Shunju: New Japanese Cuisine [Paperback]

Takashi Sugimoto (Author), Marcia Iwatate (Author), Charlie Trotter (Author), Masano Kawana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2006

Shunju: New Japanese Cuisine takes you on a tour of the restaurants and philosophy at the forefront of Japan's cooking revolution. Just as Alice Waters changed the way Americans thought about food, Takashi Sugimoto has revolutionized the act of dining in Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Containing detailed recipes appropriate for each of the four seasons, Shunju uses fresh ingredients and minimal cooking methods. -- Culinary Review, March 15, 2003

This book is well-designed, with lavish color photographs. -- Associated Press, January 23, 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Takashi Sugimoto is Japan's leading restaurant designer and is responsible for many of Japan's most famous restaurants.

Marcia Iwatate is one of the leading lights in the Japanese fashion, design and food industries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Periplus Editions (August 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079460448X
• ISBN-13: 978-0794604486
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a piece of junk, but look before you buy, February 13, 2006

By 

B. Scharbor "Chef Scharbor" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shunju: New Japanese Cuisine (Hardcover)

Charlie Trotter may be super hyped, but don't let that dissuade you from picking this one off a shelf and at least look at it first. I was turned off when I misunderstood an earlier review stating that "Both authors are not chefs but designers..". While this is true, the chefs who performed these amazing dishes mini bios are in the back of the book. I think there were 4 different chefs. Many of the recipes are "sublime" to say the least, and some of the ingredients are almost impossible to find in most of the US. For example fresh bamboo shoots, matsutake mushrooms, and kinome sprigs. This book is probably useless for the casual reader, but someone immersed or interested in the culture and cuisine will find it a creative reference. I should know, I'm a Japanese-trained Chef working in the US. For other power references more with more accessible ingredients look to works by Thomas Keller "Bouchon" and Alain Ducasse's work. Pick one up and flip through it first to see if it's useful to you.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book, September 24, 2007

By 

naturopathicnd (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shunju: New Japanese Cuisine (Paperback)

I was put off buying this book because of two bad reviews that speak very poorly of it. But after finding it in a bookstore and looking through it, I was blown away by how beautiful it was. It is exactly the type of Japanese cookbook that I have always wanted and has quickly become my favorite cookbook.

Arranged into seasons, it has elegant modern Japanese dishes of the type found in classier izakayas. Dishes range from bamboo, sesame, and green tea tofus made from scratch, various Japanese dumplings, grilled ginkgo nuts, wild fruit and herb-infused tonics, and exquisitely beautiful but simple vegetable and meat / fish dishes. The dishes are very trendy and up market, and quite sophisticated. People that I have cooked for using this cookbook have been very impressed and I absolutely love the fact that it is arranged into seasons, keeping alive the tradition of eating seasonally as they do in Japan.

Some ingredients are exotic, but substitutions are included and there is also a mail order list of companies that sell Japanese ingredients in The US.

This book would best suit the type of person that likes elegant Japanese food and has some cooking experience with a base knowledge of Japanese ingredients. It is not really that suitable for beginner cooks, nor anyone unfamiliar with Japanese food.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Hyperbolic Hoax, July 5, 2006

By 

S. Ford "The Omoshiro G" (Nakano-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shunju: New Japanese Cuisine (Hardcover)

The book seems to be based on the untenable premise that Shunju, a not very good chain of izakayas, are some of Tokyo's finest restaurants. This is just not true and though I live in Japan and am blissfully ignorant of the hype surrounding Charlie Trotter, the man has revealed himself as either shameless, or an ignoramus in an embarrassing introduction in which he claims Shinju has launched a culinary revolution in Japan--trust me it is not even on the radar here. The food at these places is not very good and the book is very badly written and edited, but it must be said that the restaurants and this book are very well designed and photographer Kawana has taken some excellent photos.