Live Presentation & Tasting Session By Jeff Ramsey Of Babe @ CUBE 1 ISETAN The Japan Store KL

Live Presentation & Tasting Session
By Jeff Ramsey Of Babe

Cube 1, ISETAN The Japan Store Kuala Lumpur

Last Saturday, I was privileged to be at the Live Presentation and Tasting Session by Jeff Ramsey of Babe at CUBE 1 KL in ISETAN The Japan Store Kuala Lumpur. He demonstrated his fusion culinary skills using Marukome, a Japanese miso paste in his signature Japanese styled tapas or Japas.

Chef Jeff Ramsey, the head chef of Babe, has a background of sushi training in Japan and is the only American outside of the U.S to be honoured with a Michelin Star in 2008 and also taking the title of Seven Sushi Samurai’s Sushi of the Year Award in 2006. He has brought his expertise to Babe - a famous restaurant in Kuala Lumpur with a "fun dining" concept that serves 'Japas' (modern Japanese tapas)    

Chef Jeff Ramsey Using Marukome Products In His Recipes

Leading a LIVE cooking demonstration, Chef Jeff Ramsey presented the guests with four Japas made just for this event using Marukome fermented condiments imported from Japan. We were treated to 4 unique dishes - Caesar Salad Capsule, Sashimi Spring Roll, Miso Butter Clam Chowder and last but not least, a crispy sandwich of Babe-n-Dazs!  

Caesar Salad Capsule

Our first tapas is called the Caesar Salad Capsule.  Everyone was wowed with the deconstructed 'Caesar Salad' - A mix of parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, croutons and smoked coconut bacon, compressed together into a small frozen mint-hued ball served atop toasted brioche, presenting us the most unique flavours we ever tasted. This is truly my kind of 'fun dining' and not fine dining at all with his unique and special style.

Video On Caesar Salad Capsule By Chef Jeff Ramsey of Babe

 Sashimi Spring Roll

The 2nd dainty tapas created by Chef is the Sashimi Spring Roll consists of freshly chopped fatty tuna belly mixed with Shoyu Koji Jelly ( made from Marukome's Shoyu-koji) and chopped spring onion encased in a cylinder-shaped crispy popiah skin made from scratch. 

Video On Sashimi Spring Roll By Chef Jeff Ramsey of Babe

Chef demonstrated on the making of the casing of the popiah skin using wrapping it metal pipes, before deep-frying it in the hot oil. Once browned, the chef carefully slides the popiah casing out and filled it with the sashimi filling! 

We enjoyed this unique kind of tapas, a medley of fatty tuna belly mingled with the Shoyu Koji Jelly beautifully with crispy spring roll, thus providing a textural delight of crunchy, chewy and softness to the dish.   

 Miso Butter Clam Chowder 

Moving on, the Miso Butter Clam Chowder is a specially created recipe for this tasting session incorporating Marukome fermented product, Ekimiso, the miso paste in liquid. 

Video On Miso Butter Clam Chowder By Chef Jeff Ramsey of Babe

The chowder is thick and creamy with warm potato mousse with flavours enhanced and intensify with housemade onion jam, sake, thyme and Ankake dashi. Tasted all buttery, delicious and smooth with every spoon, a real comfort food quality!     

  
Crispy Sandwich of Babe-n-Dazs

Video On Babe-n-Dazs By Chef Jeff Ramsey of Babe

Our final tapas is Babe-n-Dazs, a creative take of dainty 'ice-cream' made from luxurious foie gras, VSOP brandy as well as aged mirin. Chef Jeff Ramsey named it after his restaurant, Babe - a crispy sandwich which tastes absolutely heavenly upon the first bite. 

Sandwiched between two crispy mochi with a custom-made branding with the 'Babe' logo using a cast iron cookie press, it's wrapped and packed in a custom-made 'Babe-n-Dazs' box. 

 Crispy Sandwich of Babe-n-Dazs

Sweet from the chocolate coating, savoury from the Foie gras and the crispy texture of the compressed mochi makes the whole tasting experience more worthwhile.

More About MARUKOME

Marukome, the largest miso supplier in Japan has been supplying fermented food to the world for more than 150 years. Established in 1854, Marukome been always in search of newer methods to enhance Japanese cuisine with its products and hopes to introduce as well as spread Japan's most loved fermented condiments to the rest of the world.

 Miso Paste In Liquid Form

Ekimiso

RM 19.61

For this LIVE cooking demonstration, Chef Jeff Ramsey has incorporated 2 of Marukome products in his creations for our tasting session. He used Ekimiso - a savoury Miso paste in liquid form together with Koji, famous Japanese soy sauce koji, Shoyu-koji and Shio-koji as part of the ingredients in his recipes.

Shoyu-koji 

RM 18.02

Shio-koji

RM 18.02

 Marukome Koji Products

To those uninitiated, Koji - Shoyu-koji and Shio-koji are both an essential part of traditional Japanese condiments which includes miso and soy sauce. Koji, a microbe is made from a mold species grown in rice used for making soy sauce, miso, mirin, sake and makgeoli too.

Amazake - Rice Drink

Apart from the Ekimiso and Koji products, I have the opportunity to sample Amazake, a highly nutritious fermented rice drink made from rice, rice koji and salt. It is also known as Japanese superfood as it contains a total of 9 essential amino acids, dietary antioxidants and enzyme. 

Amazake is a non-alcoholic drink, being part of Japanese traditional food, is a centuries-old Japanese drink that is packed full of nutritious ingredients said to promote brain function, boost energy and rehydrate your body. I found it delicious, both sweet and milky, making it an easy to digest health drink, palatable for the young and old.   

Overall, it was an interesting and great tasting experience for me, from the special tapas prepared by Chef Jeff Ramsey which was exquisite and delicate to the learning more about the fermented food produced by Marukome.

A Memorable Tasting Experience With Chef Jeff Ramsey At Cube1KL

Special thanks to Marukome for the lovely gifts of Amazake, Ekimiso and Instant Miso Soup. I can't wait to use them in my cooking and experiment with some Japanese cuisine.

For more information about Japanese Food For Festivities, Live Presentation and Tasting at ISETAN The Japan Store, please visit their Website Cube 1 KL

CUBE 1 KL

ISETAN The Japan Store Kuala Lumpur

Level 3, Lot 10, 

50 Jalan Sultan Ismail

50250 Kuala Lumpur 

Tel 03 - 2141 7777

Website Cube 1 KL

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cube1kl

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cube1kl