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.
That pouring shot is simply amazing!! I want to bathe in the ginger carrot dressing. Looks yum 😀
These sound really good. Where are they sold? I haven’t seen them in the shops in Queensland. 🙁
I love Japanese food, and am eager to try this, if I can find it!
Thanks for the wonderful review. I know I would’ve never heard of this product if I wasn’t a visitor here. And that salad looks superb. Wonderful post as always
I’m always curious about salad dressing, and this could be an opportunity to know some new ones 🙂
This looks so good. Sounds like all purpose dressing you can put on any type of salad.
Nami, Ginger Carrot and Original are probably my favorite dressings. Will see if I can find them at our local supermarkets. Your salad looks amazing!
The dressings sound delicious! Love the third picture of the salad with the dressing!
Ive been so swamped lately I can’t believe I missed this post. I’ve never heard of this brand of dressings. Do they sell it in the U.S.? The flavors sound wonderful and a nice compliment to salads or as a marinade to many dishes.
My husband and son love wasabi although I’m not much of a fan. Real wasabi is actually very mild if you’ve ever tried it. Thanks for sharing this fun and generous giveaway.
Hi Nami – great view. Love the color of carrot/ginger. And your shot pouring the dressing onto the salad, terrific!
LL
Looks and sounds so tasty that I can’t wait to try set #1 🙂
I would like to try too. Love your blog. Keep writing.
Another competition, I hope the angel of luck is with me now.
BTW that wasabi edamame looks interesting, I can already imagine the flavours
hi
I googled “japanese sesame salad dressing” and I came to your blog. By coincidence i saw the dressing on the store shelf. I like your blog, good job!
Hi Nami!
These dressings look so delicious! I love all the flavors, especially a creamy but ‘light’ version. That’s perfect for health reasons 🙂 I actually am very enticed by the wasabi edamame. Sounds amazing! And as always, beautiful photos.
Jessica