COOKING WITH CAMBAY TIGER: Meet and eat with Cambay Tiger’s ‘live’ fish selection!

Counter at Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart

By Raul Dias

While fitness was on my mind last weekend, as I delved into the very interesting and innovative range of Cambay Tiger’s Fitness Packs in last Friday’s post, this week I wanted to highlight a very cool concept that’s unique to this seafood brand! Now, the Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart or CTSM for short is an exclusive lifestyle seafood retail outlet from the WestCoast Group—which, as you may be aware, is India’s only fully-integrated aquaculture and seafood company [see note on WestCoast ‘Cage Culture’ below].

WestCoast Cage Culture fish farms at Varasgaon, near Pune

What’s interesting, is that the Bandra and Lokhandwala stores of Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart in Mumbai differentiates the brand from its competitors in that they mainly sell seafood that comes from their farms. This is done with the aim of giving to their customers a true farm-to-fork experience with guaranteed traceability. As for the fish that they don’t farm, Cambay Tiger buys them directly from local fishermen whom they teach how to keep the catch fresh and viable till it reaches the stores. They then pick only then best. And that’s the very aspect of freshness that made me super curious about the operations of the CTSM model.

A tilapia harvest in progress

And so, one excruciatingly hot pre-summer afternoon, I made my way uptown to check out the Lokhandwala Complex store. The ambience, design, display and human resources at the store have been very well-tailored to give the customer a first-of-its-kind seafood experience in India and one that I’d hitherto only experienced at large supermarket and specialty seafood stores on my trips to the US and Europe.
The Lokhandwala mart along with its Bandra counterpart offers a trifecta of chilled, frozen and get his…live seafood! (This live purchase facility is also available at HyperCity in Malad, Mumbai and HyperCity in Vashi that stock Cambay Tiger). Yes, I was surprised to find a dozen or so Indian basa and tilapia in a variety of sizes swimming happily in a large wall-embedded glass tank. The staff at the mart are skillfully trained to humanely cull the fish of your choice, gut them, clean them and slice them in pieces, filets or even whole as per the customer’s specifications. 

Tilapia in tanks

As for me, I preferred to get an already on ice medium-sized tilapia that was superbly fileted into four filets in a matter of minutes, trimmed, washed, vacuum packed and handed over to me. My plan was to return home and try out for dinner, a grilled tilapia summer recipe I’d been waiting to cook, using a zesty mango salsa that my grilled tilapia filets would be anointed with [see recipe below].

The Cambay Tiger Bandra store

The range of fish and seafood available at the mart was staggering to say the very least. It included, besides the aforementioned Indian basa and tilapia, white prawns, seer fish, black pomfret, mud crabs, sardines, lady fish, Chinese pomfret, silver pomfret, silver anchovies, rawas, mackerel, rohu, catla along with Atlantic salmon that’s flown in all the way from Norway. 

Workers at Cambay Tiger's shrimp processing plant at Surat

At the mart, you can also shop for accompanying items such as rubs, seasonings, marinades, spray on herb oils, canned fish and regional fish pickles.

An inside view of Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart with live tilapia tanks above

And as a courtesy to those customers who would like to have a bite of their purchases right then and there, the staff very kindly offer to grill up, fry up and microwave your fish and seafood that you can enjoy eating seated at the tables and chairs provided in the store’s foyer.
Now that’s truly from farm to fork!

Grilled Tilapia and Mango Salsa 

(serves four)
Ingredients:
4 Cambay Tiger tilapia fillets
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup chopped semi-ripe mango
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp orange juice
4 tsp minced jalapeno
4 tsp minced red onion
2 tsp minced red capsicum
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
1 tsp ground black pepper

Method:
* Stir the olive oil, garlic, basil, black pepper, and salt together in a bowl. Put the tilapia fillets in a resealable plastic bag; pour the olive oil mixture over the fillets and seal the bag. Marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.
* Make the salsa by stirring the mango, lime juice, orange juice, jalapeno, red onion, red capsicum, coriander leaves, and black pepper together in a bowl. Refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the flavours to blend.
* Preheat the grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
* Remove the tilapia from the marinade, shaking off any excess oil, and wrap each fillet in a piece of aluminum foil.
* Cook the tilapia on the preheated grill until the flesh easily with a fork, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Spoon the salsa over the tilapia to serve.

