Let's go there: The Earth Kitchen (Part 3)

3rd culinary delightful lunch at The Earth Kitchen

This was my 3rd lunch at the pop up kitchen The Earth Kitchen Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia. The first lunch was amazing, the 2nd was even more amazing and the 3rd one was super amazing!

This is a popup kitchen, so I knew at the back of my mind that it was always going to be a temporary place, but to learn that this popup kitchen was finishing up here in Sydney, it was very sad. Yuki-san and Yuka-san are moving to Queensland, so The Earth Kitchen in Neutral Bay, Sydney is temporarily closed and hopefully there will be another popup kitchen using that space.

Now, before we get too sad, let’s see what was served. This lunch had even more culinary surprises and as always, everything was beautifully presented.

As we settled into our seats, Yuka-san gracefully served us hot lemongrass tea and its fragrance filled the room.

Miso soup with fish, sake lees and abalone

Then lunch was ready: first up, miso soup: this time, only one choice and I’m so glad I didn’t have to choose because I didn’t want to miss out on this: homemade miso, small chunks of fish, very thin slices of abalone and sake kasu.

I’ve had sake kasu in amazake before and I know it has many uses but I was still surprised to see sake kasu in miso soup. Sake kasu, or sake lees is the leftover pulp from sake making, so it usually contains rice, koji and even enzymes so it is considered to be rich in vitamins and very healthy. This time, it gave out a really nice fragrance in the miso soup and added a little bit of depth. I think it is a very clever way to get rid of the fishy smell too. Using ingredients like sake kasu is part of The Earth Kitchen’s concept of zero waste and sustainability: using ingredients which otherwise would be easily thrown away.

The other surprising ingredient in the soup was the little slices of choko. Choko is a green fruit shaped like a hand with no taste. No wonder people don’t use it and Yuka-san told me that many people see it like a weed and they don’t want to grow it. I believe that choko can absorb the sauces it is in and so it can go with almost anything. It has a nice texture, similar to Asian cucumber or green cucumber.

Ratatouille was also on the menu. Using only four vegetables: tomato, onion, eggplant and zucchini, Yuki-san gave this French classic a slight Japanese twist as he also added miso, soy milk and shio koji (yum to the max!). Now what fascinated me was the crunchy bits sprinkled over the ratatouille. I asked Yuki-san what it was and he showed me a little box full of these crunchy delights that he had made. He said it was baked and crumbled sake kasu. Sounds easy to make, I’m going to try in my own kitchen.

The other items on the menu were: sponge cucumber with kelp (yum); simmered pumpkin (yum); salad of broccoli and tomato with a coarse tahini sauce (yum) and brown rice with adzuki beans (yum).

The other item on the plate that captured my attention was actually the garnish, the marinated shiso leaves. Shiso leaves or perilla leaves are green leaves that are usually found as garnish on a sashimi plate, usually along with the daikon. Shiso leaves are a kind of herb, a little like mint or spearmint and it has a unique flavour: fresh, a bit grassy and a little bit like anise. Yuki-san took these leaves and marinated them in soy sauce which means now added to the grassiness and the aniseness there is a salty flavour too. I found this absolutely delightful.

Dessert time at The Earth Kitchen: locally sourced watermelon, Hawaiian sweet potato and chestnut ice cream

Finally it was dessert time! The little girl across the table from me said she was saving tummy space for dessert. She knew she was getting ice cream!

Served on a rectangular wooden plate, we had local watermelon and wait for this, Hawaiian sweet potato ice cream with bits of chestnuts! The watermelon was locally sourced and it was sweet, juicy and refreshing, The ice cream was made with Hawaiian sweet potato which is white on the outside and purple in the inside. It was super sweet and no sugar was added to the ice cream. The little bits of chestnuts (which are now in season in Sydney) added something to chew in the ice cream. The whole plate looked beautiful, even just the combination of the colours- red, white and green from the watermelon, purple and light brown from the ice cream and chestnuts. It was a great way to conclude the luncheon.

What marvellous lunches I’ve had at The Earth Kitchen! Thank you so much Yuki-san and Yuka-san for your dedication in educating us on the concepts of food, where it comes from, how it’s cooked and about zero waste and sustainability. Thank you for sharing your love of food, your dedication to The Earth Kitchen, its concept, your time and generosity in bringing us delicious food. We look forward to learning more from you both and wish you the very best in your next project in Queensland.

Thank you so much! We hope to see you again soon!

ありがとうございます！私たちは、また近いうちにあなた方に会えることを願っています。

Read The Earth Kitchen Part 1

or

Read The Earth Kitchen Part 2