18 GOURMET TRAVELLER
Chase Kojima was still a teenager when
he encountered Chuka cuisine in Kyoto.
The cooking style, effectively a Japanese
interpretation of Chinese cooking
but geared to suit local tastes, paved
the way for popular dishes such as
miso ramen and gyoza.
It was the general approach to
Chinese food in Japan rather than the
detail that stuck with the youngster, who
went on to run Japanese diner Sokyo in
Sydney. Growing up in the US, his early
experience of Chinese food was confined
to take-out. “Everything in Japan is
light,” he says. “It was so much better.”
Fast-forward and Japanese-Chinese
fusion is on the chef’s mind again. His
new Sydney restaurant, Chuuka, is built
on the fusion of the two cuisines. Due
to open in late July, it’s a collaboration
between Kojima and Victor Liong,
chef at Melbourne’s mod-Chinese
diner Lee Ho Fook.
A meal at Liong’s restaurant a
couple of years ago sowed the seed.
“I thought ‘if I was a Chinese chef,
my food would taste like this’,” Kojima
says. Chuuka will be “Sokyo plus LeeHoFook”,hesays.“Wecangoway
JapaneseorwayChinese.”
ThismeansusingJapanese
ingredients– sanshopepper,cherry
blossom,noriorJapaneseredvinegar,
say– tocreateChinesedishes.Or
making XO sauce with dashi and
salmon, and serving it with pipis or
fried rice. A vegetarian ma po tofu,
meanwhile, draws flavour from miso
and yuba instead of pork.
There’s been a lot of travel between
Sydney and Melbourne in preparation
for Chuuka. Liong might have started
with a dish of bang bang chicken, for
example, to which Kojima would add
yuzu kosho and a shiso slaw to ramp
up the spice and citrus. Or Liong would
translate Kojima’s Japanese take on
lemon chicken into a dish cheekily
named Tastes of Yuzu Chicken.
So has Chuuka benefited from the
input of two chefs? “100 per cent,” says
Kojima. “One brain, you’ve only got
so much ammo. It’s always better when
you have more people.”
Chuuka, 21 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont,
NSW, star.com.auCulture
trip
The new restaurant from
Sokyo’s Chase Kojima
and Lee Ho Fook’s Victor
Liong combines Japanese
and Chinese cuisine.Perfect match
Chocolate milk may be the most
classic pairing for a sausage roll,
but this is no tuckshop variety. Until
31 August, Peter Gilmore’s luxury spin
on the schoolyard staple, made with
suckling pig and topped with a
black-garlic sauce, is available with
a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée at
Bennelong’s Cured & Cultured Bar for
$110. Roll up, indeed. bennelong.com.auNo barista in sight?
Nescafé Gold instant
cappuccino is a
welcome caffeine-hit
that’s ready in a flash.
$6.30 for 8 sachets.
nescafe.com.auChuuka’s Victor Liong (left) and Chase Kojima.
Right: chawanmushi of foie gras custard, blue
swimmer crab, and carrot and ginger sauce.NEWS