It is the season to be jolly.
There are many ways in which you could go about doing this, but a lot of South Africans will take to the festive season with their favourite drinks in tow.
This time of year does come with the pressure of not simply enjoying a delightful drink as you might regularly do but to spruce this up somehow.
Have a cocktail or make that beer a shandy. Something celebratory. Better still, try pairing your favourite beverage with a light snack or meal. That is always a memorable time.
International whisky brand Glenmorangie has an understanding of this and demonstrated it at KoL Izakhaya at the Hyde Park Corner this past Thursday night.
The swanky Japanese restaurant was draped in orange and the brand signage to mark the arrival of the Glenmorangie A Tale of Tokyo bottle, a limited release which will be in stores just in time for the festive season. The vibrant box also boasts art work from the celebrated Japanese artist Yamaguchi Akira.
You wouldn’t necessarily think about Japan when discussing whisky, but the country has a few interesting brands of its own. This Tokyo edition of the single malt Glenmorangie was inspired by the intersection of advancement and tradition and how these two outlooks collide with each other in Japan.
Read more | Top tips to help you save for a holiday
A lavish food pairing was rolled out to commemorate this release. Guests mill about the entrance to the eatery as a few whisky tasters are given out and paired with some strange canapés like a stringy marmalade to give the palate a refresher around the preexisting Glenmorangie vintages before we were all introduced to this new product.
At the long dining table, an eight course meal ensues with decadent Japanese cuisine on display, carefully and immaculately prepared by a Xhosa chef from Cape Town who moved to Joburg to pursue his dream of culinary excellence.
Compliments to the chef
After six courses, a staggeringly well made eel dish is brought out. It's now more than apparent that the chef is a gifted practitioner who appears humble when he first came out to explain his menu and how he aimed at keeping things simple throughout the evening.
Siposetu Joseph hails from The Eastern Cape by way of Cape Town. His childhood home is where he fell in love with the kitchen largely because of the love his grandmother had for cooking.
“I went to culinary school and then moved to Johannesburg.”
He couldn’t be prouder to be a person of colour entrusted with steering the flavours to compliment this limited edition release.
“It was overwhelming,” the laid back chef gushes.
“You can know you’re good at what you do but until you’re tested by the greats, and this product is one of the greats, you don't actually know. With this opportunity, I knew I couldn’t mess this up.
“I needed the confidence that came with the pressure and so I stepped up and I sat hand in hand with the ambassadors and we spoke.”
He explains how drinking the whisky aided him a lot as he casually brags how the ingredients they use at KoL Izakhaya are from Japan to ensure authenticity.
“As I hear the reviews this evening it’s an honour to have this moment.”
He says his background might be the only challenge he has really faced on his journey as a chef. Being an African man, misconceptions of cooking being a task reserved for women can lead to people not taking a person seriously when they opt to have a career as a chef.
Read more |Miss SA Natasha Joubert launches campaign largely focused on her education passion
“They want you to do hard labour or something in the sciences. But what I wanted was to put art on a plate and celebrate my culture that way.”
Japanese cuisine is an interesting choice for a Xhosa man from the Eastern Cape, but Siposetu thrives on the diversity found in the kitchen.
“Japanese people are very similar to black people actually. Their food is medicinal, straight from the garden and they use every bit of what they put in the food. So, you cook from the root to the leaves, and you use all of it. We do that as well, there is no waste.”
Siposetu says the way the Japanese cook reminds him of the diversity of people and how he is able to coax different flavours from food or ingredients that you wouldn’t expect to taste the way they do, similar to prejudging a person before getting to know them or working with them for instance.
“There are no boundaries in creativity."
He drew inspiration from engaging with the brand and enjoyed the idea of almost cooking alongside the whisky producers who he says are chefs in their own way. The one thing Siposetu always ensures to cultivate at this eatery and anywhere else their is food is love.
"You can feel it in this room. Not everyone knows each other but there is love here. It is a difficult thing to hate around a table of food and drinks."
