Umaimono Fair, Isetan Scotts

It is over, and I'm not really sorry if you didn't get your chance to be there to jostle with the ill behaved aunties camping in their positions an inch from the food counters waiting for the next batch of food samples.

If you missed this, you can probably wait for the next one. These little Japanese food fairs like the Hokkaido Food Fair does come with some regularity. The attractions of these mini food fairs are the display of their unique food items. That good Japanese quality is. I managed to snap at some of the sights.

I really want to talk about this. I've had these little fish shaped Japanese pancakes for almost as long as I can remember. I recall , as a child standing behind the glass and watching these pancakes being made at Daimaru, just outside the payment counter of the supermarket. It was then quite uncomprehendingly fascinating , watching the person behind the glass panel brushing oil onto the fish moulds, scraping out the excess flour from the spills, squeezing the batter mix into the moulds and cutting pieces of red bean paste onto the half baked pancakes before flipping the hot iron press over to make the fish complete. My mom use to buy them for me. Today these pancakes are still easily found, but they come in a larger variety of flavors. It used to be simply just red bean. Now we have cheese, peanut, creamed corn, kaya and whatever the hell it is they deem appropriate for filling up this fish shaped snacks.

The ones found in this fair however had a distinctive difference. The amount of the filling was much more generous. That is something which I have noticed with food done by Japanese people. The offerings often cannot be compared in terms of variety to Singaporean tainted food, but what is offered in return is value for money. In stead of the small glob of red bean at the middle of the fish, you get a bar of that sweet tasty paste that extends from the lips, all the way to the tail.

The fillings that were offered for the fish pancakes here were red bean and custard. The red bean being the tradition one was pretty much how I expected it to taste. The custard filling however, was something I found more appealing. It was similar to the cream cheese options...except that it's custard. I think many of you have eaten these before, so I won't bother going into how a fresh one from the press would taste with the crispy edges and soft hot insides.

There were bento sets offered in the fair. I've always wondered how it was to have takeaways in these little wooden boxes, and so I found out today. These sets came with fish roe, shredded meat of crab leg, spiced seaweed and sea urchin. There is another option which came with smaller portions of seafood, however included an addtional of a scallop, small abalone, a cube of tamago and if I do not remember wrongly, a cockle.

Here's a look at the other offerings of the fair...

Preserved and spiced fish. These have texture like ba kua and are quite tasty.

Seasoned squid. I didn't get to sample these though.

More squid. These come in some sweet sauce and tasted fabulous.

Fish roe that is bursting sweet with flavour.

Fried scallops. Tasty!

Fried squid(left) and fish(right).

Small barbequed fishes in sweet brown sauce.

One of the items sold in the fair which I want to mention is the rice stuffed squid. These are tiny squids (baby ones?) that are stewed in some reddish sauce. They are then stuffed with rice and then sealed. I managed to get to sample this snack, however found it way below my expectations. I've had something similar once at the Hokkaido Food Fair held in Takashimaya. Then, the squids used were regular full sized ones and they tasted great. The rice in these mini stuffed squid tasted undercooked and hard. We managed to leave with some choice grabs before heading outside to enjoy it in relative discomfort. On the picture featured the right, you can see the fried shrimps. We didn't manage to get a larger photo of it, but it was also available in the fair. Here's a closer look at the bento box. I also noticed that I neglected to mention the piece of raw salmon which was seared on the outside. Look at the little fish shaped soy sauce squeeze things it came with.

If you're wondering how much this little box of packed seafood and rice cost...