(Recipe developed for Cambay Tiger by Raul Dias) 

For more information, please contact Cambay Tiger at:
Website - https://www.cambaytiger.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cambaytiger/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cambaytiger/?hl=en
Pinterest - https://in.pinterest.com/cambaytiger/?eq=cambay%20tiger&etslf=7241
Twitter -    https://twitter.com/Cambay_Tiger
Call - +91-7071707170, 022-67906787 for free home delivery of Cambay Tiger’s range of products

Store addresses and contacts:

Lokhandwala
Shop no. 8, Grenville CHS Ltd., Plot no. 98-A/116, Opp. Samarth Vaibhav, Lokhandwala, Andheri (w), Mumbai 400053

Bandra
Shop No 1, Kenwood Cooperative Housing Society, Ambedkar Road, Near Zig Zag Road, Bandra West, Mumbai 400050

Delhi
B-87, Bhishma Pitamah Marg, Block B, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024

Pune
S No 199 Pl 95 Shop No 5/6, Gulmohar Regency Viman Nagar, Pune 411032

Cambay Tiger Products Available in Nature's Basket, HyperCity, Star Bazaar, Aditya Birla More, Big Bazaar, Nilgiri's in all metro cities pan India.

WestCoast Cage Culture – Pilot Project for the Maharashtra Government

·         WestCoast has taken on lease near Pune, 1200 hectare Varasgaon reservoir and 800 hectare Panshet reservoir for fish (in cage) culture. WC has received permission from Maharashtra state fisheries department for utilising 1% of these water bodies for cage culture.

·         WestCoast has plans to replicate its successful shrimp model in fish i.e. the fully integrated, hatcheries to retail model. The company sees a huge potential in the business as the world is moving away from sea caught fish to farmed fish.

·         The company currently has put up 160 cages at Varasgaon and Panshet. The idea is to gradually increase the number of cages up to 2,000 in the next 2 years. For Tilapia and Pangasius culture, each cage is 5 meters x 5 meters x 3.5 meters with one cage being able to harvest approximately 5 tonne fish per year.

·         At present Tilapia is reared in 110 cages and Pangasius in 50 cages.

·         The company plans to harvest 10,000 tonnes of fish from these two reservoirs by the end of 2018.

·         Cage culture is a technique of rearing fish in net enclosure with minimum predatory pressure. It is a technology which is practiced in confined water bodies where the quality fish seed is reared organically with well-monitored probiotic diet in pollution free environment.

·         Advantage with cage culture is – the company has total control over the origin of the fish, the quality of environment in which it grows, its diet, ensuring its overall goodness. This also supports traceability, which the new market is very particular about

·         They are also experimenting cage culture of Seabass for the first time in India. They use small cages of 2mx2mx1m cage in which 1,200 kg of fish could be harvested in two crops per year.

·         Live Tilapia is currently sold in Mumbai at the company’s flagship fish retail outlet Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart and major  fish markets in Mumbai, a first of its kind trend in the country

·         WestCoast also has plans to sell Cambay Tiger branded Tilapia in the market to highlight traceability factor

About Tilapia -

·         Tilapia is the largest consumed fish in the world with a global production of 45 lakh tons/year or 143 kg per second.

·         Tilapia is the fourth largest consumed fish in US, after shrimps, canned Tuna and Salmon and is popularly known as aquatic chicken. It is quietly catching on popularity in Europe.

·         China, Egypt and Indonesia are the major producers and exporters of Tilapia.

·         Tilapia is rich in proteins, vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, selenium, and minerals. It helps in muscle growth and development. It also benefits heart, bone and brains.

Tilapia Cage Culture – a game changer-

·         Cage cultured Tilapia flesh does not have typical odour that you get in wild caught or pond reared fish, making it more & more popular among fish lovers.

·         WestCoast is primarily targeting leading hotels and restaurants in metros with live Tilapia fish. It has employed advanced transportation technology to transport live Tilapia in tanks, so that the market gets the freshest fish.

