Nomu is due to open at 81 Whiteladies Road, Clifton officially on 1st March, after a "tester weekend" (invitation only) beginning this Friday.
You wait forever then two come along at once: as it is with buses, so it is with "Japanese Kitchens" in Bristol. Only a month or so after the arrival of Yume, Bristol's first Japanese Kitchen, comes Nomu, a new cocktail bar/lounge and Japanese Kitchen in Whiteladies Road. Culinary nomenclature aside, Nomu is a very different proposition from Yume though. As the name suggests, Nomu will be concentrating more on drinking than eating and the owner, Ken Wong, describes it as a cocktail bar lounge with a Japanese twist. He also told me that they have "a wonderful kitchen team who can make some fantastic Japanese food", so I'm looking forward to trying it.
Nomu is due to open at 81 Whiteladies Road, Clifton officially on 1st March, after a "tester weekend" (invitation only) beginning this Friday.
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What's your blood type? It's not a question British people expect to be asked. After all, a doctor will want to test that for himself rather than take your word for it and there's nobody else who is likely to be interested. Even vampires probably aren't that bothered. But any Brit with a Japanese girlfriend or boyfriend will probably have faced that strange and slightly disturbing question and wondered for a moment whether they are being eyed up as a partner or a donor. What lies behind this is the idea, popular in Japan, that people's blood type is indicative of their personality: so that Group O people, for example, might be creative, confident and optimistic, whilst Group A people might be shy, earnest and trustworthy. And what naturally follows on from this is the concept that certain blood types are more compatible with one group than another: so that O might be a good match for AB, but not for A. This kind of blood-type matchmaking is apparently very popular, especially amongst Japanese women. As a result, pretty well everyone in Japan seems to know his or her blood type, much as most Westerners know their Zodiac sign, and I've found that some of my Japanese friends have been quite puzzled, or even shocked, when I tell them I don't know my own blood type. How seriously this is taken obviously depends on the individual. In similar vein, I know people who believe every word of the horoscope they read in their daily newspaper. Japanese friends have sometimes asked me if I'm not just a bit curious about my blood group. Well, I suppose I could ask my doctor... but no, I'm quite content for him to keep that little secret to himself.
I remember once going to a pub with a Japanese friend and sitting with some British friends, who knew little or nothing about Japan. With worrying enthusiasm, they interrogated him about the mysteries of his exotic homeland, when the conversation turned to food. "You eat dogs, don't you?" one of them put accusingly to him. My friend was quick to put them straight, suggesting they might be thinking of some other Asian country, although I'm not sure they were entirely convinced. So how come there is a Japanese video series called "Cooking with Dog"? Fear not, canine lovers, we're talking about Japan here. Of course the dog in question is not an ingredient: no, he's the host of the show and the narrator. The woman who does the cooking, working through a range of classic Japanese recipes, is known simply as Chef and her dialogue rarely extends beyond the occasional "美味しいです" (it's delicious). It's the dog, a poodle called Francis, who tries to position himself as the star of the show. Here are a couple of examples: watch Chef conjuring up the wonderful Japanese dishes of Oden and Shabu-shabu, while Francis explains what's happening. In Japan, just as in Britain, poetry doesn't feature greatly in the best-selling book lists: to sell a few thousand copies of a poetry anthology is regarded as a major success. Toyo Shibata started her career as a poet at the age of 92 and her first book of poetry to be published, when she was nearing 100 years old, sold more than 1.5 million copies in Japan. くじけないで (Kujikenaide, or "Don't Lose Heart") proved to be an inspiration to huge numbers of Japanese people. Here is a sample, translated into English: “Don’t lose heart. Oh, please don’t sigh that you are unhappy. The sunshine and the breeze will not favour anyone. Dreams can be dreamed equally. I have seen hard times but I am glad that I am alive. Don’t you ever lose heart, either.” Toyo Shibata died today, 20 January 2013, at the age of 101. I was saddened to hear of her death, but her message is staying with me... くじけないで. Bristol's new Japanese cafe/restaurant, Yume Kitchen in Cotham Hill, is now open and was looking busy this evening. Here's a first look at the menu.
夢か現か... (1) Is it a dream? No, there really is a new Japanese cafe/restaurant about to appear in Cotham Hill, near Sainsbury's in Whiteladies Road. This will be the first new Japanese eatery in Bristol since Noa opened in Clifton village. Yume Kitchen is due to open soon on the site of a much-missed greasy spoon, the old Friary Cafe at 9 Cotham Hill. The Yume sign is already in place but I haven't been able to find any details yet of what kind of food they will be serving or exactly when they plan to open. As soon as I know, I'll put an update on here and on Facebook. 夢か現か... (2) Walking round Sainsbury's Clifton Down branch, it was surprising enough to see mirin, an essential Japanese cooking ingredient, on sale. After all, most British people would have little clue what it is or what to do with it. What was even more surprising though, was to see it was not labelled Yutaka or Blue Dragon: no, this was Sainsbury's own brand. Can mirin really be so popular in this country that it warrants a supermarket own-brand product? Perhaps this is a sign that Japanese cooking is moving into the mainstream in Britain: I'll be keeping an eye out for Sainsbury's own natto appearing on the shelves next. I was quite surprised to find that not many of my friends seem to know about the series of short videos "The Japanese Tradition", so I decided to post a couple of them for the first BJC Blog of 2013. I've chosen two of my favourites, the one about Japanese tea and the one about sushi. I think the more you know about Japan, the more you'll enjoy these, but they're essential viewing for anyone interested in the culture. There are some golden moments in these, so please feel free to comment on your favourite bits. And if you've ever wondered what gari is or puzzled over how to use a cha-sen, well, after you've watched these videos... you'll still be wondering. So here we go with the very first Bristol Japan Club blog.
Way back in 2001, armed with a copy of Microsoft FrontPage, the software choice in those days of people who were clueless at all things HTML and web-related, I set about creating the first BJC web site. In my anxiety to give the club an online presence as soon as possible, I threw the thing together quite quickly and published it on Angelfire (one of the few free hosts back then), fully intending it to be a stopgap until I could spare the time to design something better. Or even find someone not quite so clueless to help me out. Well, time flies. And eleven years later my temporary site is still sitting online: admittedly a little fuller with Japan-related content but also positively bloated with Angelfire's relentless pop-ups and advertising banners. Worse still, Angelfire started to flaunt its capricious side by randomly refusing to let me in to edit the site, sometimes for weeks on end. As a result, dead links and out of date information have sadly become features of the old site and it is looking decidedly tired. Time for a brand new BJC web site then: just the basics to begin with but I'll be adding more content over time. As for the blog, I'm looking forward to sharing some news and thoughts about things Japanese. And if you'd like to join in with an occasional comment, so much the better! |
AuthorI'm David O'Keefe. I live and work in Bristol and I've been the organiser of Bristol Japan Club since 1996. Archives
October 2013
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