Don't expect a Harajuku girl- or Zen-themed dining experience at Yamato. In this unassuming, pared-down space with its crisp white tablecloths, the titillation of your senses is to be observed in the elegant plating and on your palate.

It's for good reason that the local Japanese community occupy most of the seats on any given day and our greatest delight is always the warm encounter and conversation with owner and chef Cristina Sato.

Her parents opened Yamato over 20 years ago when they immigrated to South Africa. Cristina loved the "freedom and boerewors" here so much, she says, that she decided to make it her home. She is also well known for her venture into Spanish tapas a few years ago at Fino, with her former partner, but it is her spicy tuna and okonomiyaki that keeps us asking for more.

Cristina Sato
Cristina Sato

Your first memories of food? Ramen. My mum used to make a big pot of ramen soup and noodles every day. It was our staple where I was brought up in Hokkaido, the very northern part of Japan, and now it's my signature dish.

What is the secret to a good ramen dish? Proper ingredients. We use dried kelp, garlic and pork and chicken bones. You have to use authentic ingredients and avoid MSG.

And you even make your own noodles? Yes, the egg noodles.

How would you describe your style of Japanese food? Traditional and contemporary. We haven't changed most of our menu for 21 years. We keep using the basics and improve on them by shifting into a new style sometimes.

What is your favourite region and what is your favourite dish from there? I like Osaka, because it has lots of variety and history. Every restaurant makes outstanding food that's reasonably priced, with very friendly people there.

When did you move to South Africa? I've been here for about 20 years. Yamato was established in 1995 by my family and I took over from them. I prefer to live here, because I can do my own thing and people really don't care what you do. Japan is a bit of a straitjacket society; in South Africa there is a lot more freedom.

What have you prepared for us? Okonomiyaki, my favourite dish from Osaka. This is basically a Japanese pizza or a Japanese-style savoury pancake. The other dish is onigiri bento, which is a small ball of steamed rice wrapped in seaweed and filled with different ingredients, such as prawn. This goes in the bento box, like a lunch-box, and we add some pan-fried tuna marinated with miso; karaage, a deep-fried chicken; a Japanese-style omelette and oshinko, which are Japanese-style pickles.

Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki

OKONOMIYAKI
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
70g tempura powder
1 egg
Half tsp salt
50ml water
100g cabbage, thinly sliced
25g spring onion, chopped
5g pickled ginger, thinly sliced
100g calamari, thinly sliced
100g pork belly, sliced
Cooking oil, for frying

TOPPINGS
Tonkatsu sauce
Japanese mayonnaise
Dried bonito

METHOD
Mix tempura powder, egg, salt and water in a bowl, then add cabbage, spring onion, ginger and calamari.

Heat a non-stick pan over moderate heat, swirl oil over the base and fry pork belly.

Add tempura mix to the pan and cook with lid on until the mixture bubbles on the surface. Turn over and cook for about six minutes until cooked through.

Remove pancake from the heat, place on a cutting board and cut into four to eight pieces.

Plate and drizzle with preferred topping.


This is an extract from ‘Cooked in South Africa', an initiative of Wish Upon A Star, a non-profit fund-raising charity (Reg. No 2013/038478/08). Cooked in South Africa is about memories and journeys around food and will be on sale in leading bookstores from mid-November with all profits from the sales going to children living with disability. Photographs courtesy of Naashon Zalk and Cooked in South Africa.

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