SUNDAYS OMAKASE by Shinya Yashin at Yashin Ocean House. Serves only on Sundays, for 6 people max only.

Hidden in an ordinary residential street in Tokyo’ Shinjuku ward, Ken’s Cafémakes the most extraordinary gâteau au chocolat in Japan and the best-molten chocolate cake I’ve ever had. It is also the most difficult to get too. If you buy it directly from the shop where it’s made, the waiting…

To see my full article in collaboration with All Nippon Airways please go here. Japanese ceramics expert and gallerist Robert Yellin once told me that “ceramics are like living creatures”. Indeed, when on one late autumn afternoon I was walking around his Yakimono gallery in Kyoto, located in an old…

by Pablo Alomar Salvioni Sake, locally known as Nihonshu, is drenched in myth and mystery. The Japanese seem to have a complex code in their DNA that defines the exclusive rules surrounding sake tasting…and their exceptions, in a deep and difficult balance. What for Europeans is black or white, for…

Curated by Aiste Miseviciute, in alphabetical order From London to Logroño- my list of the best and up-and-coming sushi masters in Europe.For some of these chefs it’s not only a job, but a lifetime quest to achieve perfection. Carl Ishizaki Sushi Sho (1 Michelin star)Upplandsgatan 45, 113 28 Stockholm, Swedensushisho.se+46…

Matt Goulding doesn’t do things by halves, and his recent James Beard award for Dining and Travel writing—specifically for his piece dubbed “Slice of Tokyo: How Japan Became a Pizza Hotspot”, for Airbnb Magazine—attests to this. Before writing about pizza, he learned how to make it, by becoming a certified…

When Tea Ceremony first came to Japan, it was elaborate and “Chinese Oriented”, but everything changed with the introduction of “Wabi” by Zen monk Murata Juko, who introduced simple and rustic aesthetics vs the richness and elegance of the Chinese arts. Like Alex Kerr writes in his brilliant book “Another…

The magical world of the Japanese ceramics, which encompasses wide range of styles and aesthetics from earthin-like Bizen ware to glazed stoneware pieces and porcelain by ‘Living National Treasures” or phantasmagorical creations by young generation artists such as Takuro Kuwata. Some objects that have caught my eye recently- mainly by…

There is an irony about Japanese cuisine: it is ubiquitous but at the same it’s one of the least-understood of the world’s great gastronomic cultures. Sushi is easily available from Norwich to Novosibirsk, but finding real Japanese cuisine is very difficult. Culinary Journeys events in collaboration with All Nippon Airways…

Today’s “bento box” and nigiris by the one and only Fukushima-san at Cafe Japan in Golders Green. Quite to the north if you are in the Central London, but totally worth it. (Currently in my top 3 Japanese in London..)