Feedback from S. Komatsu, GF Tokyo

I received an email from S. Komatsu regarding my comment that they are no longer offering GF menu (see previous post). So good news to us, they still serve GF!

Here is an extract of Aki's reply:

....it is sad that we had to suspend the gluten-free menu. In reality we still do not use flours that contain gluten in our cooking but as making everything from scratch is so time consuming we have had to resort to buying in some products, like pickles and mentaiko, and therefore cannot guarantee that they are 100% gluten free. There were other issues that made it hard to continue, like inconsiderate guests who, for example, book in as a group of 5 but then only order 2 meals to share amongst them all! ! It is only a small restaurant and we try to make our meals accessible by keeping the prices down, but literally many more hours of work goes into making a stunning gluten-free meal than a regular meal so it is devastating when this is not appreciated, or worse, goes to waste! It is guests like this who ruin it for other guests who really would appreciate our cuisine, because it becomes financially unviable for us to continue. As a result, now we would only consider serving gluten free to guests who not only book in advance with this request but also truly appreciate what we do and accept our menu and pricing structure without pettiness. As you and your partner no doubt discovered, you will get your money's worth of fine dining!
Regards,

Totally agree with Aki that the meal was "stunning". Service was amazing. And they baked my bread right when I was there so that it was warm when I got it. I'd hate to see 5 people sharing 2 meals too... maybe those are poor students with no earnings. But in Japan (and in many places), it might not be too appropriate? Especially when it is just a small restaurant that serves amazing dishes. 5500yen for the meal I had at S. Komatsu, was really more than worth it =) It was a real enjoyable experience. I wish I went again when I was in Tokyo but I was in Tokyo for a few days only. I look forward to visiting again!!!

My GF buddies, if you visit them when you are in Tokyo, you can enjoy a carefree traditional Jap dinner in a very private setting, friendly service.

Thanks S. Komatsu's team =)

Japanese Gluten Free Snacks and Foods

From my Tokyo trip, I find two Japanese brands that care about different kind of allergies. They have product search tool on their websites through which you may select your allergens and search for products without them. I believe most of these products can be found in Sogo supermarket and probably City'Super.

Nagatanien 永谷園 product search You could use google translator to help you pick your allergens (小麦 is wheat). They'd then show you all prodcuts without the specific ingredients. One of their products I always get is the GF curry sauce. As with most GF products, it is targeted towards babies and kids... but who cares as long as it is tasty.


One of their labels, A-label's instant curry is available at Little Giant. I like to serve it on rice for a quick and easy meal.


Another GF product they have is this japanese flavour topping you add to your rice for taste. They usually have sesame, seaweeds, and other flavouring inside. I believe I've seen this in Sogo. Next time if you just want a simple dinner, or a soup base, this flavour topping should help! Update: the ones at Sogo do contain flavour enhacer (E6???) so it may contain gluten afterall?


kamedaseika 亀田製菓株式会社 is another brand that allows you to do a product search on their website based on the key allergy ingredients like egg, wheat, dairy, beef, etc. Again, you may use the google translator to help. Below are some products I got from Japan. I will confirm if they are available in Hong Kong.


Other brands: In Japan, many products start to have allergy information on their packaging now. Below are some Pokka brand soups that do not appear to contain wheat. The one to the left has the "allergy table" on the package (see below). I believe they are gluten-free by just reading the kanji 漢字. I bought them regardless.

Same for these Calbee Vegips and the potato cubes. Their ingredient list is relatively short including just the veggie and salt. No gaurantee on cross contamination though.


The guide: Indeed, for some Japanese products, they have a table on their packaging listing the key allergy ingredients. Look for your allergens, 小麦 wheat in our case (third to the left, top row). As it is not highlighted, the product does NOT contain wheat. As Japanese seems to be some very careful people, I hope by saying no wheat, means it is also free of wheat related MSG. =)


Also see my other post for the GF soy sauce from Japan.

S. Komatsu - Tokyo GF restaurant

My favourite GF restaurant in Tokyo Japan. It was pretty easy to find, right around the block when I got out of the Hibiya Line Roppongi station Exit 2.


We got the ~5000yen set dinner. So we don't need to choose the dishes - it was almost like omakase. I love surprises =) The first appertizer was a tofu which is really thick with strong soy flavour.

The second appertizer is as below. Yummy little fishes. I guess because I had too many allergies, one of the dishes is a chicken breast ham but very interestingly done regardless.


