconsist of a Japanese takeon an Italian dish that is normally madewith pasta in a brothexcept we were gonna swap out the pastafor kishimen noodles andthen make a daishi brothwith konbu and bonito flakes.Now comes the seasoning.We're gonna use some of our sakein the daishi broth to seasonit with salt and mirin.- I'm makin' the pickles.We're using a recipe from, an old recipe,which was bread and butter pickles.- But with addedmushrooms and daikonand the pickling liquid wasmade with rice wine vinigarand shichimi seasoning.- He's saying words to me in Japaneseand I don't understand.Teaspoon, tablespoon,it's the same thing right?- And mushrooms sauteed with chestnuts,sesame oil and shiso leaves on toast.- All paired with a rich, full-bodied sakefrom the Misumi brewery thatwe'd picked a day earlier,hoping to replicate some ofthat seafood and sake combinationthat'd we'd experienced at so many pointsthroughout the trip.- Wow.- I just realized we forgot to buy salt.Luckily the place that we're in has saltand they've very kindly given it to us.- They don't use salt inJapan, they use soy and mirin.- You've been here five minutes.- Time is currently not a concept for me.I'm just getting on with what I'm doing.I'm not really surehow long I've got to goor what I've got to do left.I'm just trying to get it done.(upbeat rock music)- And for our maincourses, charred prawnand tempura batteredwhitebait with Japanese dips.- So the prawns have been shelledand now I am butterflying them.This is a job that I'dprobably take two hours to doand need to be done in about 20 minutes.- And daishi poached salmonwith vanilla, burntleeks, and Japanese pear.- Tad more sugar.Umeboshi which is like a sour plum.That's gonna go in a sauce.Look how sour it is.(bleeps)- An hour and 25 minutes to go.Mike is still butterflying prawns.- I'm being hurried.I know I'm being slow soI'm trying to speed this upbut it is a bit fiddly.Trying to make them look goodand still do them quickly.(clock ticking)(upbeat rock music)- I'm waiting to be given a new job.- Teriyaki mayonnaise.It's very, very simple.- Delicious.- Still here.- Moved to the salmonwhich we bought as filetsand thought we're pretty much good to go.Take 'em out of the packaging.They definitely need deboning.We don't have tweezers.It's a very time consuming job.- To ensure our guestshave an authentic experience,Jaime and I tried out some Japanese.(speaking in Japanese)- Welcome.(speaking in Japanese)I was saying ida chai earlierand apparently that's what babies saybecause they can't pronounce shso I just sounded like a toddler.This is hard.- Some gorgeous flowers.We'll just use one or twopetals here and there.(man mumbles)- Oh my god.(clock ticking)- People are gonna start walkingthrough that door probablyin about 20 minutes.Ben and James are puttin'the finishing touchesto prepping so that they have hot foodwhen they sit down.- I've been gettin' all the plates ready,settin' the scene, beenworking on the ambiance.No, the Feng Shui.- I don't think that'soffensive but it could be.- 20 minutes to go.(upbeat rock music)- And 10 minutes beforeguests were due to arrive,James hit a snag.- I almost burnt mycaramelized Panko breadcrumbs.- Mate, that's not just a bit burnt.That's ruined their pan.- That hob, quite hot.One batch of mushrooms burnt.- We got three minutes.Three minutes people are outside,people are outside.- I was really calm and collectedand now it's just hithome what we're doing.- You're not their first point of contact.I could ruin it before we've even begun.Everyone good?One o'clock, it's go time.Here we go.Hello, hi, welcome.- Mike spent all morning learning Japaneseand then every time he's openedthe door, he said \"hello\".(speaking in Japanese)- No one looked disgusted.(speaking in Japanese)Don't do it.You, move.- I've got the shakes,actually got the shakes.(speaking in Japanese)- Panic is in the prep.This bit should be okay right?One minute to service.- And then it was time to serveour three appetizersand accompanying sake.The first being a Japanese takeon a (speaking in Italian).- It's an Italian dish but it's madewith a daishi broth, sokonbu and bonito flakes,seasoned with sake whichwe'll come to later onand then it's also finishedwith some kishimen noodlesand a selection of vegetablesfinished with a few more bonito.- It's the first taste.If they walk out now weknow we've done a bad job.- Just thinking aboutplating dishes two and three,the two pickled perfect,three our mushrooms on toast.We forgot that they're beingserved with chopsticks.That might make dividingit quite difficult.The next two plates aresome home pickled vegetablesand they're served withbread, toast, and butterand a miso mayo.A selection of mushroomscooked in a little bit of miso,sesame, spring onions.