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10 Episodes 2013 - 2013
Episode 1
27 mins
Adam Liaw is taking food lovers on a journey of culinary discovery through Japan. Adam heads to Hokkaido, known by Australians for its snow, but to the Japanese it is a gourmet paradise known for extraordinary cold-water seafood and dairy farming. Adam meets a dairy farmer who, with only 35 cows and his wife's cheesecake recipe, turned their tiny farm into a multi-million dollar business. Hokkaido may be remote, but the northern island has more than 60 Michelin-starred restaurants and the food culture here is as strong as anywhere in the world.
Episode 2
26 mins
After simmering in one of the Tohoku region's famous hot springs, Adam Liaw attempts a world gluttony record: devouring 500 bowls of Soba noodles. Adam finds his sea legs with the fishing family who caught Japan's 'million dollar tuna', and then meets a man who lost his soy sauce factory in the 2011 tsunami but managed to save the lives of his workers.
Episode 3
26 mins
Adam Liaw is taking food lovers on a journey of culinary discovery through Japan. Adam heads to Hokkaido, known by Australians for its snow, but to the Japanese it is a gourmet paradise known for extraordinary cold-water seafood and dairy farming. Adam meets a dairy farmer who, with only 35 cows and his wife's cheesecake recipe, turned their tiny farm into a multi-million dollar business. Hokkaido may be remote, but the northern island has more than 60 Michelin-starred restaurants and the food culture here is as strong as anywhere in the world.
Episode 4
26 mins
After meeting a former baseball prodigy who now devotes his life to making matchless miso, Adam Liaw catches up with an extraordinary 74-year-old woman who still free-dives for abalone. Adam samples a challenging dish of Nagoya chicken sashimi; he then fries the perfect Wagyu steak - the product of cattle that arguably eat better food than most humans.
Episode 5
26 mins
Adam Liaw hits the packed streets of Tokyo in the midst of cherry blossom season, finding fabulous food in places so small that four is a crowd. A master chef shares the secrets of his donburi - a staple of the typical Japanese 'salaryman'. Then Adam concocts a sweet festival favourite from bean paste and pickled cherry leaves.
Episode 6
26 mins
After discovering $90 mangoes and high-grade, drinkable vinegar in one of Tokyo's most exclusive department stores, Adam Liaw finds a suburban housewife who's revolutionised children's lunchboxes by making each one an edible work of art. Adam's dinner is served by a man once described as the best chef in Asia: his incredible offering is literally a dish made from dirt called 'soil 2013'.
Episode 7
26 mins
Adam Liaw takes us deep inside the beautiful city of Kyoto. It's a living, breathing museum of Japan's precious culture and traditions. Stunning temples tower over manicured gardens; Kimono-clad Maiko shuffle up cobble streets and cherry-blossoms adorn the castles in spring - it's all so picture-perfect, storybook Japan, but one thing captures all this in a cup - The Way Of Tea. Adam experiences a ceremony performed by one of the nation's most respected Tea Masters before attending a Maiko party then heading off to explore Kyoto's fabulous food destinations.
Episode 8
26 mins
Osaka - it's a loud, brash and exciting city that pulsates to the rhythm of the yen. The cuisine of this crazy place is as fast and diverse as its people. Adam Liaw hits the streets to show us Osaka's incredibly delicious array of cheap eats. He also spends the day with a retired sumo wrestler who, when he's not running a sumo school for big kids, manages a restaurant that specialises in sumo food. Adam then heads out to Japan's most venerable baseball stadium to cheer on his beloved team, the Tigers, and indulge in some surprisingly delicious stadium food.
Episode 9
26 mins
On this part of his food lovers' tour of Japan, Adam Liaw rides gondolas, trams and a café racer through Kyushu and Shikoku. He meets up with a group of Grannies who used iPads and foliage to save their tiny mountain township and a farmer who feeds his pigs with organic fruit in order to produce the world's best bacon. Inspired by Japan's southern food heroes, Adam cooks some incredible dishes, including the famed Castella Cake and twice-braised Kakuni Pork Belly.
Episode 10
26 mins
In the final episode of the series, Adam Liaw travels to Okinawa, the island home of his favourite Japanese meals. The cuisine is made up of an eclectic assortment of unique dishes that includes Taco Rice, big beefy burgers, popping seaweed, black-sugar doughnuts, purple-flesh potato mochi, succulent pork and so much more. Okinawans are world famous for their longevity but Adam is left wondering if that's because of their unique diets or their love of singing and dancing.