Sozai - Japanese Cooking School Launch Evening

When I was 13 my family made a trip to California (from New Hampshire where we lived) and one evening we went to a Japanese restaurant. The thing that sticks in my mind is the green tea ice cream we had for dessert.  Between then and now I hadn't really had much Japanese food except the americanised versions of teriake chicken and instant noodles.

A couple of years ago I discovered sushi and have become a real fan.  I was therefore intrigued and excited to be invited to the opening evening of Sozai, London's first exclusivly Japanese cooking school. Sozai means both "household dishes" and "ingredients" in Japanese and is a brand new concept in Japanese food.

Courses will cover a wide range of food from sushi to tempura to the famous street food Rahmen. Courses will be held at their two kitchens, SOZAI, 5 Middlesex Street, London E1 7AA (near Liverpool Street station) and SO Restaurant, 3-4 Warwick Street, London W1B 5LS (Soho) and they will tailor make courses for you as well as having a wide range of courses already planned.

The evening started off with some authentic Japanese music which was different from any I had ever heard before. It sorted of reminded me of pop music Japanese style.

 

There were interesting appetisers being passed around as well as constant trays of drinks putting people in a relaxed mood.

Tetsuro Hama is the man behind the enterprise and very warmly welcomed everyone to the evening and clearly enjoyed giving us the low down on all the future plans for the cooking school.

One of the teachers at the school Yuki gave us a demonstration on sushi rolling and afterwards we were given a chance to try it for ourselves.

 

My finished sushi - just like the professionals!

 

I have booked to take a proper class at Sozai cooking school in a couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to learning some of the intricacies of Japanese cooking.

 

You can Like Sozai on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @SozaiUK.