Our guests are Rahul Saito and Mitsu Nagae. Rahul is the owner and Mitsu is the co-owner and executive chef at l’abeille https://www.labeille.nyc and l’abeille à côté https://www.labeilleacote.nyc/ in Tribeca, New York. The duo opened l’abeille in March 2022 and shortly after, they won a Michelin star, thanks to Mitsu’s unique and outstanding culinary background as a Japanese chef classically trained in Paris, Tokyo and New York as well as Rahul’s sound management despite being new to the indust...
Jun 04, 2025•38 min•Ep. 366
Our guest is Takatoshi Kadowaki who is the chef-owner of Sushi Kadowaki https://sushi-kadowaki.jp/eng/ in Tokyo. He started his sushi-chef training at 17 and after his master retired, he moved to the U.S. and developed a global mindset. Now he serves authentic Edomae-style sushi in the Ginza area of Tokyo, where every sushi chef dreams about opening a sushi bar. Chef Kadowaki is known for his meticulous sourcing of his fish and his skills in maximizing umami through careful aging, which is a par...
Apr 30, 2025•31 min•Ep. 365
Our guest is Daniel Bennett who is the sake sommelier at Sushi-san www.sushisanrestaurant.com and The Omakase Room at Sushi-san www.theomakaseroom.com in Chicago. Both are a part of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants, which is an independent, family-owned restaurant group that owns, manages and licenses more than 110 restaurants nationwide with over 60 concepts ranging from fast casual to fine dining. Daniel is a certified sake sommelier and has approximately 15 years of deep experience working i...
Apr 16, 2025•56 min•Ep. 364
Our guests are Régis Camus and Carl Hirschmann, co-founders of Heavensake https://www.heavensake.com/ , which was founded in 2016. Heavensake is truly unique. It is the first sake producer that introduced the blending (assemblage) technique to the traditional sake-making process. The mastermind behind Heavensake is Régis Camus who led the renowned Champagne House Piper-Heidsieck as the Chef de Cave for 28 years. Another key point of Heavensake is that Régis and Carl and their team work closely w...
Apr 09, 2025•47 min•Ep. 363
Our guest is Hilo Mahelona who is the chef and founder of Hilo Beverly Hills https://www.hilobh.com/ in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Hawaii under Japanese and Hawaiian parents, Hilo has a unique yet authentic sushi-making philosophy. And the moment you step into his restaurant, you will feel his bright, warm hospitality. The combination of the two makes the restaurant very popular among sushi lovers and Hollywood celebrities alike. In this episode, we will discuss how Chef Hilo got int...
Apr 02, 2025•44 min•Ep. 362
Our guest is Thomas Frebel who is the creative director at Noma https://noma.dk/ . Noma is the famed restaurant in Copenhagen with numerous accolades, including three Michelin stars and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ No.1 spot. Since its opening in 2003, Noma’s chef/owner René Redzepi has been inspiring the world through his strong philosophy of cooking with Nordic traditions and his never-ending pursuit of creativity. Noma’s landscape has reached far beyond Nordic countries and Redzepi and hi...
Mar 26, 2025•57 min•Ep. 361
Our guest today is Tim Anderson who is a chef and food writer based in London. Tim’s early interest in Japanese food led him to global adventures in L.A., Japan and the U.K. A bowl of ramen he encountered in L.A. fueled his passion for studying it and he moved to Fukuoka, Japan. Then he opened his ramen restaurants in the U.K. after winning the popular MasterChef competition on BBC One. Now he writes and communicates his insight into various aspects of Japanese food culture. It is remarkable and...
Mar 19, 2025•54 min•Ep. 360
Our guest is Kumiko Hashimoto who grew up in the family of the 200-year-old sake brewery in Osaka. She now plays a key role at Dojima Sake Brewery https://fordhamabbey.co.uk/ near Cambridge in the U.K., which the family founded in 2018. Dojima Sake Brewery is the first sake brewery in the U.K. It is known not just for the quality of sake it produces but the scale of the project. The property is set in a historic, approximately 75-acre garden and pastureland. And its sake is priced far above the ...
Mar 12, 2025•52 min•Ep. 359
Our guest is Alexander Nicolau who is the founder of Mandaracha https://www.mandaracha.com/ in Kyoto, which opened in 2019. Originally from France, Alex fell in love with Japanese tea while he was working in the fields of food technology and open innovation. Mandaracha is a very special place where you can find a variety of Japanese tea, which Alex selected by visiting and meeting with each producer. You can also enjoy a tea ceremony and have other cultural experiences, such as a Shamisen guitar...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 358
And my guest today is Toshio Shinko who is the fifth-generation owner of Marushin Honke in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1881 and since then, it has produced high-quality traditional Japanese food products, such as miso and soy sauce. In 2002, in addition to managing Marushin Honke, Toshio founded the new company Yuasa Shoyu, or Yuasa Soy Sauce https://www.yuasasyouyu.co.jp/yuasa_gb_front.html in English to pursue the highest quality of soy sauce that reflects the family...
