Melinda Joe is an American journalist in Tokyo. A certified wine and sake professional, she writes about Japanese drinks in her Kanpai Culture column for The Japan Times and blogs at tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.com.
For Melinda Joe's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Few had heard of new German cuisine when twin chefs Thomas and Mathias Suhring began serving elevated takes on kazespatle (Bavarian pasta made with cheese) and smoked trout at their restaurant, Suhring, in Bangkok, at the start of last year. Less than a year after ...
On a steamy June afternoon, the apple trees in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture are laden with fruit. Now, the young apples are hard green spheres the size of golf balls, but come autumn they will be plump, sweet and ready for harvest. While ...
Opinionated About Dining founder on his musical background, algorithms and what makes a decent restaurant critic.
Around the world, the sound of popping corks brings just one thing to mind — Champagne. However, a new organization of sake producers is working to tweak that image. Launched last year, the Japan Awasake Association consists of nine brewers who are committed to raising ...
On a cool afternoon in mid-April, Israeli chefs Yair Yosefi and Omer Ben-Gal, co-founders of Brut Wine Bar in Tel Aviv, examine a shipment of fresh silver-skinned sawara (Spanish mackerel) from Tottori Prefecture in a tiny kitchen on Cat Street — in the middle ...
Entrepreneur Nao Kohara sits at a table in his favorite neighborhood bar, checking emails on his laptop computer and sipping a glass of sake. Some of his brightest business ideas have been hatched over a few drinks — including the concept behind his latest venture, ...
American restaurateur on tipping and the rise of fast-dining establishments.
Gourmandizing television personality Hidehiko Ishizuka has a famously large appetite. Apparently, the portly comedian also has a taste for Japanese sake. On a clear February afternoon in the sake-producing region of Fushimi, just south of Kyoto, a camera crew forms a tight circle around ...
On the evening of Feb. 21, chefs from nine of Japan's top restaurants ascended the stage to receive honors at the fifth Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Bangkok. Although the No. 1 slot went to the Bangkok-based restaurant Gaggan for the third year ...
Every week, sake sommelier Satoko Utsugi leads groups of overseas visitors past the Fukagawa Fudosan Temple and along a shopping street in Tokyo's downtown neighborhood of Monzen-Nakacho. Their destination is Orihara Shoten, a sake shop with a tasting bar, and Utsugi's mission is to provide ...
