Happy New Year to all!
I hope everyone had a good holiday. I've been back to work for a while now.
I ate "Osechi" which is traditional Japanese cuisine for the New Year's Day. Usually I'm in Japan this time of the year so I eat osechi made by my mother.
I did know that different family or different generations use slightly different ingredients to make osechi but I didn't know what each food represents.
The only thing I knew was Konbu(Seaweed) represents "Joy" as the name konbu sounds similar to "yorokobu" which means joy in Japanese.
There are other food such as "Tazukuri" which means making rice fields, "Kazunoko" for having many kids, etc.
My mother makes what's called "Meiji style Osechi". Meiji is the era from 1862 to1912 in Japan.
In Meiji stule osech, most of ingredients are brown or black. More modern "Heisei style Osechi" (1989-current) looks a lot more birhgter with colour of red and white.
I always thought I should inherite skill and style of making osechi from my mother but at the same time I thought "But I can't get all the ingredients in Australia. I could get some of them but they don't taste as nice"
So when I ordered osechi from one of Japanese chef, I wasn't expecting much but it was much nicer than I thought! I want to know where he gathered the ingredients from.
I ordered osechi from Urasan Japanese catering. It was $200 for 2 to 3 people. ($20 discount if you order early)
There were other places that were also offering osechi for similar prices. They are:
Hana Jurin: Located in Crows Nest. http://www.jurin.com.au/hana_jurin/
Blancharu: Located in Elizabeth Bay http://www.blancharu.com.au/
Shiki: Located in The Rocks: www.shiki.com.au
Mino: Located in Mosman: www.mino.com.au
Ura san Japanese catering: Locagted in Sushi e in CBD. 0405 147 055 http://merivale.com.au/sushie
*Blancharu is a Japanese owned French restaurant. Their osechi is mix of western and Japanese cuisine
*Hana Jurin was the only one where the price was over $200 but that was because it was for 4 people.
If you are interested in eating osechi for the new year day in 2014, try contacting one of the restaurant above in December 2013!
