This year’s Kampai Sake Festival took place on Thursday May 29 at the Distillery District. Prior to the event, the SIO held a trade and media session where restaurant owners, bloggers and media were invited to walk around, sample the sakes being poured and speak to the brewery representatives.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge by the restaurant. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

The volume of different sakes present was overwhelming. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story and showcase the variety but it was an amazing event. Between the media launch and press session, my knowledge on sake has grown immensely and it was an amazing experience. I would highly recommend the event as it was well organized and the level of excitement from all of the brewery representatives were contagious. It was easy to see that everyone in attendance truly had a love for sake and for sharing that love.

I had the opportunity to taste many Junmai and Daiginjo sakes at the media launch, so I wanted to try something new and different. With all of the choices, I walked the room and tasted every fruity offering. Yes, that’s right, I’m that kind of drinker. I tried every sake that had the word “peach”, “pear”, “sparkling” or “fruit” on the label. My three favourite fruity sakes (in no particular order) were:

1. Homare Strawberry Nigori, Homare Brewery, Fukushima Prefecture, 7.0% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: I’m such a sucker for strawberry flavour alcohols and this Strawberry Nigori was perfect. The unfiltered sake had a great richness and it’s sweetness combined with the strawberry juice is a great combination. This was very mild and easy to drink.
Availability: Will be available at the LCBO in November

2. Izeko Sparkling Jelly Sake Peach Flavour, Ozeki Corporation, 5.0% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: At first glance this might sound weird, but it’s really amazing. Since I was sampling every sparkling sake, the Izeko Sparkling Jelly caught my eye immediately. Talking to the girl at the Ozeki booth, she described the drink like a sake jelly shot, pre made and in can form. I was sold. It was my favourite find of the night. The peach sake itself was delicious, the bubbles lovely and then it was all in jelly form, amazing. I wouldn’t recommend this drink along side steak dinner, but at the cottage, a backyard bbq or girl’s night, perfect.
Availability: Currently available only at Kingyo Izakaya and through LCBO private order

3. Ozeki Yuzu Umeshu, Nakano Shuzo, Ozeki Corporation, $12.5% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: My favourite sake is yuzu flavoured and I was happy to find a plum wine that was very similar in taste. The Yuzu Umeshu has a crisp citrus flavour and would be a great summer drink.
Availability: LCBO private order only

Overall, I can’t wait for next year. Kampai Toronto does a great job of introducing sake to those unfamiliar to the drink and expanding everyone’s repertoire with new breweries and flavours. With the increasing availability of sake in Toronto at the LCBO and in restaurants, Kampai Toronto is the best venue to discover your next favourite bottle and how to get your hands on it.

Leading up to the Kampai Toronto Sake Festival this year I was invited by That’s Life, a Sake and Wine importer, to a Sake Saloon held at Cafe Bar Pasta. I had the pleasure of tasting a few of the award winning Sake’s imported by That’s Life at the Kampai Media Launch and was happy to continue expanding my sake knowledge.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

I walked by Cafe Bar Pasta at first. After consulting Google Maps on my phone, I noticed the hanging sign with a pictogram of coffee beans, a bottle of wine and a bowl of pasta, cute idea. The red, black and white colour scheme established with the sign and bright front door continued throughout the restaurant. Exposed brick walls were painted white and decorated with large pieces of red wall art. At the front of the dining area, a collection of wine corks are displayed behind plexiglass.

Our first stop was the bar where deletable sake cocktails were being assembled. The drink was sour, sweet and one of my favourite sips of the night. That night, we were poured samples of 7 sakes produced by two breweries from the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. Representatives from both Tengumai and Fukumitsuya breweries along with That’s Life’s Sake Specialist, Mariko Taijiri, were on hand to answer questions and speak to the sakes. I sipped two glasses of chilled Kagatobi Gokkan Junmai and Kagatobi Ai Junmai Daiginjo. Both sakes were clear, crisp and easy to drink.. Between the two, I actually preferred the Junmai, which I found was a touch sweeter with a rich flavour. The Daiginjo was very smooth.

Servers circulated the room with bites from Chef Jay Scaife, including housemade pasta, lamb meatballs, teriyaki octopus and fried smelt. Each dish was elegantly presented in easy to grab portions. I really enjoyed the lamb meatballs, smelt and housemade pasta. All of these dishes were nice compliments to the sake with rich, savoury flavours. I had a great time at the Sake Saloon and enjoyed the preview to the food at Cafe Bar Pasta. I’m looking forward to a return trip and digging into a full plate of their housemade pasta with a beautifully crafted cocktail.

Kampai Toronto, held by the Sake Institute of Ontario (SIO), is the largest sake festival in Canada and will take place on May 29th, 2014 in the Distillery District. Going into their third year, the festival has grown to showcase over 150 sakes brewed across North America and Japan. For a single ticket price, guests are invited to taste all of the sakes being poured at the event along with appetizers from great Toronto restaurants such as JaBistro, Nome Izakaya, Hapa Izakaya, Zakkushi and Bent.

This year in anticipation of Kampai Toronto, the inaugural Toronto International Sake Challenge was held on April 28th, 2014. Over the span of 7 hours, a panel of 6 judges from sake (Michael Tremblay, David Beauroy), wine (Richard Feldkamp, Zoltan Szabo) and culinary (Hiro Yoshida, Michael Pataran) backgrounds blind tasted 129 sakes, across 6 categories and scored each sample based on their aroma, flavour, appearance, finish and overall impression. For each category, an overall winner was chosen and gold and silver accolades awarded. Winners were announced at the media launch last Thursday, catered by JaBistro where guests were able to sample many of the entries. It was mini preview to what guests can experience at Kampai Toronto on May 29th.

