Japanese Cooking class at your resort accommodation celebrating a special family occasionAn awesome and amazing experience. Well prepared and everyone felt involved and participated We had lots of fun. The flavours are amazing and we will take away a lot of great memories. Handouts are fabulous and very personalized.
I really enjoyed Tomo’s organisation and preparation skills. A very good leader with understanding personalities of the group. Tomo, your generosity sharing your recipes. The food was amazing.How each step was broken down to simple and easy to understand steps. Making a complex dish easy and seem like something I can achieve on my own. Super helpful we get the recipes to take home as well.
Excellent atmosphere with lear simple instruction.Tomo was very helpful & clear with his instructions which allowed us all to have a go at all different elements of the cooking class. The food was amazing! I loved the ramen and the gyoza!
Japanese Cooking class at School -YEAR 9 AND 10 JAPANESE-
Steamed or pan-fried? Soy sauce or teriyaki? How many gyoza can you eat before you are considered a local? These and many more questions were pondered during our Year 9 and 10 Japanese cooking incursion on Monday, 14 September much like the following which we learnt about as well…Ever wondered about that illusive taste you just cannot describe? It’s not sweet, sour, salty or bitter… We now know thanks to visiting Japanese chef, Tomo Akutsu (Japanese Cuisine Classes), it’s called ‘umami’ and can be found in things like meat, fish, tomatoes, cheese, and dried shitake mushrooms. Umami describes the unique and primary taste that cannot be created by mixing other tastes. In our maxed out gyoza and okonomyaki-making day in the BBSC kitchen, Year 9 and 10 Japanese students discovered the wonders of katsuoboshi/bonito flakes and dashi and how to wrap the perfectly pleated gyoza.Students took turns flipping professional-looking okonomiyaki before dousing it with kewpie mayo and okonomiyaki sauce and watching the bonito flakes unfurl like wispy pencil shavings in the steam of freshly cooked Japanese pancake before breaking apart their ‘waribashi’ and diving in to taste their creations. Second rounds were a little circumspect with designs of ‘Sailor Moon and Hamtaro intricately drawn in mayo and sauce before calling ‘itadakimasu’.Genuine thanks go to Tomo for the authentic cultural capital he shared with the students and for the cooking demonstrations, hands on skills and the ‘oishii’ food we shared together.
Birthday Japanese Cooking ClassWhat a way to spend an afternoon. Cooking traditional Japanese food with your girlfriends under the fun, expert tutelage of Tomo in the comfort of your room at Excellsior and Sailfish Apartments.
Tomo was great to work with and felt like a friend right from the moment he walked in the door. He brings everything with him and does the complete setup from hotplates to table settings so you can just concentrate on getting the drinks flowing.
For our party, we chose to cook Okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes) and Shabu Shabu (beef hotpot). Before we started Tomo showed us all his knives and explained the science behind a knife fit for a chef. He went through each of the ingredients we were going to use and explained the Umi and flavour sensation and gave us taste tests of each. Be ready for the Yuzu. Such an unusual pleasurable taste of citrus with a pepper end pallet.
We then moved to prepping the vegetables (a little surprising that he trusted us with his knives given that we were on our 2nd bottle of prosecco by then). Tomo demonstrated how to cut each vegetable to present as a work of art on the platter.
I asked Tomo what the top rules for Japanese cooking were. His answer: “Simple and healthy. Respect for the ingredients you are using” This really rang true with our meal for the day. The Okonomiyaki were nothing short of oishii (delicious). We all mixed our own batter and added the ingredients we wanted so everyone was completely happy. We then moved to an outside table setting where Tomo had set up the claypot ready for the Shabu Shabu. The meal itself was so simple with nothing more than boiling water (and a sprinkle of one little secret ingredient) to dip and cook the vegetables and meat in. But the dipping sauces (one of which we had made earlier) gave a burst of flavor that kept our mouths watering.
Tomo is a Sunshine Coast local and available for booking a session if you are staying at Excellsior – Mooloolaba or Sailfish Cove apartments. We can’t recommend him highly enough. Absolutely value for money and an experience you will cherish.
Click here to book your accommodation for your cooking experience and use promo code TOMO to get 12.5% off standard online prices.
As a special 40th birthday present
https://youtu.be/tSE3ExvYexYTonight felt like Japan came to my house!
Tomo was so patient with us learning, so friendly and he is such a talented chef!
Learning new ways to cook and being able to try foods that I have never tasted before.
Tomo, your service was amazing!
Japanese surprise partyMy sister Emma is the inspiration behind many of my Bush “n Beach recipe creations.
I often mention filling the lunchbox and dinner table with easy meals because I am referring to Emma and her family where both parents work.
It’s nice to be able to submit some easy and healthy recipes to Bush ‘n Beach.
Easy meals means more quality time can be spent with family.
For us, weekends are an exception, especially when Emma and I get together.
We spend our precious time collectively creating a menu, gathering ingredients and enjoying our time in the kitchen, making something special for all to enjoy.
More often than not we have the help of some intrigued little people who always want to learn and are a pleasure to teach.
On my last visit to Emma’s I decided I would bring fish and a few green prawns.
I figured we could come up with a special lunch menu.
However we should have taken the ingredients out earlier and put them in the fridge to defrost.
I was certain the lunch was going to turn into dinner instead.
