Over 100 Sakes, 12 Top Chefs at The 2nd Annual Kampai Toronto Sake Festival 2013

Last year’s first ever Kampai Toronto Sake Festival was a great turn out, so this year, we decided to attend the industry tour to see what all the fuss was about.
The 2nd Annual Kampai Toronto Sake Festival 2013 was held at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District, featuring over 100 premium sakes paired with traditional & contemporary appetizers from 12 of Toronto’s top restaurants.

Sake, English speakers call it ‘Rice wine’, is actually a misconception. Unlike wine or other rice-wine that are made by fermentation, sake is brewed in a special manner with extra care. It converts starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol simultaneously.
Sake was first presented to the North America as the hot alcoholic beverage, the warming drink we all crave in the winter. However, premium sake are usually served chilled. The ones that are served hot are the ‘Futsu/ Futsuu’, which means “normal” in English, equivalent to ‘table wine’ in wine world. Sake grades are determined by the amount of brewing rice milled/polished over the quality of rice. It does not have to be served with a specific sake stemware, a simple wine glass will do.
The trick of pairing sake with food is simple. Lighter sake pairs better with lighter food and bold sake complements heavier food.
Try light sushi with Momokawa Diamond, cheese with Moonstone Asian Pear and chocolates with Momokawa Pearl. It will blow your mind!

More about Kampai Toronto Sake Festival…
The Kampai Toronto Sake Festival is organized by The Sake Institute of Ontario, a non-for-profit organization that brings together Ontario’s sake manufacturers, sake importers, and sake distributors. For more information about Kampai Toronto, please visit: http://kampaitoronto.com/