Author: Japan Centre

What is Miso and What are the Different Types?

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If you are a fan of Japanese food and cuisine, or even if you have travelled to Japan, it is pretty certain that you have tried miso soup before. You may have tried instant miso, ready in less than a minute and available in a variety of flavours. Alternatively, you may have prepared “proper” miso, using miso paste. Or you may have been served a bowl along with your Japan Centre lunch. But how familiar are you with how miso is made and the ways in which the different types of miso are used?

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Share The Love at Toku Restaurant for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is one of the many days of the year where you can get into some serious trouble with your other half if you don’t put some effort in to spend a relaxing and romantic evening together!
Why don’t you let Toku Restaurant take the weight off your shoulders and help you plan a perfect evening! We have a special 7 course ‘Gozen’ Valentine’s Day menu just for you which is full of amazingly elegant, delicious and healthy Japanese food such as sushi, sashimi, tempura, beef tataki, a Japanese dessert and and a sake or plum wine aperitif. Did you know that in Japan, they say that octopus sashimi is quite the aphrodisiac too! 🙂
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COMPETITION: Hyper Japan is Back for 2012… And We Have Tickets To Give Away Again!

Hyper Japan is back again for another long weekend of amazing Japan-osity at the UK’s biggest J-culture party! Hyper Japan are so excited about this year’s event, they even forgot it’s usually held in the summer and instead are having the event from the 24th to 26th February 2012! Good news for us anyway, just means that that we can have some serious Japan related fun sooner than we thought! 🙂
Japan Centre also has a pair of tickets to give away to a lucky winner so you can enjoy all the awesomeness of the event for absolutely nothing, yatta! Continue reading for more details of Hyper Japan 2012 and how to enter the free ticket competition!
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Ramen Noodles: Fast Food or Gourmet Dining?

You know how sometimes you just want to eat something quick and easy? For example, even though that expertly grilled medium rare sirloin steak is some of the most delicious, tender and tasty beef available, sometimes a cheeseburger from McDonald’s is just what the doctor ordered (well, probably not my doctor, but you know what I mean)!
Instant ramen are like the cheap and cheerful cheeseburger of the noodle world. Quick and easy to prepare, suitably satisfying for our taste buds and never too expensive. Real ramen from an authetic Japanese ramen bar are also suitably delicious, but that is where the similarities end! Read on and find out why everyone at Japan Centre can’t get enough of the amazing taste of lovingly prepared, high quality ramen noodles!
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COMPETITION: Win Tickets to See ‘The Bee’ at Soho Theatre

The Bee is the latest production at Soho Theatre in London from the legendary Japanese playwright Hideki Noda. Famous for bringing Japanese plays to a larger international audience, Noda’s work has a contemporary style with a unique Japanese touch, making this play a fantastic spectacle that is suitable for everyone!
Japan Centre has a pair of tickets to give away so you can see this show in London and experience Noda’s exciting world of Japanese theatre. Read on for more details of the play and how to win tickets!
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Top 5: Weirdest Japanese Food!

Bizarre, disgusting, gross, an ‘acquired taste’… all completely valid ways to describe some of these Japanese delicacies, but ‘weird’ is definitely one suitable word that comes to mind! Being British and coming from a country that is internationally recognised as having rather bland cuisine, this Japanese food can certainly seem a little intense for my taste. Of course, that’s not to say that they aren’t delicious, just… different!
Read on to find out what we at Japan Centre think are the top 5 weirdest Japanese food!
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A Japanese Diet for 2012!

/sigh… it’s that time of the year again! If you’re anything like me, then over the last few days you’ve feasted on way too much turkey and roast spuds, a single token brussel sprout and lashings of rich, delicious gravy. The pleasure that comes afterwards only lasts for a short while… until the regret starts and I begin to ask myself “Why did I eat so much?”
But hey, New Year’s coming up soon and that means that we can create another New Year’s resolution to get fit and healthy (for the 100th time!) The hardest thing about going on a diet is that diet food usually just doesn’t taste very good. Well, it never used to anyway… check out some of these Japanese foods from Japan Centre that are not only amazingly delicious, but also fantastic health foods, perfect for getting back into shape again.
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