When someone asked Pierre Gagnaire what was the style of his cooking, he simply answered that he doesn’t have any style and that for him the most important is how his dishes taste and bringing joy to his guests. I think nowadays so many chefs are focusing on style (“Scandinavian”, “local”,…

Sometimes you need to travel to another side of the world to get answers to your questions. And the question I’ve been asking myself was – what had happened to Umu, my favorite Japanese restaurant in London, which has changed for the worse ever since it’s head chef, Ichiro Kubota…

Some images from the tea ceremony at Happo-en gardens in Tokyo, a complex and sophisticated centuries old ritual where each gesture has a meaning.

So this is how the precious musk melon from Senbikiya Tokyo store looked when sliced. This one cost me around 80 €, while the most expensive musk melon at the shop that day was over 160 €! As exciting as opening a Christian Dior shoe box 😉

Below is the “Local Universe” tasting menu at Quique Dacosta in Denia, Spain (Carretera de las Marinas a Denia, Km 3 03700 Denia, Alicante, Spain; tel. +34 965 78 41 79). Some describe this 3 Michelin starred restaurant as “avant-garde”, but for me, it’s the least avant-garde dishes that are most…

One of the biggest pleasures of travelling is the wonderful people you might come across. American-Japanese Yukari Sakamoto is a sommelier, a chef and an author of a book called Food Sake Tokyo. We did the Tsukiji tour together – Yukari’s knowledge of Japanese products and cuisine is just incredible.…

You don’t need to feel as if you are dining at a temple is the motto of Zaiyu Hasegawa, the chef of a modern kaiseki restaurant called Den (2-2-32 Kandajinbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; tel.03-3222-3978 ). His “counter” restaurant has 2 Michelin stars and ranks very high on the Japanese language site…

This time I’ve also revisited Miyako sushi (or Miyakozushi, 4th best sushi restaurant on the tabelog.com site) which for me is probably the favourite from all the high-end sushi-yas in Tokyo at the moment. Sugita san has this rare ability, even among the best sushi chefs, to bring out the…

Despite of its popularity and fame (3 Michelin stars and number one on the Japanese language restaurants rating site tabelog.com), Sushi Saito is still one of the most exclusive sushi shops in Tokyo. How could it be otherwise? There are only six places at the counter and even when you…

The continuous search for perfection is strongly embedded in Japanese culture and mentality. Japanese don’t compromise when quality is concerned, whether it’s service at your hotel, cleanliness of Tokyo streets or quality of the Japanese products. Nowhere in the world, you will find such amazing products as in Japan, but…