Feb 19, 2025•35 min•Ep. 357
Our guest is Emily Yuen who is the executive chef at Lingo https://www.lingobk.com/ , a unique Japanese American restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. Emily has an impressive culinary background. She worked at top French restaurants in the world, including Le Gavroche in London, DB Bistro in Singapore and Boulud Sud in New York. She also studied Japanese cuisine at the legendary Shojin restaurant Kajitsu and served as the executive chef at Bessou in New York. At Lingo, with her global knowledge and ...
Feb 12, 2025•29 min•Ep. 356
Our guest today is Yoshihiko Shida who is the chief Instructor of Tokyo College of Sushi & Washoku London www.sushicollege.uk , which opened in September 2024. The opening is exciting since the school is the first major Japanese culinary school in Europe. Chef Shida has worked as an educator and instructor in Japanese culinary institutes for over 32 years. Before that, he gained over 10 years of practical experience in a variety of restaurant and hotel kitchens in Japan and abroad. In this e...
Jan 29, 2025•31 min•Ep. 355
Our guest is Rafal Maslankiewicz who is the chef at Ikigai www.ikigai.nyc in New York, which opened in July 2024. Ikigai is a very unique concept. First of all, it is a not-for-profit organization, which is highly unusual for a restaurant. Secondly, beyond covering the fundamental costs of running a business, all proceeds are donated to a food bank. In fact, 80 days after the opening, Ikigai donated over $12,000, which funds 63 tons of food. And what makes Ikigai popular and enables such donatio...
Jan 22, 2025•29 min•Ep. 354
Our guest is Kakuho Aoe https://www.instagram.com/kakuhoaoe_nakamichi0316/ who is the chief Buddhist priest of the Ryokusenji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. Kakuho Aoe joins me to discuss why food is important in the Buddhist practice and beyond, why the Buddhist diet called Shojin Ryori is great diet for vegan, vegetarian and sustainable-minded people regardless of their religion, the eye-opening dinner events “Kuayami Gohan” (Dining in the Dark) and much, much more!!!...
Jan 15, 2025•44 min•Ep. 353
Our guest is Jun Mattison who is the assistant manager at The Rice Factory New York https://trf-ny.com/ . The Rice Factory New York is an importer, wholesaler and retailer of premium rice. The company offers the best taste and flavor possible by fully controlling the quality of rice from farming, storing, milling and transporting. Rice is eaten all over the world but for Japanese people, it has particularly a special place in their hearts. In Japan, rice is treated not as a side dish but as the ...
Jan 08, 2025•44 min•Ep. 352
Our guest is Phillip Frankland Lee who is the chef/owner of Sushi by Scratch. Sushi by Scratch Restaurants began in Los Angeles and New York marks its tenth location, which opened in September 2024. Phillip is known for innovative omakase-style sushi preparations, while still respecting the values set by sushi masters. For example, he uses premium seafood mostly from the Toyosu Market in Japan and he imports rice from Toyoama Prefecture and mills it in-house. On the other hand, he pays homage to...
Dec 11, 2024•55 min•Ep. 351
Our guest is George Kao who is the head of sales at Boken Sake https://www.drinkboken.com/ based in New York. Boken Sake is a unique concept. The company collaborates with authentic Japanese sake breweries and produces sake under the Boken brand. Many sake breweries consider expanding to overseas markets, but a lot of them are family-owned small businesses without enough resources to make it happen. Boken can effectively create a path for them to get into the American market and American consume...
Nov 27, 2024•55 min•Ep. 350
Our guest is Ririko Tatsumi who is the founder of Annn based in New York. Annn is truly a unique concept. Traditional Japanese sweets are called Wagashi. One of Wagashi’s key ingredients is An, or Anko, a bean paste made with different kinds of beans from red, and white to green. Not just colors, their flavors are diverse and it is fun to discover how simple beans can create rich flavors in Japanese sweets. That is why Ririko decided to introduce the charm of An to a global audience in the moder...
Nov 19, 2024•28 min•Ep. 349
Our guest is John Gauntner who is one of the world’s leading non-Japanese sake experts and educators. He has been writing and lecturing about sake since 1994, in various newspapers and magazines in Japan and overseas. He has published six books on sake across two languages , and hundreds of articles on the topic. Several times each year, he runs the Sake Professional Course , a week-long intensive sake study course, held both in and outside of Japan, as well as the advanced level of that course....
Nov 13, 2024•47 min•Ep. 348
Our guest is Nobu Yamanashi who is the president of Yama Seafood based in New Jersey. Founded in 1980 by his father Kengo Yamanashi, Yama Seafood has been one of the most reliable sources of high-quality seafood in the U.S. for almost 45 years. Nobu joined us in Episode #245 in November 2021 to discuss why he decided to succeed the highly demanding job in the seafood business, the changing needs for seafood at New York City restaurants, why Yama Seafood had many employees who had worked for the ...
