Restaurants

They overcame poverty, cancer and self-doubt to pursue their passion for the food business. We celebrate their stories.

Discover the latest restaurants added to the MICHELIN Guides to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Daniel Calvert is Executive Chef of SÉZANNE, which was promoted to Two MICHELIN Stars in the MICHELIN Guide Tokyo 2023. Before moving to Tokyo in 2021, he lived and worked in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. We asked him about Japan, his experiences around the world and what he would say to young chefs.

There’s something winsome about the puffed-up face of the fugu, known in English as the blowfish or pufferfish . Yet it’s also known as a dangerous fish, because of the poison in its organs. Why do Japanese people eat this poisonous fish? Let’s talk about this cuddly-looking fish and the hazard that lurks within it.

In the final of a 4-part video series co-produced by the MICHELIN Guide and Audi Japan. Hiroyasu Kawate tells us more about a new age of sustainability — and how the attention to details needed to be a chef is mirrored by the constant and innovative evolution of the Audi e-tron Sportback.

Osamu Matsuura, a One MICHELIN Star sushi craftsman, treks daily to the morning market at Toyosu Market, Japan’s largest fish market. For close on 20 years, since his apprenticeship days, Matsuura has been commuting to Toyosu and its forerunner, Tsukiji. We followed Matsuura on one of those daily errands as he stocked up on kohada (gizzard shad) and prepared it at his restaurant.

More inclusive beverage menus, nanotechnology-powered ingredients and back-to-basics cooking, these are some of the developments we will see in the coming year, say Asia’s leading restaurant chefs.