What goes well with yuzu sake? Why, yuzu pan of course

The Wife pointed to a dozen or so bottles that had the words ゆず written prominently on the label, with the brewer’s name 梅乃宿 in smaller font in the top right corner.

Apparently this was the seasonal 2021 Aragoshi Nama Yuzushu produced by Umenoyado, an unpasteurised and roughly-crushed version of her favourite yuzu sake.

The Look appeared in her eyes as she lovingly picked up a bottle.

No prizes for guessing what happened next.

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Head up to Wulai for a break from the bustle of Taipei city

The first time we visited Wulai (烏來) was in the winter of 2005. We were on vacation in Taipei and wanted a change of scenery from the tall buildings and crowded streets of the city but didn’t want to travel too far. So we booked a night at 美人湯溫泉會館, a hotspring hotel up in the Wulai mountains.

We enjoyed the stay and told ourselves that we would visit Wulai again. But we got distracted by the central, eastern and southern Taiwan and didn’t manage to return until the spring of 2019.

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Vegetables can be delicious too, you know

Like many people, I grew up not liking vegetables. They were always the least tasty part of any meal and something that I had to forcibly swallow to finish my meal. It took a while for me to get over my childhood dislike of vegetables, and over time, I found that I actually started to like them.

Not just as a necessary evil to be tolerated, but as a delicious dish to be enjoyed. So much so that I regularly seek out vegetarian restaurants to have an entire meal comprising *gasp* only of vegetables.

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Ondeh ondeh cake and other yummy kueh kuehs

We have a soft spot for Montreux Patisserie’s cakes, with the ondeh ondeh one being my particular weakness. I chalk it up to my love for Malay kueh kuehs, including the O.G. ondeh ondeh that inspired the eponymous cake.

It’s just so satisfying to chomp into a chewy mochi-like ball and having liquid gula melaka burst out, mixing with the soft pandan skin and coconut shavings for an intensely flavourful bite. While the cake version can’t replicate the explosion, it makes up for it with an authentic rendition of the complex flavours.

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Starting the search for smooth sakes in Singapore

Our preference seems to skewed towards smooth-tasting sakes with prominent fruity notes. But smooth isn’t quite an industry term, and sake brewers use the Sake Meter Value system plus an acidity value to differentiate their product.

If I had to map what we like onto this framework, my best guess is that it would be in the “Sweet-Rich” region, with an SMV of -5 to -10 and Acidity of 1.5 to 1.7. But, as always, we’ll only know if we like any particular bottle after we actually taste it.

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