Nov 04, 2024•47 min•Ep. 347
Our guest today Xander Soren who is the founder of Xander Soren Wines https://xandersorenwines.com/ . Xander Soren Wines is a unique boutique California Pinot Noir producer whose mission is to create wines that pair exceptionally well with sushi and other Japanese foods without overpowering them. Equally unique is Xander’s background. He spent 20 years at Apple where he played a pivotal role in helping to develop digital music products like GarageBand, iTunes, and iPod. Since the winery launched...
Oct 22, 2024•56 min•Ep. 346
Our guest is Stuart Turner who is the Founder & CEO of SushiSushi https://www.sushisushi.co.uk/ based in Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Stu founded SushiSushi in 2007 and since then, the company has grown to become a leading supplier of high-end Japanese food ingredients. Many of his clients are fine-dining non-Japanese restaurants, including The Fat Duck Group, Gordon Ramsay Group, The Savoy and Mandarin Oriental Group. In this episode, we will discuss how the young British man started a ...
Oct 17, 2024•53 min•Ep. 345
Our guest is Jerome Waag who is the former chef at the legendary farm-to-table restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Jerome moved to Tokyo in 2016 to open his own restaurant Blind Donkey . The restaurant has been popular and successful and in March 2024, Jerome has opened another place called CIMI Restorant with a strong focus on sustainability. He has been also involved in an inspiring project the Food Hub Project in a small town called Kamiyama in Shikoku Island, which aims to revit...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 344
Our guest is Shiho Tanaka who is the head sommelier at Tsukimi , the Michelin-starred kaiseki restaurant in the East Village, Manhattan. The restaurant offers great selections of sake and wine to pair with chef Takanori Akiyama’s original kaiseki-style dishes. Recently, Japanese wines were added to the list and Shiho is one of the most knowledgeable sommeliers about Japanese wines in the U.S. You may not have heard of Japanese wine, but in the last decade or so, it started to appear in the globa...
Oct 01, 2024•54 min•Ep. 343
Our guest is Makoto Okuwa , who is the chef/partner of multiple, highly popular Japanese restaurants in the U.S. and other major cities in the world, including Makoto at Bal Harbour in Miami, Love Makoto in Washington D.C., and Makoto Vail in Colorado. Makoto’s success did not come easily. He started cooking at the age of 15 in Japan, training under master chefs for a decade and moved to Washington D.C. in 2001. Under Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, his new life in America was another hardworking p...
Sep 24, 2024•55 min•Ep. 342
Our guest is Elizabeth Andoh , who joined us 14 times and shared her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture. Elizabeth is a food writer and Japanese cooking instructor based in Tokyo, and she has lived in Japan for over 50 years. She runs the culinary arts program called A Taste of Culture https://tasteofculture.com/ , which offers a great opportunity for non-Japanese people to explore Japanese culture through its food. Elizabeth is also the author of 6 cookbooks, including th...
Sep 10, 2024•54 min•Ep. 341
Our guest is Hannah Kirshner who is a food stylist and author of Water, Wood, and Wild Things published in 2021. She joined us in Episode #223 to discuss her wonderful book and introduced us to her fascinating life in Yamanaka, a small town in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Hannah’s connection with Yamanaka has been deepening over time since her first visit in 2015 for a three-month apprenticeship at a sake bar. Then she moved to the town in 2018, fully immersing herself in the local culture throug...
Aug 06, 2024•42 min•Ep. 340
Our guest is Karl Palma, who is the chef and owner of Karl’s Balls based in New York City. His mission is to introduce the soul of takoyaki, which is one of the most beloved traditional comfort foods in Japan, to the world. Karl joined us in Episode #189 in 2020 and introduced us to the basics of takoyaki. Takoyaki is one of the biggest stars of Japanese summer festivals and it is seasonally timely to delve into the delicious, savory snack with a rich cultural background! In this episode, we wil...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 339
Our guest today is Thomas Frebel , the creative director at Noma . Noma is the famed restaurant in Copenhagen with numerous accolades, including three Michelin stars and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ No. 1 spot four times in a row from 2010 to 2014. Since its opening in 2003, Noma’s chef/owner René Redzepi has been inspiring the world through his strong philosophy of cooking with Nordic traditions and his never-ending pursuit of creativity. Noma’s landscape has reached far beyond Nordic count...
Jul 15, 2024•55 min•Ep. 338
Our guest is Timothy Sullivan who is the Director of Education and lead instructor at the Sake Studies Center at Brooklyn Kura . He has over 16 years of experience teaching about sake, and in 2007 he was awarded the prestigious title of Sake Samurai by the Japan Sake Brewers Association. Since 2013, Tim has served as the Global Brand Ambassador for Hakkaisan Sake Brewery . He has played a pivotal role in developing and advancing the American sake industry. In this episode, we will discuss how th...
Jul 09, 2024•48 min•Ep. 337
