Posted on 05/22/2019
We have just got back from our journey to the wonderful Land of the Rising Sun, a tour of the best restaurants in Japan, where we aimed to find unique pairings of culinary delights and Duca di Salaparuta wines.
In Japan, cuisine goes perfectly with the Duca di Salaparuta wines. Does that sound crazy to you? It isn’t, and for a simple reason: the raw materials used are of the highest quality, just like ours in Sicily, thus creating a perfect blend of different cuisines and cultures.
This is our tour, a guide to the best restaurants to dine in if you are in Japan.
We set out in Kariya and went to Cafe53 Branch, which mainly offers Western dishes. As far as raw materials are concerned, it perfectly combines hams and cheeses from all over the world with quality fish and Japanese meat. It is popular with those who want to try or enjoy Western cuisine and it has a very young clientele.
Here’s our dinner, feast your eyes on the pictures!
- Fish starter with Duca Brut
- Selection of hams with Calanìca Nero d’avola and Merlot
- Ham and figs with Calanica Grillo and Viognier
- Koshinoabura vegetable tempura with Kados
- Grilled meat with Duca Enrico
- We then went to Nagoya, at Ristorante Siculamente. Here, as the name suggests, the bubbly Sicilian spirit comes to life. The chef worked with Accursio Craparo in Modica and his cuisine, which has great character, enhances the quality of the ingredients used. Those who are curious to try Sicilian cuisine gather here, since it is a must-go place. We suggest you have the same dinner we had:
- Fish starter with raw and oil-cooked tuna, baby leaves with black cabbage, raw prawn with fish eggs, paired with Calanìca Insolia and Chardonnay
- Spaghetti with cuttlefish ink, baby squid and bottarga (salted, cured fish roe), paired with Calanìca Insolia and Chardonnay
- Seared Okayama meat with sweet peppers and Duca Enrico
After stopping in Nagoya, we headed on to Kyoto, where we went to the Sicilian Trattoria Licata. The chef worked at Pino Cuttaia‘s restaurant in Sicily. The raw materials used here are also of the finest quality and go perfectly with our Duca wines. If Kyoto is one of your travel destinations, make sure you stop here. Here is our menu:
- Fish starter with Duca Brut
- Pasta with Hokkaido sea urchin eggs with Kados
- Baked gilthead seabream with lemon and Kados
Each dish has been expertly created by the chef who has balanced and perfectly enhanced its flavours. Make sure you don’t miss it!
- Good food and friendliness are always a win-win, and the staff at Ciuri Ciuri in Tokyo offer both of these, allowing Sicilians to feel at home with:
- Panelle (chickpea flour fritters), mixed fried fish and Duca Brut
- Starter and Kados
- Pasta alla Norma (with tomatoes, fried aubergines and grated ricotta cheese) and Passo delle Mule
- Falsomagro (meat roll) and Duca Enrico
We had another pleasant experience at Kando, an Italian restaurant in Tokyo that is very popular at lunch time, as it is conveniently located in the office district. If you are in the area, you should stop here to eat some Italian food in good company. If you are feeling nostalgic, Kando is the ideal place for an Italian-style aperitif, with its excellent selection of cold cuts paired with Duca Brut.
In Tokyo, but this time in Shibuya, you also need to try the brilliant cuisine of the chef of Trattoria Amalfitana. Here too, the ingredients used are of exceptional quality. We recommend you try:
- Burrata cheese with Duca Brut
- Salad with Calanìca Grillo and Viognier
- Linguine with mantis shrimps and Kados
- Grouper with lemon and butter with Bianca di Valguarnera
- Grilled meat with Duca Enrico
Dinner at Trattoria Amalfitana was amazing!
Let’s move on to pizza. We tried it in Tokyo at the Italian restaurant Oreno Italian, which is part of a chain of restaurants specialising in Western cuisine. In addition to pizza, we tried traditional Sicilian pasta with sardines.
Pizza was served with Duca Brut and the Pasta with sardines with Kados, the white wine produced at the Duca di Salaparuta Estates.
Our tour of Japan’s best restaurants turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Seeing how our wines are expertly paired makes us incredibly proud, and we were also pleased to find out that, when it comes to good food, we can feel at home even if we are thousands of miles away.
See you soon Japan!