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Susan Jung

Taste test

Soy sauce is one of the most common ingredients in Chinese and Japanese cuisines but with dozens of brands on the shelves, it is hard to know which one to buy. Should you splurge on the most expensive bottle  or   grab whatever is on sale?  At a blind tasting, William Mark Yiu-tong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurant Owners, rated six regular  soy sauces. Mark was sceptical of labels claiming the sauces were naturally brewed because of the costs involved in the process, and he dismissed all but the Kowloon, Yamasa and Lee Kum Kee brands as 'soy sauce plonk'.

Kowloon Soy Sauce Gold Label

'This is the best. It has a natural taste and smell.  It looks rich, it has legs,  almost like wine. It has the flavour of fermented soy. This is what soy sauce is all about, how it should be.'

$49 for 625ml ($7.84/100ml). Sold only at Kowloon Soy,  9 Graham Street, Central, tel: 2544 3695. Product of Hong Kong.

Yamasa Organic Shoyu

'I rate this one second. It's richer and heavier in flavour. It would go more ideally with Japanese and Taiwanese cooking, not for sushi and sashimi because it's too heavy, but for teriyaki and other cooked dishes. This one and the Kowloon Soy taste like naturally brewed products; the others taste artificial.'

$28 for 200ml ($14/100ml). Sold at Great, Pacific Place, Admiralty.  Product of Japan.

Lee Kum Kee Premium Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce

'This is quite nice. It's close in flavour to the Japanese one [Yamasa] but it tastes more artificial. It tastes like they're trying to imitate the more expensive soy sauces on the market.'

About $7.50 for 500ml ($1.50/100ml). Sold at Wellcome and ParknShop. Product

of China.

Kikkoman Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce

'This is very uncharacteristic, very different from the others. It's just salty, there are no other flavours.  Compare the body to the Kowloon Soy, it's watery, it's artificial.  This is inferior to the Kikkoman made in Japan, which has a very different flavour. This is capitalising on the brand name.'

About $21.90 for 600ml ($3.65 for 100ml). Sold at Oliver's, Wellcome and ParknShop. Product of Singapore.

Kimlan Sang Chau Grade A Naturally Fermented Soy

'This has a more Japanese flavour.  It's not much better than the [Singaporean] Kikkoman but you

pay less.'

About $11.90 for 590ml ($2.02/100ml). Sold at ParknShop and Wellcome. Product of Taiwan.

Amoy Gold Label Dark Soy Sauce

'I don't like this one. It has a slightly sour taste but that's it, just sour and salty.  Amoy Gold Label ... that means it's more expensive than the regular Amoy but I don't like it.'

About $7.90 for 250ml ($3.16/100ml). Available from ParknShop and Wellcome. Product of Hong Kong.



Taste test