After amazing turbot in Elkano and mouth-watering Galician beef in Etxebarri, it was the turn of Ibai, another Basque restaurant focusing on excellent ingredients. Alicio Garro name might not be famous internationally, yet he is one of the finest chefs I’ve ever encountered. His style of cooking is minimalist, but…

Aside from my usual Tokyo sushi spots like Harutaka, this time I was after sushi shops I’ve never been to before. I’ve posted already about the excellent Sushi-ya, which quality and chef’s skills wise reminded me greatly of the great Sushi Saito. Now it’s the turn of Tokami. One Michelin…

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…