Meet your host Eri at her beautiful and modern house, located within a five minute walk from either the Umegaoka or Setagayadaita station on the Odakyu line. Her home is located in a peaceful residential area of the popular Shimokitazawa neighborhood. Her traditionally inspired, modern home is designed to make you feel at peace, away from the restlessness of Tokyo. You can take a peek into her grandparents-in-law’s traditional house and petit Japanese garden next door before making yourself comfortable in Eri's upstairs living and dining area. Relax over a welcome drink before joining Eri for a traditional-inspired Japanese homestyle meal. Eri speaks English but not as fluently as she would like, she is still learning the language. Your menu may include dishes such as nikujaga (meat and potato stewed in soy and mirin), salmon sauté, silken tofu topped with hijiki seaweed and beans, amazake (sweet, non-alcoholic sake) and rice balls with pickles. Your menu may vary depending on the season and the freshness of available ingredients.
Join Eri in her modern kitchen to learn how to cool three traditional, Japanese homestyle dishes. Since some of the dishes need to be marinated beforehand, she may have those pre-marinated and ready for you to add the final touch. For the rest of the dishes, you will enjoy a hands-on cooking class during which you will help to chop, fry, grill and learn about Japanese food presentation. Immerse yourself in this Japanese cooking class in a local Tokyo home over conversation about Japanese culinary traditions, unique food ingredients, and secret cooking tips passed down through generations in Eri's family.
Eri is not fluent in English, she is still learning the language but knows enough to conduct the experience. She also has a cat named Roy.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Shabu shabu salad or Silken tofu topped with hijiki seaweed and beansSalmon sautéSushi or Nikujaga (meat and potato stewed in soy and mirin)Amazake (sweet, non-alcoholic sake) Onigiri, Japanese rice balls with picklesCooking has always been Eri’s deepest passion. When she was a little girl, she loved to cook for her busy mother, spending hours in the kitchen with her grandmother, making a mess but learning traditional family recipes. A mother of two, Eri is now a talented home cook, who loves cooking for family but also teaching her friends family recipes and Japanese cooking techniques honed over the last decade. When building their own house, Eri designed a kitchen that was best suited to offer cooking lessons and this is where she offers her cooking lessons. Eri believes that food is not only nourishing but also comforting, fun, pleasurable and stimulating and that's how you feel when you cook with her. She is a delightful lady who is deeply in love with food and cooking, and loves to share her happiness through food. Eri is proud of her vast repertoire of traditional-inspired Japanese home style recipes and blends her grandmother's techniques along with her own creative cooking style.
