Pork Roast, Just Kidding / Shokugeki no Souma Review

Pork Roast?

I would have never expected a dish from a Japanese animation (anime) to be so good. I would have never guessed that such a combination of flavours would harmonise so well, especially if the recipe is based off a work of fiction.

Totsuki Culinary Academy Crest

Today, I tried to make the "Pork Roast, Just Kidding" (or "Gotcha Pork Roast", depending on translation) from the anime Shokugeki no Souma. The anime is rather new and follows the story of a diner owner's son who is forced by his father to go to Japan's top culinary school - Totsuki Culinary Academy.

The dish in the anime

This dish comes from the very first episode of the anime. The premise of this is that the titular character, Souma, has to make a meat dish for a realtor who wants to put the poor kid out of business. This is because he had previously promised that if he was unable to satisfy a customer, he'd gladly close down the restaurant. The realtor had hired some men to destroy all the meat in the restaurant, ruining any possibility for the 15-year-old to serve a juicy meat dish. How Souma overcomes this unfair action is due to his ability to improvise.

He relies a lot on what he has, not letting the unfortunate events hinder him in his quest for cooking the dish. The dish he created, which is the subject of this blog post, came from a mistake he made in plating. He found that meat juices would end up soaking the potatoes if they were too close together. Therefore, he decided to make a whole dish that is based on that concept, creating a juicy potato dish that incited an interesting response from the realtor.

The visuals of the food in the anime are commendable as they fully use visual effects to portray the deliciousness of the food. Albeit a tad exaggerated, they have wonderfully portrayed how great gourmet food can feel on a person's palate. Most of the reactions (if not all) are portrayed really sexually with knees being buckled, blushing and moaning. I am not a 100% fan of that style of portrayal as it is mostly fan-service but I think that it is a rather unique way of expressing their dishes.

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Now, onto the dish itself. I made some minor changes to it as I wasn't willing to risk sake or red wine for the sauce. Therefore, I had to find an alternative way to make the dish more flavourful.

The ingredients include:

• 5 potatoes, peeled, diced into 4 cubes
• 250 g of Smoked pork bacon
• 1 large yellow onion
• 3 caps of small portobello mushrooms
• A pinch of Himalayan sea salt
• A few stalks of lemon thyme, plucked from the stem
• A stalk of rosemary
• A few drops of lime juice

The first order of business is to boil the potatoes until they are soft. Avoid over-boiling, always observe the potatoes and test for firmness with a fork after the water has boiled.

While the potatoes are softening up, start to finely chop up the mushrooms and onion. Do not worry about consistency of size, just make sure they are chopped up into tiny pieces.

When the potatoes are ready, strain out the water and place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl. If you have a potato masher, get mashing. Otherwise, use a fork or hands to mash. Mash the potatoes until they are finely mashed.

After mashing the potatoes, add some olive oil to the pot and throw in the onions. Cook them until they are golden brown. When they are, put in the mushrooms and add more olive oil. Continue stirring in the simmering heat until the aroma of the mushrooms stand out.

At that point, mix in the potatoes and stir. Continue stirring until the potatoes are cooked well enough and don't forget the lime juice and lemon thyme.

Once the mash is cooked, remove it and place it into a serving bowl. Lace the top with bacon and garnish it with some rosemary. Then, place it into the oven and let it bake at 200 C for 15 minutes before gradually lowering the temperature for 5 minutes.

Let the mash sit for half an hour to an hour to continue cooking on its own but do not take it out of the oven. After that short waiting period, serve it with apple sauce and sour cream.

An alternative way to cook this dish is to add sliced bacon cubes into the mash and to also place some apple slices at the top to add more fragrance and flavour to the dish.

J&D Espresso

A smile here means I enjoyed myself!

Things I like - a good cuppa and a great, filling meal. Both of these conditions have been wonderfully fulfilled by this lovely coffee hub. Tucked away on an Oasis, in the relatively quiet area of Aman Suria, is the rather hip J&D Espresso cafe which I visited for a bite. 

For the romantics out there!

This is no mere corner-shop as it has extremely clever design in its cozy atmosphere. The ambient lighting gives the place a comfortable mood without being too harsh or too dim, in fact, it is just right. There are two alcoves for two people, perfect for intimate meals over a fresh brew! 

MONKEYS! (not inclusive of the people in the photo)

The interior design theme is monkeys, shown by the totally adorable yet profound "Speak no evil, Hear no evil, and See no evil" monkeys plastered on a cool cement wall. There are also adorable little portraits of monkeys littered around the cafe. 

I'd give them bonus points for giving brown sugar. 

Since this is a coffee-place, I should probably comment on the coffee itself. I decided to go with a flat white and believe me, it was really well brewed. There wasn't a terrible lingering taste (that ends up being the case for some coffeeshops) and the foam was really smooth and accompanied by some cute foam art (as pictured above).  If I were to compare J&D's coffee with some well-known franchises, this place has done it better! So, coffee freaks, GO HERE! 

You'd be Russian to eat this! 

Now, onto the meal, I ordered Vodka-Battered Fish and Chips. You heard that right! Vodka. Battered. Well, what is the difference between the usual beer-batter and vodka-batter? Well, I don't know the scientific differences but what I noticed was that the Vodka-batter is more fragrant, crunchier and a bit thicker than their beer-based counterparts. Furthermore, the fries, which are normally a chore to eat after you finish off the main fish, were actually pretty good. 

The breakfast fusion

My mother went for her favourite - Bacon Pancakes. The only time I heard of the concept of merging the two popular breakfast dishes together was from Adventure Time, a popular cartoon. Who knew that such an idea would actually work so well? The contrast of sweet and savoury is definitely a highlight of this all-day breakfast dish. The dish is a multilayered plethora of flavour as there is some savoury goodness from the pork bacon (This restaurant is non-halal) which is complemented by a thick coating of sweet maple syrup. The poached egg on top is definitely the cherry to such a perfect, sinful dish. It's not all bad, however, as there are some healthy points to this dish because there is also a bed of spinach under the poached egg and some mushrooms at the base. 

In conclusion, would I tell you to go there? Short answer: Yes. If you are into coffee and great breakfast dishes then yes, you should go. They also have many different dishes that looked really interesting on the menu and keep in mind that many of their dishes are made from scratch, which makes it taste more delicious. I would definitely go back there. Maybe we could go for a cuppa together! 

RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

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