Next is a dish of very fresh sashimi. I just feel so delighted to be able to eat everything without worrying about anything.


This next dish is really interesting. It is a mushroom soup served in a teapot. A very interesting traditional Japanese dish you can't find in many places. You pour the mushroom soup in the tiny cup, and squeeze 1 drop of lemon in it. It is heavenly.


Next dish is a miso grilled white fish. I liked the hint of sweetness in the miso sauce.


The tempura is another of my favourite!!! Being on a gluten free diet, I almost thought that I could never taste deep fried food again! But this tempura is perfectly fried even in a normal diet person standard! And it comes with a black volcano salt instead of the usual soy sauce based dipping.


The final main course is a small bowl of rice with pork and miso soup. They came out to ask if I could take calm before making the soup. So I know for sure the soup was freshly made. Yummy! I was pretty full by now but I was still able to finish the whole thing.



Dessert is a very refreshing Perilla leaf （紫蘇葉） sorbet with pear & grapefruit. It is nothing like what I've tried before. The perilla leaf makes it really refreshing without reminding me of toothpaste or mint gum.


The service was attentive. Waiter super friendly and helpful. The food was fresh and tasty. It made my night a perfect evening! Even my non-GF friend tremendously enjoyed the meal.

The gluten free soy sauce I bought from there. I've never tried the GF tamari sauces so I can't tell the difference but this one by Ichibiki is very good. I'm not sure where else you could find this product except for pre-ordering through Komatsu.


I pre-ordered a loaf of bread. They made it that evening when I was there! When I got it, it was right out of the oven still warm! Such amazing service. Loved them.


Websites:
Tabelog review (Japanese restaurant review website)
Restaurant homepage (with English)

Address:
106-0032 Kawahara Bldg, 1F 7-15-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
It is right around the corner of the Hibiya Line Roppongi station Exit 2

Reservation:
Their online booking system is currently down, email them to make reservation if you are overseas. s.komatsuj@nexgeneats.com

Special thanks to from japan with love blog for the recommendation!

Update: They just posted on their website that their gluten free menu is temporarily suspended. However, please see my updated post for their feedback on this matter =) We can still visit them for a carefree delicious traditional japanese dinner (actually this is the only GF restaurant in Japan!). It was my favourite dinner in Tokyo =)

Gluten free dining in Tokyo Japan 東京的無麩質日本料理

Travelling gluten-free in Tokyo is actually better than expected. I've summarised below the key GF stores, restaurants, and products from Tokyo.

Confirmed GF

S. Komatsu: I read about this traditional style Japanese restaurant from this blog. I'm really excited about this place! The person who handled my reservation, Sally, is fluent in English and replied with a very long email to address my concerns. They also have gluten free soy sauce (500ml), bread, and pastry for advance take out order. My dining experience there was amazing. They were able to cater to my other allergies as well. Service was amazing, especially since the waiter can speak decent English. See detailed review here. It was the best meal I had in Tokyo, even for my non-gluten free boyfriend!  東京的無麩質日本料理

Grom gelato from Italy is officially GF except for specific flavours. It is available at 0101 in Shinjuku. It was my favourite gelato in NYC!

Natural Lawson is a convenient store china where you can find some GF products. Please see this post for some of the products I got from Natural Lawson.

Potentially GF
Komatuan (小松庵 at 新宿高島屋/Takashimaya) [GF soba. but uncertain cooking condition] : Komatuan has soba noodles that are 100% buckwheat (no wheat flour). However, they do it for quality noodles rather than for allergy reason. I wasn't able to confirm if they boil the noodles in the same water with the soba with wheat flour... I ordered a plain steamed version. They also have a set that comes with salad and steak with rice as shown in the picture but the steak has sauce on it. Just remember to bring your own soy sauce to mix with water as dipping sauce for the soba.


Farmer's stage (Noukanodaidokoro 農家の台所) [has dishes that appear GF free] is a restaurant that serves fresh local vegetables free of pesticide, etc. I recommend their "タジン鍋" (tagine pot) dish that seems to be cooked with no sauce. You have a choice of either chicken or fish with different kind of local vegetables. The tagine pot i nthe picture to the left comes with 3 dipping sauce (olive oil, miso, and salt). The servers can speak decent English. So with a GF restaurant card, you should be able to have a very yummy local GF meal. The dishes are like painting palettes! If you are visiting the restaurant, remember to order their juice. They are fabulous.

