Udon e Crispy Gyoza em Nagoya

Yuka’s English and knowledge of local traditions was amazing. It’s not just the food - it’s her sharing of this part of Japanese life that made the experience special. The food was amazing too and she broke down each step to make it easy to follow.

My friend and I took Yuka’s cooking class while in Nagoya for a conference, and it was a highlight of my stay! We booked the morning session on a weekday and ended up being the only two in the class. Yuka was exceptionally warm and welcoming. Before we began, we wrote our names on name tags and she translated them into Japanese characters for us. She guided us through the steps of making Udon noodles, including kneading the dough with our feet to music. At each step of the cooking process, Yuka was very attentive and even took photos for us so we could focus on enjoying the cooking. In addition to demonstrations, she also finished off the gyoza and udon, cooking them perfectly for us. During the gyoza tasting, we were able to sample different soy sauces and both of us ended up purchasing a bottle of white soy sauce(our favorite) from Yuka. She prepared a handout with the recipes and pictures of all the ingredients so we could find them at Asian grocery stores back in the US. Not only was the food very tasty but it was lovely talking to Yuka about the area and Japanese food. Her kitchen is close to the Nagoya castle and we headed there afterwards to enjoy the other landmarks of Nagoya. Food is such an integral part of Japan’s culture and being able to experience the process of making a few dishes was really special for me.