Sushi Cooking Class @ Crane Bar, Darlinghurst

Chef Tai Chi Ito holds a laid back sushi cooking class on Sunday afternoons at Crane Bar. With 20 years of experience; he presents a lot of knowledge on how to prepare, arrange and how to eat sashimi and sushi.  

He provided some really useful etiquette such as

• Avoid mixing wasabi and soy; the proper way is to get the wasabi and put this on the sashimi then to gently dip this into the mix of soy sauce/evaporated sake/mirin. This ensures you get the full flavour of the sashimi. 
• He noted that one should always cut a slight groove into the sashimi so that the soy fill into parts of the sashimi and the flavours can balance out the fat in the fish.  
• Any presentation of sashimi with lemon is more fusion Japanese as it takes away the true flavour of the fish. He noted that some restaurants deliberately do this with kingfish as the flavours can be very fishy. 
• He also gave some tips on how to slice the sashimi by cutting with the bottom of the very sharp knife and cutting the delicate fish in one swoop.  

Included in the cooking class is a drink and nibbles

The above photo is an array of ocean trout, fresh water barramundi and tuna. Chef Ito prefers ingredients from the Fish Markets and the quality was definitely there as the sashimi was fresh, tasty and beautifully presented.

Chef Ito also made some Ocean Trout Nigiri and showed real delicacy in handling the sushi vinegar rice. It’s best not to press or destroy the vinegar rice. He again showed a lot of skill in preparing original sushi rolls and inside out sushi rolls. The balance of correct amount of rice can be the make or break of your sushi roll.

He then prepared some key ingredients such as cucumber, avocado, king prawns, a variety of tuna, ocean trout and barramundi to prep for the main feature where all the participants got to have a go at making sushi.

Got enough mayo?

So what will you get to experience in 2.5 hours?

• You will eat sashimi, nigiri, sushi rolls, inside out sushi rolls and hand rolls. 
• There is also a complimentary drink at the bar and 
• Tasty Japanese tapas of edamame and karaage chicken to enjoy in between all the sashimi/sushi creations. The karaage chicken is known as Snoop chicken because Chef Ito prepared this very chicken for Snoop and he thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I had a really great time, I think the venue is really nice and it’s a very relaxed and enjoyable class to do on a Sunday afternoon.  I’d definitely recommend this class.

I quite enjoyed my attempts at making all sorts of tasty sushi. I looked around and everyone was getting really creative and using the blow torch to create all sorts of tasty sushis. I took some sushi home :)

Prices: I got a deal on living social for 2 ($90) 

Location: Crane Bar, 32 Bayswater Rd Darlinghurst