Japanese knives display cutting-edge craftsmanship
Finely honed Japanese knives and tools shine at this specialist Sydney store.
HOT IN THE CITY
ProTooling Japanese knives and kitchenware, Camperdown, Sydney
In Osaka a few years ago, I spent a morning with master knife-maker Atsushi Mizuno at Tanrenjo, a family workshop established in 1872. His medieval-looking oven was roaring at a lively 900C and he told me it took up to a week to forge, grind and sharpen his best steel knives. I bought a smallish chopper with a smooth magnolia-wood handle that has become the unchallenged star of our kitchen armoury. But where do Australia’s leading chefs and restaurateurs acquire knives of this lineage and level?
Enter Sydneysider Paul Tayar, an expert carpenter and joiner who began importing superior tools from Japan to use in his woodwork business and later to sell alongside kitchen implements. He also established close connections with Japanese artisan blacksmiths during his travels and now runs ProTooling in inner-west Camperdown, which has a comprehensive online store stocking a large range of high-end knives. Tayar cites Nobu, Icebergs and Firedoor restaurants as regulars who invest in the best of these handmade tools. On the most wanted list, for amateurs and professionals alike, are a range of styles and price brackets, from, say, a 135mm “petty knife” ($119) by Tokyo-based Hitohira blacksmiths to a 160mm “bunka” knife ($1645) by Naoki Mazaki of Niigata.
Such specialisation is a throwback to a more customised age, celebrated in the knife and utensil-making districts of Kappabashi in Tokyo or Sakai in Osaka, where skills are handed down, often via lines of sword-makers. This sense of tradition is strengthened at ProTooling by the presence of Hiroko Kelly, an expert in knife-sharpening, a rare role for Japanese women.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
COOL IN THE COUNTRY
Araluen Botanic Park, Roleystone, WA
The tulips know how travellers feel. Crossing borders from Victoria to Western Australia, 150,000 bulbs spent two weeks in quarantine before permission was granted for them to be planted for the Tulip Festival at Araluen Botanic Park. Until October 3, this colourful event, including guided strolls, live music and art classes, takes over the 59ha site, 35km southeast of Perth.
Set against the bushland backdrop of the Darling Range, Araluen is renowned for its collection of tea roses and camellias, with some still blooming after 90 years. Native jarrah, marri, blackbutt and grass trees also thrive in the valley’s alpine microclimate.
Purchased by the state government, the former youth holiday camp’s heritage structures, bridges, paths and pergolas have been restored. The Grove of the Unforgotten, created in memory of youth camp members killed in World War I, is a horticultural highlight, framed by 89 pencil pines (one for each soldier) and a gentle cascade down the terraced garden into a reflection pool of water lilies.
The Hike Collective leads beginner-level walks every Friday and some weekends, accessing trails beyond the park’s locked gates that are not open to the general public. Over two hours, discover a dam with turquoise water, orchards striped across hillsides and 1930s log cabins built from local stone and wood.
One of the cottages houses the licensed Chalet Healy Cafe, which reopened in August under new management, serving meals and drinks by a log fire. Come summer, the dining balcony is draped in purple-flowering wisteria.
Entry: adults $10; children $5.
LOUISE GOLDSBURY