·         Tilapia can be an excellent base fish for value added fish based products such as fish fries, fish fingers, fish cutlet, breaded fish, fish chips, grill fish, fish pakoda; and boneless fish gravy-based dishes

·         Right now the market for base fish is controlled by basa (Pangasius), mainly imported from Vietnam

Direct and Indirect benefits of the project -

·         Promotes farm-to-fork model in fish.

·         Promotion of Cage culture helps tap 4.5 million hectare fresh water resources for fish production and thereby increase consumption of healthy proteins in the country. Maharashtra has 3.5 lakh hectare which is suitable for cage culture. Per year fish consumption of the world is 18.4kg per capita, and in India it is less than 2kg.

·         In line with Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Make In India’ concept, as against the current practise of importing fish

·         Employment generation - for every 10 cages, 3 people are required

·         Make fish available to market at highly economic rates

·         Guarantees traceability and hygiene

·         Helps in controlling overfishing in oceans and rivers, which is causing extinction of fish and environmental degradation.

·         Enables sale of live fish and develops a consumer behaviour trend of buying live fish from the market

Eat Street!

By Raul Dias

A spinoff of the pop-up restaurant concept—the food truck is fast gaining momentum and is well and truly ploughing its way through India, offering up a smorgasbord of cuisines…all on the go! In fact, lending a certain gravitas to the whole ‘meals-on-wheels’ movement (pardon the pun), the recently held Horn OK Please—Delhi’s first food truck festival organised by SoDelhi—saw 20 food trucks from around the NCR converge at Ansal Plaza on South Delhi’s Khel Gaon Marg, dishing out everything from the ubiquitous waffles (at Wafflesome) and hot dogs (at Doggy Style) to beer (at Bira) and even sheesha (at Hookah Craft).
And while there have been food trucks in India in the past. The most iconic being the India Coffee Board ex-employees’ union food truck that used to hover around Central Delhi. The new breed of food trucks, food cars and even a food rickshaw seems to revel in its diversity—both in terms of what they offer and how and where they ply, lending a whole other meaning to the term ‘street food’.

Street Foods by Punjab Grill
Cruising the streets of Gurugram, this food truck bedecked in psychedelic-hued pop art and truck art graffiti, has, for the past one year, been dishing out everything from pan-Indian street food classics like dahi bhalla, aloo tikki and pav bhaji to Punjabi cuisine flag bearers like rajmah chawal, Amritsari choley and butter chicken.

The Goan Fidalgos
More ‘food car’ than food truck, this tiny Goan food serving outfit operates out of a dinky hatchback, that can be seen parked in Mumbai’s Mahim neighbourhood in the evenings. With queues of prospective patrons hungry for a bite of dishes like the more de rigueur Goan prawn curry-rice to the more outré buff tongue roast. 

S.W.A.T
‘Serving With A Twist’ is not just the acronym for this Bengaluru food truck that’s been dishing out yummies at Indira Nagar. But also, its success mantra. Here, American comfort food like mac n’ cheese and sloppy joes and other carnival classics like corndogs, nachos and deep fried Oreos are given a decidedly wicked desi twist with the spice levels amped up a notch or two.

Hungry Parrots
Serving up late night, post-binge drinking Middle Eastern fare like shawarmas and falafel, this orange and green painted food van is stationed at Hyderabad’s Hi-tech city road. And here’s a tip: don’t forget to order the whopping roasted chicken wrapped in a large Samoli bun with an overdose of garlic mayo and thank us later!

South 2 Mouth
This rather gaudily kitted out auto rickshaw with a ‘Foods Carrier’ banner painted on its hood is the newest all-veg, fast food outlet-on-(three)wheels in Ahmedabad. With an equally wacky menu serving up South Indian-inspired fusion dishes like cup idlis, dabeli tacos and the bizarrely tasty nacho dosas, South 2 Mouth can be found parked opposite the IIM Residence Gate in Vastrapur.

The Cheese Truck
This lactose-intolerant’s nightmare of a food truck in Pune’s Viman Nagar area serves up several scrumptious iterations of the school lunch box classic—the grilled cheese sandwich. This, along with thin crust pizzas, Nutella on toast and the aptly named stoner triple decker sandwiches. The most in-demand being the butter-strawberry-cheese one, we’re told. Go, figure!

