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.
The ginger carrot sounds great. I would love to win the first set.
Hi Nami,
The dressing looks yummy! The photography is simply stunning!
Well the flavors look delicious….
I love the 3rd photo Nami, so perfect!!!
B/W I am so hoping I win this …. ;-)…. One more try..LOL
my husband and i also love the dressing at japanese restaurants! this would be an easy way for us to enjoy it without having to go out with 2 kids 🙂
I love trying new salad dressings, what a great giveaway. I am not a fan of wasabi either, but the ginger carrot one sounds delicious!
They all sound delicious! Really curious about the ginger carrot one…I love ginger..and carrot. haha. Thanks for the review, Nami!
A very cool where of kicking things up a notch!
Yum yum..it’s sure fun to try out different dressings with a simple salad. Ginger carrot sounds like a refreshing combo. I’m still utterly surprised that you don’t like wasabi though.
I found this blog just today. I am going to a potluck this weekend as part of a Japanese Embroidery class and Exhibit, and wanted to make a tofu appetizer. I’m going to make your Hiyayakko. Thanks for a great blog, I have subscribed.
I’m always looking for ways to jazz up a salad. I think these would do the trick. Thanks.
I don’t like wasabi too, it’s too strong… I found it difficult to choose the right salad dressing for salads here, sometimes it’s too creamy or sour, maybe it’s just me not liking salads…
I would love to try these dressings!!!
I love the dressing that the little Japanese restaurant near us uses on their basic green salad. I totally crave it from time to time and have to go get it. These look really interesting.
I think your dislike of wasabi might have transferred over to me – I love the stuff, and when I eat sushi my soy sauce is thick and green with it! It would be my first choice. Interesting to see that your typical Japanese salad looks quite Western – is that a popular item on the Japanese menu?
Salad itself is Western influenced dish (according to Wiki, we started to eat salad around 1950). Most commonly-used ingredients include iceberg or red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers…and wakame and other seaweed are often added for Japanese style salad.
This dressing looks creamy and beautiful. I usually make my own dressings for salad but this seems like a very convenience and tasty option when I’m in a hurry. Plus, I love those dressing from the Japanese restaurant as well. Would love to try this out. Thanks for sharing and a chance to win.
amy [at] utry [dot] it