The first overseas outpost of a well-known Tokyo izakaya tries hard to surprise customers, with mixed results
The Japanese commitment to quality yields some of the finest produce in the world, with demand for the most pristine and the most delicious ingredients consistently on the rise, and the best specimens going under the hammer for unspeakable amounts. Chefs and restaurateurs, eager to get their dishes off to the best start, will clamour for the superlative: a perfectly ripe and unblemished peach, a plump and shimmering mackerel with weight in the flesh and clarity in the eyes, sweet baby carrots that appear to come straight out of the idyllic pages of an illustrated Beatrix Potter book.
As a result, there is the uncomfortable truth that many perfectly good ingredients that don’t meet stringent benchmarks are considered unsellable, with a large portion often ending up in landfill. It’s worth noting that this practice is not exclusive to Japan, or even Asia, and is regrettably common the world over; what the Japanese d have exclusively is the term “mottainai”, to define this sense of exasperation towards generating unnecessary waste.
The original Uoharu is not your average izakaya precisely because it got the conversation going in Tokyo around food waste by actively purchasing produce from Tsukiji Market (and, now, Toyosu Market) that was considered “irregular” or with cosmetic imperfections—fish that are undersized or oversized, scallops with scratched or discoloured shells, crabs with missing limbs—and turning them into delicious izakaya fare nevertheless. The idea behind mottainai is to look beyond the surface, appreciate the ingredients (after all, the term ‘itadakimasu’ murmured at the beginning of every meal means ‘I humbly receive’) and minimise waste in the process.
While the Hong Kong branch of Uoharu is not yet participating in the same initiative, we’re told that there are plans in place to mimic the Tokyo model once the feasibility of doing so makes logistical sense. Perhaps there are reservations over whether or not such a concept would fly in a notoriously picky market like Hong Kong, where most restaurants—as a minimum—boast of the fact that they source the highest quality ingredients daily from Japan. It’s a challenging narrative to peddle “unwanted” foods (even if the quality is there), but if the execution is done well, we’re hoping it’s a project that will take flight eventually.
