Koji
Koji is a fermented rice passed down from our ancestors. Chef Joyce ferments her own Koji into Amazake and Shio Koji, which she applies in her everyday cooking and desserts. After fermentation, these condiments create their own unique umami, which is why Chef Joyce does not need to add garlic, onion, salt, or sugar; they already possess a distinctive flavor. This is why her cooking adheres to a fermented, vegan, and gluten-free diet.
Amazake
Amazake is a fermented rice product made from koji. After fermentation, Chef Joyce selects a mix of colored rice, which results in a natural sweetness that can replace sugar. This is why Chef Joyce's cooking doesn't require any added sugar. Instead, she prefers to use the natural sweetness from ingredients like figs, pumpkin, medjool dates, or coco nectar sugar, agave & Amazake; Joyce prefers to applied Amazake itself, rather than any processed sugar.
Miso
Miso - Chef Joyce specially selects an artisan miso crafted by an elderly couple in Fukuoka. It falls between dark and white miso, tending to be sweeter and mildly salty, which perfectly aligns with Joyce's food philosophy of maintaining a balanced taste—neither too salty nor too sweet. If you prefer a saltier flavor, feel free to help yourself to her homemade smoked sea salt, available on the chef's table.
Kombucha
Kombucha is a fermented tea passed down from our ancestors, known for its health benefits in boosting natural probiotics in our bodies. It can help fight against depression and strengthen our immune system. Due to her sons having different health issues, Chef Joyce adds kombucha to enhance all her cooking, incorporating extra probiotics into various dishes such as ice popsicles, salad dressing, pasta sauce, tsukemono, bread baking, and dipping sauce. It's not just for making her signature Frozen Kombucha Mocktail and Cocktail.
Milk Kefir
Vegan Milk Kefir is a fermented milk alternative passed down from our ancestors, known for its health benefits in boosting our immune system and providing natural probiotics to our bodies. Due to her sons' various health issues, Chef Joyce transformed it into Raw Vegan Kefir Cheesecake, Ice-cream, creme brulee, mushroom milk, dill sour cream, pasta sauce, or salad dressing, allowing her sons and customers to enjoy fermented food in different ways.
Water Kefir
Water Kefir is a fermented water passed down from our ancestors. Chef Joyce wanted to create and add more natural probiotics to all diets and her food; therefore, she not only uses it for making different drinks with 2nd fermentation but also carefully incorporates it into various dishes. For example, in her basil mango sorbet, she replaces water with water kefir, in bread baking, she replaces water with water kefir, and in scoby fruit leather, she replaces it with water kefir, allowing the natural fermentation process to work its magic. This is why Chef Joyce does not need to add sugar to her food but replaces it with either amazake or water kefir.
Tempeh & Natto
Tempeh and Natto are all passed down by our ancestors. In the old times there no refrigerator thusanccestor need to find a way to store food and sometimes is accidentally discovered and this are our food cultured and our history keep passing down taught tempeh and natto making class since 2015 by using different mixed beans like chickpea, millet, black beans, quinoa....etc.
Tofu
Handcrafted Tofu is another food culture and food history passed down from our ancestors. Chef Joyce has been teaching natural tofu making since 2016 without using any chemicals or gypsum powder. It is a very ancient and traditional method of handmade tofu. With her dream restaurant, she started incorporating her handcrafted tofu into her dishes since 2020.