YUCa’s Table : vol.136
Breakfast menu:
– Miso soup
– Japanese rice
– Salad
– Sauteed spinach and bacon
– Nikujaga
– Sweetened beans and fish
– Natto
– Orange
– Green tea
YUCa’s Table : vol.135
Lunch menu:
– Spaghetti
– Sweet corn soup
– Grilled Mushroom with cheese
– Salad with mini tomatoes
– Almond pudding with mango
How to prepare Japanese Rice (with Pot)
Cooking Japanese rice is one of the essential technique in Japanese cooking. However, in Japan, it is common to use a rice cooker. Therefore, I will show you how to cook delicious Japanese rice even if you do not have a rice cooker. The key points are to sharpen rice without water and not to wash it too much.
YUCa’s Table : vol.134
Breakfast menu:
– Miso soup
– Grilled onigiri (rice ball) with mushroom
– Salad with mizuna leaves and sunny lettuce
– Pickled wakame and octopus
– Yogurt with mango sauce
– Barley tea
Recipe : Anko (Red bean paste)
Anko(あんこ) is sweetened azuki beans. It is used in many wagashi, such as daifuku, taiyaki, anmitsu, and oshiruko, and is essential for making wagashi. There are two types of anko: Tsubu-an (つぶあん), which retains the texture of the azuki bean grains, and koshi-an(こしあん), which is strained smooth. If you feel that store-bought anko is too sweet, why not try making homemade anko? And if you do, don’t forget to use azuki beans called dainago(大納言)!
YUCa’s Table : vol.133
Breakfast menu:
– Miso soup with clums and onion
– Japanese rice mixed with fried tofu and vegetables
– Teriyaki horse mackerel
– Spinach with sesame sauce
– Homemade pickles
– Green tea
Japanese style hamburger @ Ueno
Since after we moved to the center of Tokyo, my family and I visit Ueno area more often than before.
From our nearest station (TABATA station), you can go to Ueno station with minimum of 4 minutes by JR line! Awsome!!
Since I was born and raised in the northern part of Japan so I used Ueno station when I go back to my hometown.
Since Ueno area is the hub station for people from northern part of Japan, there are so many traditional shops and things to see!
One of them is “Ame-yoko”. This means American market and small shops sell second hand clothes, bags and shoes.
You can also see the Japanese food shops like snack, fish & fruit shop and etc. It’s so fun just to walk around the area.
In the area, Ueno park is known as one of the best spot to see cherry blossoms. In Spring season, people eat and drink with their friends and colleagues under the cherry trees. When you come to Tokyo in Spring, you shouldn’t miss!
After waking, please visit and rest at the shopping mall called “Atre” in the Ueno station. Then, please try the Japanese style hamburger at the Tsubame grill restaurant.
For more photo, please check our facebook page!
YUCa’s Table : vol.132
Dinner menu:
– Miso soup [Recipe]
– Japanese rice mixed with brown rice [Recipe]
– Beef and daikon radish stew
– Sauteed spinach and bacon
– Sweetened red and black beans
– Natto
– Pickled vegetables
Miso muddler
What do you guess this is? This is one of my favorite Japanese kitchen tool!
Yes, as is written in a title, it’s Miso muddler!
I use this tool every time in my class, especially when I teach how to make miso soup.
Since this is the new kitchen tool for Japanese cooking, I like to see people’s reaction!
Almost guests wonder how to use it, but they are always amazed!
This is called “Miso muddler” but you can use this for peanut butter, jelly and other pastes.
You can also use as for small whisk.
How about you? How would you like to use this? 
Our record & Reviews from the guests
Our record :
TOTAL : 1,411 reviews (As of July,2019)
936 reviews by TripAdvisor *
389 reviews by Airbnb experience
46 reviews by Facebook
40 reviews by Google Map
*This number includes the 168 reviews from our previous location (July 2013- December 2016).
Reviews from our guests :
“much more than a cooking class” (superdeluxe from Paris, France)
YUCa puts together a great cooking class in her home but the experience is much more than learning to cook a few Japanese dishes because she has an intense passion for sharing the culture of Japan with her guests.