Agdum Bagdum

Billing itself as ‘Kolkata’s 1^st Gourmet Food Truck’ a claim that’s proudly emblazoned on its blue and yellow exterior, this food truck—that stops for the evening at the Ekdalia Evergreen Club in Gariahat—is famous for its mutton kabiraji burgers and fried momos along with its burrito wraps and Hyderabadi biryani.

The Others…

Delhi NCR

·         The Lalit Food Truck Company—Latin American and Lebanese

·         EGGJactly—Egg preparations of all kinds

·         Kobri—South Indian snacks

Mumbai

·         Eat n’ Run—Burgers, rolls, kebabs and house-made beverages

·         Frugurpop—Ice-creams and popsicles

·         FoGo--Indian and Continental fusion street food

Bengaluru

·         Fuel Up—Comfort food from around the world

·         Meals-On-Wheels—Chinese, Western and Indian fusion

·         The Spitfire BBQ Truck—American BBQ

Hyderabad

·         Chettinadu Vilas—Chettinad specials

Ahmedabad

·         M-Theories—Nepalese, Indian and Middle Eastern

Pune

·         Henny’s Gourmet Food Truck—Belgian-style waffles

·         Boston Food Truck—Thin-crust pizzas

(A shorter, edited version of this piece was first published in the 3rd April, 2017 issue of India Today magazine)

COOKING WITH CAMBAY TIGER: Cambay Tiger’s Fabulous new ‘Fitness Packs'

By Raul Dias

I’m one of those people who loves to eat fish. But I’m also one of those who want nothing to do with the whole ensuing drama it takes to get a nice piece of the sea’s bounty onto our plates. I mean, I can never see myself trooping down to the nearest fish market, haggling over the price of the day’s catch with a garrulous fish monger, leave alone scaling, gutting and filleting aforementioned fish!
So, I was elated to say the very least when the nice people at West Coast Fine Foods (India) Pvt. Ltd.—the manufacturers of the very cool Cambay Tiger range of pre-packed frozen, fresh and even live(!!) seafood—got in touch with me to associate with them on their amazing range of products for a series of weekend projects that you’ll be soon seeing more of here at raulontheprowl and on my other social media outlets. What I’ll be doing is not only telling you all about what I think of their products, but also providing you with simple, easy to follow recipes that I’ve developed using Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart’s bouquet of seafood products.
So, for this weekend, I’ve decided to get with the fitness aspect of eating fish and talk to you about the superbly conceptualised Cambay Tiger Fitness Packs:
Now, we all must be aware, fish, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, has become the new age medicine. Nutritionists suggest that consumption of fish in optimum amounts on a regular basis could help in curing a particular ailment, enhance one’s complexion and yes, aid in weight loss. Fish such as salmon, seer, tilapia and seabass have been proved good for your heart; Indian salmon is also good for your eyes; red snapper is good for skin; tilapia is good for the heart, muscles, brain and bones, while tuna is perfect for those seeking to aid in weight loss and to enhance the immune system.
Taking this knowledge to a new level. Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart—the country’s leading fish retailer has come up with special health and beauty fish packages called the Cambay Tiger Fitness Packs. These packages have been recommended by nutritionists after detailed research and include…

·         Red snapper and Indian salmon (each twice a week) for beauty enhancement. 

·         Red snapper and surmai (each twice a week) for weight loss 

·         Tuna (thrice a week) for muscle building

·         Tilapia (thrice a week) for bone health

·         Indian salmon (thrice a week) for general fitness 

·         Sea bass and surmai (each twice a week) for cholesterol management

·         Indian salmon and tuna (each twice a week) for eye care

A few key facts about the various kinds of fish and their benefits:

·         Protein found in salmon is easily digestible and omega-3 fatty acids helps lowering cholesterol. It also protects us against kidney cancer.

·         Tuna fish has very high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which help to reduce omega-6 fatty acids and cholesterol in the arteries and blood vessels.

·         Seer fish contains heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which lower triglyceride levels as well as help reduce inflammation throughout the body and support brain health.