- So to celebrate that, our first sakeis (speaking in Japanese)from the Misumi Brewery.- We hoped ourdaishi and sake pairingwould unlock that amazingelevation of flavorsthe sake and seafood can deliverbut had we picked the right combination?- Initial reactions seemed goodbut with us not being ableto speak any Japanese,it was really hard to tellexactly how the diners felt.- Hello everyone, I'm justgonna explain the salmon dish.We thought this would pairreally nicely with the sakeso the sake inspired the dish ratherthan the other way around.The sake pairs perfectly with fish.We were inspired by arestaurant that we went tocalled Sushi M.They paired vanilla with prawnsso we've paired the vanilla with salmon.It's cooked in a broth of ginger,a little bit of daishi,garlic, and vanilla.And they're served with burnt leeks,caramelized Panko, and Japanese pear.- Just to explain a littlemore about the sake,as you pointed out it's a sparkling sake,lightly clouded, fermented in the bottle.It's a junmai, pairsbeautifully well with fish.- And the last plate for you, do tuck in.It's the whitebait kakiagewith some blow torched prawnsand the whole thing is servedwith two different dips.A teriyaki mayonnaiseand a sour plum ketchup.- Ladies and gentlemen,thank you so much for coming.- With the lunch service over,we breathe a sigh of relief.The atmosphere in the roomseemed mostly positivebut in order to get an honest opinion,our guests left the restaurantto give their feedback.(speaking in Japanese)- I was surprise abroadpeople understand daishi,right, 'cause it's reallyJapanese, you know,traditional things.- Fusion usually means thebest of two things put togethermaking a mediocre combinationbut on this lunch I wasparticularly surprisedby the combination of ingredients.The pairing of that particular Nagano sakewith that salmon was really beautiful.(speaking in Japanese)- The sake elevated it to anew level of scrumptiousness.(speaking in Japanese)- And exhale.Chefs, the feedback was insane.Boys you absolutely smashed it.- For however long it's been,the few days that we've been here,we've nailed how much we've learned.Like, we've taken so much in.- Japanese food has to look beautifuland I think that's some of the best foodthat's ever come out of Sorted ever.- There were a lot of complimentson all of the elementsthat you guys made as wellso don't give all the credit.Pickle, mayonnaise, you know.(men laughing)- For 24 hours from when we sat downand tried to hatch aplan and a menu togetherand what we've been inspired by.I thought it was pretty good goin'.- I've definitely hadsome of the best foodof my life in Tokyobut the thing I'll be taking homeis just understanding and respectand what that really means.Not just for the food but for the people,for everything around the food itself.- We did it.Well done, well done.- Do we bow at each other?Is that how that, I've not really learnthow this works.(speaking in Japanese)(upbeat music)- Or maybe all the dinerswere just being super polite.You guys, you can be honest.How do you reckon we got on and perhapswhat was your favoritedish that we createdon that lunchtime.- That whole trip was a completelylife changing experiencefor me and it's all thanksto you guys commenting,and talking to us and telling usthat we should go there and experiencethese kind of thingsso thank you very much.And also obviously amassive thank you to JFOODO.I don't know how else we would've foundthose experiences otherwise.- If you like seeing usout of our comfort zoneand hopefully bringing you somethingthat you can learn from too,then make sure you give the video a like.The more likes it gets,the more chance we can domore of these in the future.- There's only one waythat I can now muck this upand that's with a terribledad joke of the week.What's the best way ofgetting in touch with a fish?- I have no idea.- Just drop him a line.Anyway, it's been great.Thank you so much.- You should'vequit while you were ahead.- I'll see you, bye bye bye.As we mentioned, we don'tjust make top quality YouTube videos.We've built the Sorted Club where we usethe best things we'velearnt to create stuffthat's hopefully interestingand useful to other food lovers.Check it out if you're interested.Thank you for watching andwe'll see you in a few days.(beeping)- Everything's too calm.Might burn one of these pieces of toastand set the fire alarm off.Do you think it'll causea little bit of (gasps)?\n"