大东高尔夫酒店

‘L’Osier’ means ‘The Willow’. The name comes from the willow trees that once symbolised Ginza and is a nod to the shop’s founding location. When the doors open, guests are greeted by a glass artwork depicting a willow tree. Half a century has passed since the restaurant opened, but it has never stopped innovating. Chef Olivier Chaignon cultivates relationships with producers around the country, creating French cuisine at the cutting edge of the era.

Sometimes our connections intervene to change our lives. Harutaka Takahashi’s mischievous youth in Asahikawa took a turn for the better when, through a tempura master who was a close friend of his potter uncle, he landed a job at Sukiyabashi Jiro. Like Ravel’s Bolero, sushi here is presented with a particular rhythm, building toward a crescendo of sweetness, sourness and temperature in harmony. Destiny is in the taste and texture of every piece of sushi at Harutaka.

Seiji Yamamoto charts the vastness of Japanese cuisine. He handles his knives and tends his charcoal grill with relentlessly honed technique. He elucidates the properties of each ingredient and the best ways to prepare it with a scientific eye, displaying unwavering resolve. His winter menu is replete with fugu items, products of years of experience and passion for Japanese cuisine. Disarming frankness shines in Yamamoto’s favourite expression: ‘I’m a chef because I love cooking.’ From January to March, RyuGin offers only the exclusive fugu course.

A noren of Tokushima indigo, Tokushima sakes, fish from Naruto and Awa beef make Hiroyuki Kanda’s roots clear. Selecting ingredients carefully and applying minimal preparation is Kanda’s style of cooking. For example, rice should be cooked to perfection, each grain distinct, with small holes like crab burrows dotting the surface. The chef’s motto is ‘subtle flavour is true flavour’, and it is in the subtle flavours that depth of character is known.

Tomoya Kawada sees cooking as a reconciliation between nature and humanity. He names his approach Sazenka, which literally means ‘tea-Zen-Chinese’, out of a desire to create Chinese fare that mediates between the worlds of tea and Zen. His cuisine harmoniously combines the techniques he learned in China with the soul and spiritual features of Japan – ‘wakon-kansai’ is the theme. Japanese ingredients in season are used in spring-roll fillings and Sichuan stir-fries, lending a seasonal dimension to Chinese cuisine.

The Japanese love of small spaces is deeply connected with the spirit of the tea ceremony and its cultural background. The counter, affording just the right distance between guests and Chef Toshiya Kadowaki, seats just six. The private room, whose low ceiling suggests a tearoom, is so intimate that guests can feel each other’s breathing. The menu features dishes where ingredients in season come together to create fleeting sensations that linger in the memory forever. Truffle rice, enriching the meal in both aroma and flavour, is a case in point.

For Joël Robuchon, ‘emperor of French cuisine’, this eponymous restaurant is the jewel in the crown of the company. Kenichiro Sekiya, recipient of the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOF) and heir to both the spirit and cuisine of his famous mentor, uses Japanese ingredients to breathe new life into French gastronomy. His interpretation of Le Caviar Imperial evolves from generation to generation. Even the trolley service is the pinnacle of luxury. A table of magnificence as befits the hall of the emperor.