Dining with the Chef Specials

A special edition of 'Itadakimasu!' from Chang Mai, Thailand. From street food to home cooking, the secrets of healthy Thai dishes are uncovered. And we bring you Chef Rika Yukimasa's TOKYO CUISINE, this time fusing Thai ingredients to Japanese menus.

Chef Tatsuo Saito, famous for his Japanese cuisine, and Yu Hayami head for Washington, D.C., where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. In April, Chef Saito was a participant in the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival, a cherry blossom festival held in Washington, D.C., where he took the stage at the Food Culture Pavilion and gave a fantastic talk and demonstration to everyone there about the world’s quickest soup stock to make: dashi stock, the lifeblood of Japanese cuisine. We’ll give you a look at this big hit event and the audience's excitement. We’ll also introduce our special menu for the day, designed for our guests drawn in by the cherry blossom trees! We’ll take a look at two authentic Japanese dishes we made with a variety of local ingredients including seafood and vegetables.

The third installment in our cooking documentary series where Chef Rika Yukimasa takes a break from her usual introductions of everyday Japanese cooking recipes, to travel throughout Asia and visit local chefs for cooking sessions to help her develop the new Tokyo Cuisine. This time, she’ll be visiting Malaysia’s Penang Island, famous for its incredible food. Penang’s blend of many cultures has made it a treasure trove of fusion cooking. George Town, Penang is even registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its beauty, but what really draws gourmands from around the world is the wide variety of ingredients and techniques employed in the local food. One type of food found here has been of particular note in recent years, as Rika heads to Penang to try Peranakan, or Nyonya, cuisine for herself. After getting a taste of the Nyonya food culture, Rika will work to use Penang ingredients for a new style of Japanese cooking.

Washoku, or Japanese cuisine, has been registered a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO for its combination of visual beauty, healthiness, and delicious flavors, which have come to be loved around the world. Rika Yukimasa is the host of the program Dining with the Chef, and she’s visiting Los Angeles on the west coast of the US, a city that has long helped to share the joys of washoku with the world. Over 130 years ago, people left Japan to start new lives in the United States, and Los Angeles was a place where Japanese people could depend on one another in their new home. Beginning with the construction of a single Japanese restaurant, first-generation Japanese immigrants began to move into the area that soon came to be known as Little Tokyo. Sushi owes its worldwide popularity to the invention of the California Roll in Los Angeles, and the city is second only to Japan itself for the most up-to-date ramen, sushi, and washoku scenes.

Rika’s destination this time is Bhutan, famous for the country’s efforts to lead the world in Gross National Happiness. Bhutan’s unique culture draws visitors worldwide to this small nation located within the Himalaya Mountains. Bhutanese cuisine is similarly distinct, with a focus on chili peppers and rice. Rika is a fan of spicy foods, so she set out to find the world’s spiciest food culture — one that treats hot chili peppers as vegetables, rather than spices — and got a taste of Bhutan’s culture and spirituality as well. Through all of this, Rika developed her own new Washoku recipes combining Japanese cooking with organic ingredients grown naturally in Bhutan.

Our destination this time is Paris, France, the "City of Lights." This center of arts and culture is also known for its residents' exceptional interest in food — and of late, this interest has turned to the authentic washoku made by Japanese chefs in Paris. Thirty years ago, Chef Saito started his own career as a chef in Paris, as well; we'll be joining him for his return trip, as he explores the ways that modern washoku has evolved as a deeply beloved cuisine in this gourmet capital. In addition, our host Yu Hayami will be joining the upcoming young chef Taku Sekine to visit a farm in Normandy that began growing Kyoto's traditional vegetables in 2016, to introduce casual dishes that combine freshly picked vegetables with French ingredients.

In this episode, we’ll be visiting Indonesia! Indonesia consists of more islands than any other country in the world, covering a large area stretching from east to west. This year, Japan and Indonesia celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations. We’ll be following Chef Rika Yukimasa as she visits Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia — her guide around the city is the young and popular Chef Yuda Bustara. Join them as they explore washoku, or Japanese cuisine, in Jakarta, and don’t miss Chef Rika’s sushi rolls, made with plenty of local Indonesian ingredients!