I chose the class initially in part because of the shopping trip for ingredients beforehand. I have been to Japan many times but always find supermarkets bewildering because of my lack of Japanese language skills. We started out in the market and she identified all the ingredients we had to buy but also pointed out many other interesting items in the store, telling stories, for example, about all the different kinds of noodles and soy sauces (which I would not have been able to differentiate otherwise). After the class, armed with knowledge, I returned to the store and bought many things to bring back to friends as gifts.
The class was intimate, interactive and hands-on, taking place in her Tokyo home. It is not a show class. YUCa speaks absolutely excellent English and has lived abroad, so it’s a comfortable experience for foreigners. We made some delicious dishes (see photos) and then ate them together. Perfect.
Since we took the class, YUCa continued to engage us in cultural exchange, sending occasional recipes, telling stories of seasonal dishes and Japanese holidays and festivals in her newsletter. She also has an active YouTube channel. All of this is to say that once you join YUCa’s class you are invited to continue to engage in Japan’s unique culture and learn more. It’s obviously not just a way to make some money, it is a passion for her, to share her culture. This is what makes it special.
“Empowering and Inspirational!” (brigittewoo from Singapore)
I took the Bento cooking class, it was amazing. Yuca was so patient in teaching my friend & I how to cook japanese side dishes. You have to understanding, I have almost no cooking experience or even prior interest to cook. I went for this bento class as a time of bonding with my friend (who really wanted to learn japanese cooking). I was so inspired after the class. Yuca made cooking japanese dishes so simple and fun! I’ll definitely practise what Yuca taught us in Singapore!
The location was convenient, just a 15 min walk from Tabata station. But she was very kind, she met us at the station and paid for the taxi ride (5 min) to her place. She’s such a sweet lady. Her english is very good! She even has some of her unique recipes featured in a bilingual magazine (JPy magazine) published in Los Angeles! Formidable lady 🙂 So you’ll be in great hands!
“Clarification to Earlier Post “Great Experience” (jkmdds2017 from Hawaii, USA)
I recently sent in a review saying that the cost of the class was on the “higher side” and wanted to clarify what I meant. I wanted to let potential travelers know that this was a first class/five star class and not a cheap, quick and easy/bare minimum type of class.From YUCa herself, her home, her whole kitchen set up, to the actual food we prepared, truly awesome and an experience and memory we will remember forever.
Since my last post, several of us have already prepared the dishes we learned like the gyoza, green beans and simmered pork for ramen noodles. We are even waiting for our mortar and pestle bowls that we ordered online like the one we used at YUCa’s. This was one of the best parts of our trip. Thank you, YUCa!
“One of the best ways to spend a morning in Tokyo” (Travelleralways2 from Belgium)
We had a fantastic time. Yuca is a warm and funny and informative teacher. We made many dishes, all of them delicious and importantly with the step by step practical guidance, ones we can reproduce back home. It was just a fabulous way to spend some time in Tokyo; we were in a real Japanese home with a delightful woman who clearly loves what she does; in a great neighborhood off the beaten track. Following lunch Yuca took us to the supermarket so we could buy some of the items to take back home. Can’t recommend this activity highly enough. Must be an excellent family activity too.
“Delightful and comprehensive cooking class” (Michael S from Boston, USA)
YUCa’s class was wonderful. We started with a general description of Japanese style meals, with lots of hands-on experiences to see/smell mirin, sake, katsuobushi (which I had not seen in its whole form). We then made dashi (Japanese soup stock) by hand, made miso soup, a really delicious sweet ground sesame sauce for vegetables, Japanese rolled omelette, and the star of the show: tempura! I was introduced to the two types of ways to eat tempura, first with a ponzu sauce, second with just salt and perhaps some sansho. YUCa’s tour of the Japanese supermarket was also very nice, I immediately bought many of the ingredients she pointed out after our class, while they were fresh in my mind. It was fairly mind blowing to make tempura as good as I’ve had in restaurants, YUCa even indulged in my request to learn how to make kakiage tempura. This is pretty much the only way my two year old son will eat vegetables, and I’m very thankful for that. Thanks YUCa, for a wonderful class! I’m sure I’ll come for another one the next time I’m in Tokyo.
And many more reviews on TripAdvisor & Airbnb experience and Facebook! THANK YOU!!