Before each category winner was announced, the judge explained the sake category in detail, what they were looking for and what made the winning sake shine. I learned so much about the brewing of sake, how the different varieties vary from one another and the whole event gave me a much deeper appreciation for the alcohol.

My first sip of sake was in 2009 during my trip to Japan. My friends and I were in a restaurant in Osaka and ordered a bottle recommended to us by our server. The sake was served cold and I wasn’t a huge fan. Since then, I’ve grown to enjoy sake much more and it’s all due to the amazing selection of sake available in Toronto restaurants and very knowledgeable servers. We are lucky to have a wide variety of sakes available to purchase at the LCBO. The SIO, a non-profit trade association works to increase consumer education, awareness and availability if sakes in the Ontario market.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

At the media launch, I was able to sample 12 sakes including 2 sparkling sakes, a category I didn’t know existed prior. Sparkling sake was first developed as a substitute for champagne in the winner’s circle of Formula racing. To help soak up all the sake, sushi from JaBistro were served including pressed cured mackerel, blowtorched tiger shrimp and salmon. My three favourite sakes of that day were:

1. Taiheizan Chogetsu “Clear Moon” Junmai Ginjo – Kodama Brewery, imported by Kimura Enterprise
Alcohol %: 15.2%
Availability: Restaurants or LCBO Private Ordering
Tasting Notes: I found the clear sake very light and easy to drink. Each sip was slightly fruity and had a very mild sweet, rice flavour.

2. Okunomatsu Sakura Dai-Ginjo – Okunomatsu Sake Brewery Co Ltd, imported by Kado Enterprise
Alcohol %: 15.4%
Availability: Restaurants or LCBO Private Ordering
Tasting Notes: This bottle was the Daiginjo category winner and was a very clear, crisp, sweet sake. Milled to 50%, the rice flavour was very light and the fruity flavours came through strong.

3. Mio Sparkling Sake – Shirakabe Gura, imported by Ozawa Canada Inc
Alchohol %: 5%
Availability: Restaurants or LCBO Private Ordering
Tasting Notes: At only 5% alcohol %, Mio was a bubbly, fruity and summery drink. The flavours reminded me of white sangria and there was very little rice flavour. This was my first time trying sparkling sake and I really enjoyed my glass. It’s now a category of sake I’ll be on the lookout for at restaurants and the LCBO.

Tickets to Kampai Toronto are available to purchase online, starting at $70 per person. The ticket price is all-inclusive and covers all sake and food samples served during the event. With the amazing selection of sakes and restaurant partnerships, the 3rd annual Kampai Toronto Festival of Sake is one that I’m very excited for.

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• Kampai Toronto 2014 – Festival of Sake

A handful of new Japanese restaurants have opened in the Yonge and Finch area during the last year. My goal for this year is to try each one with high hopes of finding a new neighbourhood gem. Yuzu Izakaya, located on Yonge just south of Finch, was first on my hit list.

Atmosphere: The restaurant was easy to find with their lemon logo covering a front window and easy to spot from the street. Walking into the space, a large sign with daily specials greeted us before the hostess showed us to a table. The interior is dimly light with wood paneled walls. I liked how bamboo blinds were set up between each table to offer privacy and could be rolled up to accommodate larger parties. Yuzu is definitely aiming for a more boisterous, bar, izakaya feel. Hip hop music played the entire time we were there and they have a nice sake selection. On the night we visited though, it was pretty quiet and low-key.

Service: Service was fine, friendly but not the most attentive. It wasn’t hard to flag down our server when we needed something, but we didn’t really see her except to drop off dishes. Our bottle of sake was dropped off unopened. Only after I had poured a glass did we realize it needed to be shaken. Each dish arrived quickly, presented on pretty plates.

Food: Five dishes, an appetizer and bottle of sake brought our bill to just over $90 after tax and tip. Overall, not an expensive meal but a few of the dishes are priced $1 higher than other izakayas, like the $5 tako wasabi. I liked the plentiful seaweed squares that was served with the octopus, it could’ve had more wasabi.

We also ordered a sashimi salad, creamy pork belly, chicken karaage, nugget and spicy salmon, and grilled yellowtail. My favourite dish of the night was the nugget and spicy salmon. They were big mouthfuls but delicious. Just the right amount of spicy, mayo and salmon all served on a deep fried potato croquette. I really hope this becomes a permanent menu item. The sashimi salad came with the dressing on the side and was ok. The BF really liked the dressing and I thought the sashimi pieces were very fresh.

The creamy pork belly was interesting. On one hand, I really enjoyed the pork belly, it was soft like butter and braised full of flavour. On the other hand, it was served on a creamy sweet potato mash that I didn’t love. The sweetness of the yam really conflicted with the richness of the pork and I thought the two clashed. The texture was also overwhelmingly creamy, the yam was over pureed and reminded me of baby food. The chicken karaage was also disappointing, not crispy and lukewarm. The Costco fries and mayo were great.

When the yellowtail arrived I was worried because it smelled fishy. Luckily, the smell didn’t translate to the taste. The fish was a touch overcooked and I would’ve liked it rarer but it was ok. I was also confused as to why it was served with wasabi and soy sauce. A sweeter, tangy sauce would’ve paired better. I actually dipped my pieces in the leftover dressing from the sashimi salad.

Yuzu still feels very new and is missing a bit of polish. If all of their dishes were like the nugget and spicy salmon, I’d be back in a heartbeat. As is, I’m on the fence.