Sushi is one of the first things to cross the minds of Ukrainians when it comes to Japan. However, Japanese sushi experts say many of the Ukrainian sushi restaurants that saturate Ukraine have little to do with authentic Japanese cuisine.
Kasai Takahisa is a 62-year-old history teacher from Japan who’s been eating sushi and learning sushi recipes from the best sushi chefs in Japan for nearly 30 years. He left Japan for Ukraine three years ago and has never tried sushi in this nation.
“I am not saying that Ukrainian sushi are bad, but they are Ukrainian and I am a big fan of Japanese sushi and just don’t want to spoil the taste,” he says.
In Japan, he says, a sushi chef cooks behind a long table while guests sit on the other side and eat sushi as soon as it is prepared. Japanese eat sushi rolls at home, but in restaurants consume only sushi – rice wrapped in nori and covered with a slice of fish meat. They should be eaten right away “otherwise they will get warm and will no longer be tasty,” Takahisa explains.
Despite the differences, Ukrainian sushi started becoming trendy in 2005, according to Roman Romanchuk, the CEO of SushiYa, one of the biggest sushi restaurant chains in Ukraine. It remains wildly popular today.
“According to the research we conducted, every Ukrainian that generally has a habit of visiting restaurants visits sushi restaurant at least once every two months, not counting those who order sushi to eat at home,” he says.
Romanchuk is unbothered by the difference between Ukrainian and Japanese sushi traditions. “When traditional dishes migrate to other cultures, they change. It is a natural and positive process, unless they change too much,” he says.
Even lovers of Ukrainian sushi say its taste holds up well against the original Japanese variety.
“Believe me, Ukrainian borshch in Japanese restaurants tastes more like tomato soup and as for me I like our sushi and the new tastes are usually pleasant surprises for me, Ukrainian sushi producers are very creative,” says Yulia Saliamova, who has lived in Japan for two years and speaks Japanese fluently. “In Japan I always eat sushi, in Ukraine – rolls, and I think this is just normal,” she adds. Salaimova is not a fan of big restaurant chains and prefers small Japanese places managed by Japanese chefs.
“We have quite a wide choice of places to eat sushi at already, but the market is still in development,” says Mikhail Tsvetaev, a brand director of another famous Ukrainian sushi chain Yakitoria.
Both Romanchuk from SushiYa and Tsvetaev from Yakitoria say they consult with Japanese experts to be as close to original recipes as possible.
“It is just impossible to prepare Japanese sushi in Ukraine, simply impossible, because Ukraine and Japan have such different resources,” Takahisa says. Here’s his recipe for the real thing:
Real
Japaenese sushi is all about picking up perfect rice. Sushi rice should be of
the highest class, all the seeds perfectly shaped and identical. No broken rice
seeds are acceptable in Japanese sushi and only rice in its first harvesting year
can be used for sushi. “The amount of rains is very important for rice and
every year a special rice quality control association in Japan picks up the
best rice and only that rice can be used for sushi. This time the best rice is
at Kiusiu Island,” Takahisa says. Sometimes though chefs have their own rice
preferences and mix the rice they like with the officially declared rice.
“Cheat to get a perfect taste,” Takahisa smiles. “But it is just impossible to
grow the right rice in Ukraine, water here is too hard,” he adds.
Fish. Prices for Japanese sushi depend on
fish. Every day Japenes chefs buy fish in country’s ports for different prices
and it is as fresh as it gets, right from the sea. Real Japanese sushi chef can
distinguish a tasty fish from just a tail cut. “Experienced chefs know that the
tastiest tuna passes Japan’s coasts in mid October only and that’s when they
get it,” Japanese sushi expert Takahisa explains and adds that the best quality
and the most fresh fish one can taste in sushi restaurants only. “Those
products simply don’t make it to the people’s market and ordinary people just
don’t know how to choose,” he says.
However tuna is also one of the most popular fish for sushi in Ukraine
as well, Japanese use tuna speck from the fish belly, while red meat that
Ukrainians use comes from the back.
Cold. “I’ve been dreaming to become a sushi chef for years, talking to gurus and learning recipes, but once I talked to one of the best sushi chefs about that and he just laughed at me,” Takahisa says sadly. “My hands are too warm for being a good sushi chef. The chef I was talking to said tuna would get a burn from my hands.” Sushi chefs wear light clothes and have ice handy to keep their hands cold.
Nori. Whether it is a classic sushi or a sushi roll, Japanese would only eat it wrapped up in nori, Japanese edible seaweed spices. Nori should always be on top of the other ingredients, be crispy and have a light sea flavor. “Never inside the rice, like in American rolls, it will soak up the water from rice and become just useless,” Takahisa explained.
Sushi Chef. Japanese believe that a real Sushi Chef should
not only have naturally cold hands, but also a talent and lots of time in a
pocket, as it can take two or three decades to become a real sushi master.
“Unfortunately Ukraine doesn’t have real Japanese sushi chefs and those who
come to teach just teach how to prepare American rolls, meeting the market
demand and frankly speaking they are not the best professionals,” Takahisa
says. “The best sushi chefs have their jobs at home,” he adds.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected]
