A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a Canadian company which sells WAFU® Japanese Vinaigrette to see if I’m interested in sampling their dressing. The funny thing is this dressing is actually one of my husband’s favorites, so I happily accepted the offer. This review is based on our own experience and we did not get any compensation from the company other than a dozen of free samples.
WAFU Japanese Vinaigrette comes in four flavors: Original, Original Light (43% less fat than Original), Ginger Carrot, and Wasabi Edamame.
To fully enjoy these salad dressings, I prepared my typical Japanese salad: Iceberg lettuce, sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs, wakame (seaweed), and kaiware daikon (Daikon radish sprouts).
We had previously tried Original flavor when my husband bought them from the Asian markets. One day, he was really craving the salad dressing Japanese restaurants in our area serve (typically on the salad with lunch and dinner specials). He was really happy he found off-the-shelf dressing that tasted similar. The Original dressing is very tasty. It’s creamy and not too tangy. If you don’t like sour dressings, you don’t have to worry about that. We actually like a little bit of sourness in our dressings, but we still enjoy this dressing very much.
Then we moved on to Ginger Carrot flavor. We never tried this flavor before so we were very excited to try this one out. The dressing has beautiful orange color from the carrot and looks very appetizing on fresh greens. We poured this over on the same Japanese salad and surprisingly the taste was also recognizable. It’s the same or similar flavor as the salad quite a few Japanese restaurants also serve. I could definitely taste the ginger flavor but it’s not too strong that it overpowers the carrot. It’s a great match from these two ingredients.
Lastly we tried Wasabi Edamame. If you are my frequent readers of my blog, you all know that my husband and I don’t like wasabi. I know, I know, I might be the only Japanese grownup who refuses to eat wasabi when I eat sushi. Am I missing it out? It’s okay, I really don’t like the taste… But the first two dressings were really delicious so I tried Wasabi Edamame. Hm… I “can” eat it, so wasabi is not as strong as eating regular wasabi. But let’s just say I rather stay out of the wasabi flavor. Edamame definitely made the wasabi taste milder, but if you don’t like wasabi, you definitely can sense it’s in the dressing.
Over all, we love the dressing very much, even the Light healthy version of the Original flavor. All these dressings are very creamy, yet they are surprisingly not heavy at all. The consistency of the cream is very thin, so the silky texture goes around the salad nicely and it’s just the right amount of tanginess and sweetness. Since we enjoyed these dressing so much, I thought I should share some of the dressing that I received from the company since I could easily buy more from my nearest Japanese and Chinese supermarkets that I go often (They’re not widely available in the US yet, but if you’re in California you can find them in Japanese and Korean stores and in the San Francisco area. Molly Stone’s will be carrying them. You can also order on amazon.com.).
YOU could win one of two sets of WAFU® Japanese Vinaigrette: one (1) set of Original (Light) & Ginger Carrot or one (1) set of Original (Light) & Wasabi Edamame.
To enter, please leave a comment on this post. This giveaway is WORLDWIDE and expires on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 at 12:00 pm PST. Entries that do not meet the entry requirement will not be considered. Winners will be selected by random.org and announced in the post on Monday, March 5th.
Full disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by yours truly.
Thank you for sharing this Nami! My sister and I love Japanese food. We’ve been looking for Japanese dressings in the stores.
Looks so good!! I want~
Japanese green salads are so refreshing, tasty and satisfying. Finding the perfect recipe for a good dressing has been difficult. Wafu brand bottled dressing sounds like a good alternative.
The salad looks yummy and so simple. I haven’t had Japanese dressing in a while. I used to love the Wafu non oil version in Japan but have not really found it stateside. I do like creamy dressings so this might worth a try.
It’s sad that I live in Canada but have never seen that vinaigrette here.. 🙁 But from your pictures and review it sounds like it’d be a delicious vinaigrette..I should try looking for this in my city !
Mia:
I don’t know where you live in Canada, but if you live in Quebec you can find our WAFU Dressings at all COSTCOs, Metro’s, Sobeys, IGA’s, Loblaws’, and Provigo stores in Quebec, as well as most Japanese and Korean stores. In Ontario, you can find our WAFU Japanese Dressings at all Metro Supermarkets (near the sushi counters in the seafood department), as well as most Japanese and Korean stores, and some Sobeys Supermarkets and COSTCO Warehouses. In Vancouver, you can find our WAFU Dressings at Choices and Fairway Markets and at some IGAs.
I have heard of WaFu dressing but have never tried it. I guess the name sounds so unusual so I was always apprehensive. This may turn out to be a good way to try it.
Mmm Ginger carrot is one of my favs! The wasabi one sounds super good too. I bet that would be good to use as a dip for something fried. Hahaha so bad.
Thanks for remembering your international readers!
I’m not a fan of wasabi either but I’d love to try the others so please include me in your giveaway! They all sound yummy!
what a fabulous dressing to try!
love Japanese dressing! esp. the one at Japanese restaurants!
Hi Nami,
I love your salad photo. It looks so appetizing. =) I would love to win a set of the WAFU® Japanese Vinaigrette. The ginger carrot dressing sounds most intriguing.
Great review! I am not sure how much I would love the Wasabi flavor, either. But ginger and carrot sounds wonderful!
I never use a Japanese dressing on my salads, in fact I never saw it before. I think I have to take more attention to the Asian products in the market, I think I missing wonderful flavors.
Love your blog!!!! Those look yummy!
Looks like everyone wants a bottle of that vinaigrette huh! Not suprising, I am curious about the taste too! 🙂 and great looking photos!