GF Status Uncertain
Rire is a restaurant with bakery that offer rice flour bread but I didn't get a chance to see if they are actually gluten free rice flour bread. Rire is a restaurant catered to people with allergy. I wonder if they are aware of celiac disease. I haven't checked as they are only reachable by phone. Do let me know if you tried.

Soup Stock Tokyo is a healthy soup chain. They list all the ingredients in their soup which you can also view online. However, they have starch (澱粉) in most soup but they dont specify what kind of starch. And for other soups, they have chicken broth (チキンブイヨン) which again we have no details of. I left a message on their twitter. Wonder if they'd reply.

Gopan Cafe is a popup cafe by Sanyo that sells bread made with rice flour. Sadly, according to their website, the bread at Gopan Cafe is not gluten-free =( . ("小麦ゼロコースではなく、通常の米パンコースで作るゴパンとなりますので、お店で試食いただくゴパンにはグルテン(小麦成分)が含まれています。") They will start selling rice bread machine in Oct. This machine has gluten free option and can turn rice to bread in 4 hours!

My advice is, bring or buy your GF soy sauce or rice toppings. Worse comes to worst, you can always order plain rice and mix it with GF soy sauce.

Other resources:
http://glutensensitivity.net/Japan_full_travel_summary%5B1%5D.pdf

Celiac Disease English-Japanese Card

Some helpful resources for those travelling to Japan. Here are links to free Japanese celiac disease restaurant cards:
- Japanese Celiac / Coeliac Gluten Free Restaurant Cards - gif in Japanese only, gif format
- English-Japanese Celiac Gluten Free Restaurant Card - pdf in English-Japanese, so that you know exactly what you are showing to the restaurant. Thanks peko from openkyoto.com
- Customised allergy card at killerpeanut


Continental airline has a page on gluten allergy food items. You may use google translator to help. I copied the list here with English translation... Basically the first part is a list of food that we CAN eat. The second list are food we canNOT eat.

グルテン不耐症 Gluten intolerance

標準的な無グルテン食で摂取できる食品の一例
Example of food that can be consumed in a typical gluten free diet:
- 肉 meat
- 鶏肉・鳥肉 chicken
- 鮮魚 fish
- 米 rice
- フルーツや野菜 fruit & vegetables
- とうもろこし corn
- 塩、こしょう salt & pepper
- じゃがいもpotatos
- 砂糖やジャムなどの保存食品 preserved food such as sugar or jam
- マーガリン margarine
- タピオカ tapioca
- 植物性のサラダ油 margarine
- 乾燥豆 dry bean
- ハーブ、香辛料 herbs and spice
- 卵 egg
- 乳製品 dairy products
- ヨーグルトyogurt (not preferred)
- 熟成チーズ ripened cheese (not preferred)
- チョコレートchocolate (not preferred)

標準的な無グルテン食で摂取が禁止されている食品の一例
Example of food intake that has been banned in a standard gluten-free diet:
- 醤油 Soy sauce
- 味の素 MSG
- 小麦、小麦粉 wheat, flour
- 大麦、オーツ、ライ麦 Barley Oats Rye
- ソース類 Sauces
- パン Pancake (?)
- ケーキ、ビスケット類 Cake, paked goods
- ペストリー Pastry
- スープ類 Soups
- ソーセージ、ソーセージ肉 Sausages
- パスタ Pasta
- ソースの素、固形スープの素 Prime source stock cube
- 蕎麥麵はそば (unless 100% 蕎麥) Soba noodles (unless 100% soba with no flour)

Other usual allergens (Allergy 食物アレルギー):
- Kaki, かき、牡蠣 oyster
- カニ / 蟹 crab
- エビ /海老 /蝦 shrimp
- ホタテ貝 scallop

xo

麩質過敏症 日本 東京 旅行

Gluten free bread maker

One thing I miss the most since I started my gluten free diet is bread - Soft and chewy bread. ummm

In my Tokyo trip research, I came across an article saying that Sanyo developed a rice breadmaker that would turn rice to loaf of bread in 4 hours, with gluten free option. The machine won't be on sale til October >_< However, I'm going to taste the rice bread at Gopan Cafe in ZipZap burger shop in Harajuku, Tokyo(through 30 September, 6-9-11 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku www.zip-zap.jp).

Hope they will also sell this bread machine in Hong Kong!