As award-winning chef Richard Ekkebus explores the farms of Kyushu, we tagged along to note his culinary calculations for Taste of Hong Kong.
A late night of yakitori and Japanese whisky doesn’t stop Richard Ekkebus from rising at 4am and heading to Fukuoka’s Nagahama fish market to explore the latest catch: glossy buri (Japanese amberjack) that have been fattening through the cold winter, or colourful gurnard with their blue-tipped fins. But it’s the Spanish mackerel, with its mother-of-pearl sheen, that most excites the chef. “The fatty belly will work well as a tartare, and we’ll simply blowtorch the dorsal fillet. And we’ll do something with the citrus from Miyazaki.”
The culinary director of Amber at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental is on a three-day reconnaissance mission to the southernmost of Japan’s main islands, Kyushu, to visit farmers of the abundant land. The purpose? To source the best ingredients to showcase next month at Taste of Hong Kong, the annual four-day expo of the city’s vibrant dining scene. “Kyushu has become my garden and my sea,” explains Ekkebus, whose whirlwind trip focuses on Fukuoka and Miyazaki. Inspiration abounds as we explore innovative farms dedicated to raising wagyu, clams and large, plump Ebisu oysters, groves of sweet Hyuganatsu oranges (said to be a lucky mutation of the more commonly known yuzu fruit), and rich fields of round white Japanese turnips called kabu.