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.
Oooo, would love to try the original one. I love those salads they give you at japanese restaurants!
I’m interested, I’m interested! they look really yummy!
Hugs Nami!
Nami–What a beautiful looking dressing. I have never tried it before and would be very lucky if I am chosen the winner.
As aside I love that your photos are always so fresh in appearance…just make the food look that much better:)
The Ginger carrot looks divine!!! Although they all sound wonderful, I’d love to try them!
I love Japanese salad dressings! A lot of times, they are easy to make at home too. I just haven’t gotten around to it! Thanks for the giveaway!
I love the sound of these dressings! I have never tried a Japanese style salad dressing before, but I love the idea… My favorite would have to be the wasabi… Sorry, Nami! 🙂 I just love that sinus-clearing stuff! 🙂 Thanks for making it a worldwide giveaway! I have a giveaway going on too… Hope you’ll enter! Beautiful pictures, Nami!
Ohhh great Giveaway and YAY it’s worldwide perfect for us who aren’t in the States 🙂 Mr Bao loves Japanese dressing! He’s always buying it whenever we go to Asian markets and it can be so costly in Melbourne! Hopefully I’d win and even if not I hope we’d be able to find some ‘WAFU’ Japanese dressing in Melbourne…but I doubt I will >_<
Hi Nami! Sorry for the lack of comments lately, work has been kicking my butt!
I have got to remember the brand of this dressing, hopefully the local Asian markets carry them. We really enjoy the Japanese salad dressing at restaurants, the problem is I don’t normally fix salads at home, and when I do want to fix them I don’t really know which brand of dressing to buy… Now I know!
This looks like a delicious vinaigrette, but looks even better being poured over that irresistible salad! Lovely giveaway, Nami. Thank you for sharing.
Looking forward to trying out the wasabi one. Actually, they all sound delicious. it will be well worth it to try them all.
yes, I am going to win this one! I am praying already. =)
These dressings look great Nami, and fabulous photos as well! I’m so excited that the giveaway is open worldwide 🙂 My husband’s favorite food is salad so I know he would love to try these, and they come in such interesting flavors!
“i’m trying my LUCK because honestly I LOVE wasabi :)). These Japanese vinaigrette would make my life easier :))
I’ve never seen them in the store, but the ginger carrot one sounds like it would be really good and make a great marinade as well!
Pretty and healthy salad. I still have some fresh salad at home. Wonder I can get these Japanese vinaigrette at the Meida-ya store here.