Manners for Drinking Sake and Eating Japanese Cuisine (2)

Hello everyone. Thank you for reading my blog.

This article is the sequel to the previous article of my blog "Manners for Drinking Sake and Eating Japanese Cuisine (1)."

In this sequel, I write about manners for eating Japanese cuisine at a sake drinking party. Cuisine to be served at a sake drinking party is often kaiseki-ryori, which is intended to be paired with sake.

Generally, a full course of kaiseki-ryoki consists of:
1. Appetizers
2. Clean soup
3. Sashimi
4. Broiled food
5. Boiled food
6. Steamed food
7. Fried food (tempura)
8. Vinegared food
9. Rice
10. Miso soup
11. Pickled vegetables
12. Fruit
The order of foods 4 to 7 may be changed.

When to start eating
When dishes are served to everyone, wait until the main guests start eating. Then, start eating.

Picking up chopsticks
Pick up your chopsticks in three steps as follows:
1) Take up your chopsticks by the thicker ends with the right hand.
2) Reach out the left hand under the chopsticks and holds the chopsticks with the left hand
3) While holding the chopsticks with the left hand, set the chopsticks in the right hand properly.
Use only the parts within three centimeters of the tips of the chopsticks




1. Appetizers
Several foods are served with beautifully arranged on a plate or small bowl. Try to enjoy seasonal savor of the foods. East the food placed on the left first and then move to rightward taking care not to collapse the beautiful arrangement of foods. If the food is served in a small bowl, take up the bowl to eat the food.

2. Clean soup
Clean soup is served in a bowl with a lid. When removing the lid, let droplets of water under the lid fall in the bowl. There are some ingredients in the soup. Taste the soup first, and then eat the ingredients. After finishing the soup, restore the lid to the original position to cover the bowl. Avoid placing the lid upside down because doing so may damage japan coating.

3. Sashimi
Eat sashimi with soy sauce and green horseradish paste. Pour a minimum required amount of soy sauce in your small plate for sashimi, and add some soy sauce when needed. Pouring too much soy and leaving too much of it when finishing sashimi is not elegant.

My gracious! There seems to be much of what I must write. In the next article, maybe I will write about some different topic and then later I will handle this manner issue. (To be continued)

Today's Sake
Kambai Taruzake (Kambai Syuzou)
I guess that regular sakes on shelves in convenience stores in different places may be typical products of each relevant place, and so, they must taste fairly good.
I bought this Kanbai Taruzake in a convenience store when I went for a drive.
A cedar scent smells refreshing and this sake also conveys essential flavor of sake straightforwardly.

Seimaibuai: 65%

Alcohol: 15 - 16%