·         Sea Bass is an excellent source of protein, selenium, vitamins and essential omega-3 fatty acids. It helps produce antioxidants and to synthesize thyroid hormones.

·         Tilapia help reduce weight, boost overall metabolism, build strong bones, reduce the risk of various chronic diseases, lower triglyceride levels, prevent arthritis, protect against cognitive decline.

·         Red snapper is a low-calorie, lean source of protein that is rich in selenium, vitamin A, potassium and omega-3 fatty acids.

The packages are delivered at your doorstep free of charge (call +91-7071707170 or log on to www.cambaytiger.com) and come pre-marinated in three yummy falvours—chilli basil, spring onion and herbs and my personal favourite lemon pepper! Believe me, I’ve tried them all and they are the perfect packages where all you need to do to get your diet right, is to rip open a pack and grill the fish for 3-4 minutes and serve with a healthy selection of accompaniments (see recipe below).

The packages can also be subscribed at the Bandra (in pic above) and Lokhandwala, Mumbai stores of Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart.

Grilled Salmon with Tzatziki and Sautéed Vegetables

(serves one)
Ingredients:
200gms (1 pack) Cambay Tiger salmon in a lemon pepper marinade
2tsp olive oil
50gm zucchini cubes
50gm butternut squash cubes
50gm baby potatoes (boiled with skin on)
100gm low fat greek-style yogurt
25gm grated cucumber
25gm finely chopped onion
10gm chopped dill
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:
* In a non-stick pan grill the pre-marinated Cambay Tiger salmon (or any other variety of your liking!) with 1tsp olive oil for 3 minute on each side. Keep aside on a warm plate.
* In the same pan, lightly sauté the zucchini and butternut squash cubes along with the baby potatoes in the remaining 1tsp olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
* For the tzatziki sauce, in a bowl, mix together the Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, chopped onion and dill, keeping aside a few sprigs of dill for garnish. Season with salt and pepper.
* In a plate, put the fish, veggies and drizzle over with the tzatziki sauce and garnish with a sprig of dill and serve.

(Recipe developed for Cambay Tiger by Raul Dias)  

For more information, please contact Cambay Tiger at:
Website - https://www.cambaytiger.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cambaytiger/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cambaytiger/?hl=en
Pinterest - https://in.pinterest.com/cambaytiger/?eq=cambay%20tiger&etslf=7241
Twitter -    https://twitter.com/Cambay_Tiger

Hail the ‘Salad Cocktail’!

By Raul Dias

While ‘Farm to Fork’, that oft-(ab)used catchphrase was shamelessly bandied all through 2016—with almost every new restaurant’s food menu going ‘local’ with a quasi-militant determination—this year it’s the turn of the bar menu with ‘Farm to Flute’. Eschewing the de rigueur synthetic flavoured syrups and sugar-laden cocktail pre-mixes, mixologists at bars and restaurants across the country can be seen rummaging through their chef colleagues’ greengrocer supplies with a vengeance.
All this, to come up with alcohol-laced libations that defy convention with a deliciously vegetal twist. A whole posse of cocktails that each hold great promise of good health with every sip. Well, if only…
Nevertheless, welcome to the era of the ‘salad cocktail’ with everything from broccoli and karela (bitter gourd) to capsicum and the very au courant kale finding themselves consciously coupled with generous pours of your favourite tipple.

Made with gin, kale juice, elderflower cordial, fresh lime juice, and sparkling wine, the very refreshing Kale and Gin Coupe at Woodside Inn Colaba, Mumbai is sent off with a jauntily balanced kale chip as its garnish.

Cabbage-Parsley Cocktail at Rubicon Bar, The Leela Ambience, Gurugram is the rather unlikely sum of its raw cabbage, parsley, raspberry and vodka parts, making it the quintessential drinkable tipsy summer salad in a Champagne coupe.

Capsico Brezza at Asilo, St. Regis, Mumbai is a lightly spiced mélange of pureed capsicum, orange juice and chilli. Into which, a splash of Ciroc vodka is added, and all this strained over crushed ice.

Redolent with yellow capsicum, fresh mint, vodka, lemon juice, grape fruit and Chartreuse, Summer Sunshine at Annam Café, Justa Design Hotel, Chennai is a sweet-savoury cocktail which leaves a certain je ne sais quois on the palate.