Emma was taking the quiet, casual approach, telling me it would be fine and to just relax.
Out of nowhere, there was a knock at the door.
It was a Japanese guy with a backpack and loads of cooking gear. Emma then had the great pleasure of introducing me to Tomohiro Akutsu, our Japanese
cook for the day.
Wow!
It was an early birthday present and an amazing surprise.
Tomo taught us how to cook and present Japanese cuisine in the comfort of our own home.
Emma had previously selected some of Tomo’s beautiful recipes for our cooking class.
She carefully chose food she knew our group of friends would take pleasure in preparing and ingesting, such as tuna tataki, salmon sashimi, pressure-cooked pork belly and gyoza.
What a remarkable choice.
If you enjoy Japanese food but don’t want to experience the hands-on approach, Tomo also offers his services as a chef and will cater for a dinner party. The highlight for us was making gyoza.
It was so much fun.
The children got involved too and helped us prepare, meaning we had extra hands
to assist in folding and pleating the dumplings to seal in the mixture.
Our dumplings were filled with pork mince and cabbage and infused with garlic and sesame oil.
Tomo then fried and steamed them to perfection.
They tasted divine and filled all our bellies.
I have experimented for this month’s recipe.
A classic gyoza is made with pork mince but I replaced the pork mince with green prawns.
It is very yummy for seafood lovers.
Cooking Classes teach us about life's beauty
COOKING for may is all about quick and easy meals, or it seems for the younger generation, a convenient takeaway.
Then there are the pre-pack-aged meals delivered to your door to help you lose weight or the liquid protein drinks
and vitamin capsules.
What happened to the joy of preparing a meal and sharing the experience?
I was left wondering what to gift to my dearest for his 70th?
He didn’t need any more “stuff”, and I am all for special memories.
I remembered seeing an advertisement for a Japanese cooking class where the chef comes to your home and cook a couple of special recipes and learn a little about his culture.
The extent I knew about Japanese food was sushi, so I saw this as an excellent opportunity to share as a family.
It meant we could enjoy a delicious meal together in the comfort of our holiday apartment and that we could all learn a little more about our diverse multicultural community. The evening was such a success.
Our chef, Tomo, brought everything, and we quickly warmed to his positive attitude and passion for cooking.
We quickly Googled a Japanese greeting and how to say thank you.
We learnt about the use of different knives, a range of condiments and using a blow torch to seer fish, deboning salmon with tweezers and pleating pastry for Japanese dumplings.
Using chopsticks is always challenging but fun and knowing how much wasabi to mix with the soy sauce.
There were heavenly sighs as we sampled our handiwork over glasses of wine with lots of chatter from our delightful tutor.
Cooking classes of any nationality shared with friends is a wonderful way to enhance our cultural appreciation, dine on fresh produce, and
another special memory created.
Awesome Cooking Class for my birthday present!
Tomo taught us how to do Japanese Gyoza, okonomiyaki and Japanese curry. He brought everything he needed and left us with plenty of food for the week to come and the instructions in a handy little cook book. Great interactions and great fun. I even bought a Knife from Tomo that I have wanted for a while now but can’t get here in Aus.. Thanks Tomo, we will book the sashimi class one day in the coming Future too…
Gyoza & Okonomiyaki Cooking class!I enjoyed everything! Tomo was kind,very professional. Easy instructions + answered all our questions. The food was very tasty. We will try these recipes again! Gyoza tasted amazing and the okonomiyaki light and tasty!! Great experience. I had a great time. Tomo is friendly and happy!
Awesome Japanese cooking class for my birthday!Tomo was very approachable and friendly and the recipes were all very tasty and explained well. I will try these by myself. Tomo gave very clear instructions very organised!! I enjoyed how easy and relaxed. Later I will contact you in a few months.
Big Family Gathering and cooking classYour great sense of humour and humble approach and wonderful you made us all feel very confortable and welcome. I think you are great!! I would like to book you again to learn other Japanese cuisine! Thanks very much!!
Thank you for booking for my birthday presentBeautiful food. Learnt a different style of cooking! Totally Enjoyable! Tomo was very helpful with any questions and explained everything we wanted to know The food was great! I shouldn’t have eaten breakfast so I could fit more food in 🙂
Chicken Karaage and Gyoza Cooking Class!Tomo was a great teacher for our cooking class. A relaxed atmosphere and entertaining almost friends. Good preparation and relaxed atomosphere, very enjoyable. Good selection of recipes to experience. Great planning all organised and easy to do.
Amazing Cooking class with TomoWe just had the most amazing cooking lesson with Tomo. Norman Dalangin landed the Spanish Mackerel earlier on at Noosa and Tomo was at my place within hours ready to teach us how to prepare this fresh fish. Thes are a few pics from the lesson, Mouth watering stuff!! If your looking for different ways to prepare your fresh fish then look him up and get a lesson booked in, was worth every cent and more!!
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Paddleguyjas/photos/?tab=album&album_id=943838765652392
So much fun!!We honestly can’t thank you enough for the class on Wednesday night.
It was the best fun and we can’t top raving about it!
The food was AMAZING and you were the best teacher.
Thank you so so much again for your time, patience and enthusiasm. It is something we will never forget.
We are looking forward to hopefully seeing you in Japan for Sake and Gyoza!!!!!
