If there is one thing Basque country and Japan have in common is the obsession with perfect, seasonal ingredients. These impossibly small peas (“Guisantes lágrima” or “teardrop peas”) are only grown in an area of ​​five hectares north of Guipuzcoa and can cost up to 200 euros a kilo. Crunchy,…

When “American Gourmet” owner Eric Azagury is not selling Belon oysters (flown every day from France) and mega Alba truffles to mega yacht chefs, he travels the world and painstakingly selects the most exclusive and rare products for his shop. I am lucky enough to have met many passionate people throughout…

28-year-old Takao Ishiyama is the new darling of bloggers, instagramers and Tokyo sushi connaisseurs. His 8 seat sushi shop in Ginza is called Sushi-ya, which literally means “sushi shop” in Japanese. Apparently Ishiyama-san used to work at Kanesaka and Saito, thus you can experience the same sushi making style throughout…

Before I move on to all the new sushi shops I visited in Tokyo, I just have to share these few images from 7 chome Kyoboshi (see the full review here). Until recently it was the only tempura restaurant in the world to hold 3 Michelin stars, but this year…

L’Ambroisie : 9 place des Vosges, 75004, Paris tel. +33 1 42 78 51 45 ( 3 Michelin stars)

Ginza Hirayama‘s 33 year old chef-owner Hirayama-san used to work at the famous “introduction only” steakhouse Kawamura. The beef he used that day was tenderloin from Miyazaki, but you could also have sirloin if you are really into super marbled beef. The major difference between Kawamura and Hirayama is that…

No matter how good your hotel or credit card concierge is, or how fluent you speak Japanese, you can’t get into Kawamura ,even by reserving it very much in advance. I realized this two years ago, when I naively asked my hotel concierge in Tokyo to get me a place…

Nature is not always pleasing. We tend to ignore, or at least hide from our view the unpleasant parts of it, like, death for example. Not at In de Wulf (Wulvestraat 1, 8951, Belgium; tel. +32 57 44 55 67), where you are greeted with a large cow skull in…

Shima steakhouse chef-owner Shima-san is one of the most well-travelled chefs I’ve met in Tokyo. He speaks good English and French as in the Seventies he used to work at Le Duc, which happens to be my favourite restaurant in Paris. Speaking of Shima’s-san steak, it would be my number one…

3 Michelin starred Hertog Jan, located 20 minutes drive from the medieval Belgian town Bruges, is one of the most memorable restaurants I’ve been to over the last years. 8 months ago, it has relocated from Bruges to the 19th-century farm, which had taken 4 years to renovate. Everything here…