Sake Tasting in Ekkamai

Ekkamai Road, or Soi Sukumvit 63 officially, is one of Bangkok's trendiest neighborhoods. Along with nearby Soi Thonglor (Sukumvit 55), this area is one of the most popular parts of the city for expats to live. It's especially popular with Japanese expats, as a matter of fact, and some of the best and most authentic Japanese cuisine in the city can be found in Ekkamai.

lots of sake available

The other night, Pinky and I went out to join a new meetup group, led by a Japanese expat named Shoko. Her family business imports Japanese food to Bangkok, so she's an expert! She started a new group to introduce Japanese food to other expats in Bangkok. Last night, she hosted a sake tasting at one of the city's most renowned sake bars.

the restaurant was super Japanese

We began the evening with a lecture by Shoko about the history and culture of Japanese sake.

Did you know that it's actually not correct to say "sake"? "Sake" is simply the Japanese word for alcohol, and can refer to wine, beer, or whisky. What we think of as "sake" is actually "nihonshu".

first, we had a lecture about how sake was made, and then we got to taste different types

She also taught us all about the sake making process. Although it varies from brewer to brewer, the recipe is always made of four basic ingredients: water, yeast, koji mold, and rice. The rice is fermented with koji mold and yeast, then brewed into alcohol and filtered to become clear.

Although sake is often thought of as "rice wine", the process is actually much closer to how beer is made.

we tried four types of sake

Then, it was time to taste! Shoko and the Japanese manager of the restaurant had chosen a set of four sakes from Bijofu, a traditional brewer located in Kochi Prefecture in the southeast of Japan.

We took our time enjoying the sake. Although they were from the same brewer, they were each of a different type.

Each sake was also paired with a specific Japanese snack, chosen by the restaurant manager.

The snacks (from left to right in the picture below):

Smoked duck, cucumbers with sea urchin roe, pickled carrots and cucumbers, edamame beans, and salted mixed nuts.

each sake was paired with a Japanese snack

One particular sake, Tokubetsu Junmai (third from the left) is a bit different from the others. Shoko told us that this type of sake changes flavor as it is warmed up. The taste of cold and hot sake from this batch can taste totally different. As a courtesy, the manager even heated up a complimentary extra cup of sake for each of us to try so that we could compare the differences!

I liked this bottle of TAMA Label the best. Tama is the cat who belongs to the brewer, and you can see the cat sitting underneath a tree on the bottle's label.

As one final surprise for the end of the night, Shoko brought out one of her family's specialties. This is a type of fermented squid! It has a sharp, slightly sweet flavor. It was unlike anything I had tasted, but I liked it! It almost had a fruit flavor.

fermented squid

Oh! And one more thing we learned:

To say a toast in Japanese, just raise your glass of sake in the air and say "Kanpai"!

fun times with nice people

Kanpai!