Don’t be put off by the broccoli in the Green Maozi at Koko, Mumbai, for it lends a clean, vegetal taste note when paired with citrus-flavoured vodka, orange and lime juice and the rather outré—white chocolate shavings! 

The intensely savoury Golden Beetroot Cocktail at Bodega Cantina-Y-Bar, Kolkata is made with cold-pressed beetroot juice which is infused with vanilla and combined with carrot, lemon juice and vodka.

As interesting as its ‘punny’ name is, the Kale and Hearty at Swey, Mumbai is a combination of muddled kale, spinach, cucumber, vodka and homemade ginger syrup, with a hit of lime-n-lemon sours and served up in a martini glass with a deep-fried kale chip to munch on as you sip.

Melding together the flavours of Mexico and India, the Bitter Sour at Le Meridien Gurgaon, Gurugram is a unique blend of a health-boosting karela (bitter gourd) juice shot, agave nectar, tequila, egg white and lime juice for that perfectly tart finish.

Smoked Aspacado at Estella, Mumbai sees smoked avocado cubes and asparagus muddled together with simple syrup, lime juice and gin and garnished with a blanched asparagus spear.

(A shorter, edited version of this piece was first published in the 27th March, 2017 issue of India Today magazine http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cocktails-vegetables-alcohol-laced-libations/1/905617.html)

A-N-A-T-O-M-I-Z-E: Charcoal-Coffee Martini

By Raul Dias

Notorious for incubating trends of all kinds, never mind how over-the-top or outré they may seem, New York City always manages to shock me silent. But I couldn’t have been more surprised a few months ago, when on a short layover there, a friend insisted I try the jet-black hued perla negra (black pearl) cocktail at Slowly Shirley—a virtual ‘subterranean cocktail sanctuary’ in Manhattan’s hipster haven of the West Village.  
Served up in a crystal skull receptacle, this aged rum, orange juice, ginger, sorrel and arrack-redolent libation has a dark little secret ingredient—activated charcoal powder. Little did I know then, that charcoal—an integral part of filtration systems the world over—would become one of early 2017’s hottest new bar essentials. Used for millennia in both Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine as a detoxifying agent and as a superfood that boosts digestive health, activated charcoal powder is enjoying an outing like never before!

And yes, this cocktail micro trend has reached India as well, as I was to recently discover at Kolkata’s Bodega Cantina-Y-Bar. This hip, new restobar that sits languidly along busy Park Street serves up a charcoal-coffee martini that has been enticing the trend loving lot with its caliginous countenance. All this, while relying on a double coffee kick, thanks to a generous splash of Kahlua coffee liqueur, and a rather potent espresso shot to lend that extra zing to this vodka-based cocktail noir, blackened up with the powder of crushed activated charcoal pellets. 

(This column first appeared in the 19th March 2017 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/charcoal-coffee-martini/article17526868.ece)

My Mango Memories shared with Rajdhani

(raulontheprowl associates with Khandani Rajdhani thali restaurant chain)

A Cut Above

Cutting a swathe through time with its legendary knife shops, the ancient Japanese town of Sakai is where all the superstars of the culinary world descend upon to get their very own slice of the action.

By Raul Dias

It’s funny how Japan’s legendary weirdness gets magnified to alarming proportions when seen through the prism of a quirk-obsessed chef with a yen (do pardon the pun!) for the odd. That, I realised, almost as soon as my Swedish chef pal and I touched down at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, kick starting the first leg of our two-week-long Japan food pilgrimage.
An izakaya-style meal at the simian server-staffed Kayabukiya Tavern, a sake house north of Tokyo in the suburb of Utsunomiya. Check. An entire day spent tracking down Saruya, a 1704-established store in Nihonbashi, that has, for the last three centuries, been selling only one item—toothpicks! Check.
And the eccentricity-laced leitmotif of the trip continued, when a few days later, we found ourselves boarding a blue line JR train, heading towards Sakai, a town not very far from Osaka. A rather nondescript little place with a solo claim to fame of being Japan’s undisputed ‘City of Knives’ since the mid-16^th Century. Once the Kansai region’s main bastion of producing the finest Samurai swords, today approximately 90 per cent of all Japanese-style chef knives are made here. All this, thanks to tobacco.
Being a port town, Sakai was where the Portuguese first brought in tobacco to trade with Japan in 1543. Cottoning onto the lucre tobacco-growing promised, the Japanese soon started growing the crop. Needing an implement to cut through the fibrous leaves, the erstwhile Samurai sword-forging blacksmiths of Sakai soon came up with a steel knife so expertly made that it would set the benchmark for knife making the world over. So much so, that today, the town not only has its own ‘Sakai Wazashu’ seal of knife quality, but also its own dedicated Sakai Hamono Knife Museum.
Here’s a round-up of Sakai’s best knife makers:

Yamawaki Hamano Seisakusho
With an almost 100-year-old legacy behind it of producing the more expensive hand forged steel knives, buying a knife at the legendary Yamawaki Hamano Seisakusho can cost anywhere up to $3,000 a pop. No wonder then, that some of the culinary world’s greats like Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller are patrons of this rather austere-looking shop that also sells whet stones for maintaining a knife’s razor edge. They even provide an engraving service where one can personalise their knives with their names etched in Kanji characters.           

Sakai Yusuke
Ignore its lurid purple awning and obscure location along Sakai’s noisy Kishu Highway and step inside this knife wonderland that’s packed to the rafters with a cornucopia of styles and sizes to suit every need and even handedness! Besides finding knives for the left-handed folk among us, you can take your pick from single-edged, double-edged, sashimi knives, and meat swords. Later, one can even sit down for a ‘how-to-take-care’ tutorial by the very enthusiastic staff. And for those looking for Western-style knives, Sakai Yusuke has an entire separate range of butcher’s knives, cleavers and even dainty little paring knives aptly called ‘petty’.

Sakai Takayuki
With an equally strong presence in the online shopping world, this brick and mortar warehouse-cum-store located in the heart of Sakai is famous for being the purveyors of the beautiful Damascus steel style of forging. In this very distinct style, 33 layers of steel are laminated and folded over a core, that’s then dipped in acid to reveal a wood grain-like pattern—sans any grainy texture—imprinted on to the knife that is rendered resistant to shattering due to the forging technique. One of their most popular products is the Sujihiki Carving Knife that costs upwards of $200.

Ikkanshi Tadatsuna
Gleaming behind their glass showcases and gently placed on red velvet cushions, all types of traditional Japanese knives are on wanton display. From the deba fileting knife and the usuba vegetable slicing knife to the gyuto that closely resembles a western meat knife, Ikkanshi Tadatsuna has it all under one roof, making it the preferred knife shop of Iron Chef Michiba. A fact that is quickly made apparent with the knife-wielding chef’s framed picture that hangs from a wall in the otherwise unassuming shop.

Suisin
Tucked away in a back alley, away from the din of the other knife shops in Sakai is the magical little Suisin that is very much still a family run business of Mr. Aoki and his son Tatsuya. And though its knives may be a part of the kitchens of sushi masters like Chef Morimoto, Suisin’s star knife smith is Kejiro Doi, who is legendary for the skilled craftsmanship he displays in his yanigi-ba knives that are the classic thin and long sashimi knives. As a sign of his finesse, each of his creations come etched with his trademark of a diamond and neatly wrapped in a fine silk sheath, reminding us of the Japanese obsession with perfection.

Aoki-Hamano Seisakusho
In an interesting little departure from the other Sakai knife makers on this list, this 1942-established company focusses primarily on crafting confectionary knives. Used to slice the ubiquitous Japanese sponge cakes and the more traditional manju steamed stuffed bun dough, Aoki-Hamano Seisakusho’s knives are a Japanese pastry chef’s most coveted possessions. This is thanks to the razor sharp, flexible blade and sturdy handles that are crafted from magnolia wood and even ebony for the ‘high rollers’ of the world of confectionary.     

(A shorter, edited version of this article appeared in the 11th March 2017 issue of the Mint Lounge newspaper, India http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/VuhVZ1pglcjSofHMGantYP/Sakai-The-city-of-knives.html)