Tokyo chefs remix tradition
Tokyo chefs are reworking omakase and kakigori — blending centuries-old technique with high-tech and modern flavor profiles, a trend local tastemakers say is reshaping seasonal menus social note.
Azuki to Kouri, the intimate kakigori counter opened by former Florilège pastry chef Miho Horio in January 2022, operates a tight seven- to nine-seat service and has become known for towering, seasonal shaved-ice bowls. tokyoweekender.com The Azuki to Kouri website notes the counter explicitly borrows French pastry technique to treat shaved ice as a plated confection, and the menu cycles its seasonal highlights roughly every two weeks. azukitokouri.com Florilège chef Hiroyasu Kawate has steered the Aoyama restaurant toward plant-forward tasting formats and spawned offshoot projects—public reporting ties Kawate’s team and ex-Florilège pastry staff to the rise of next-level kakigori, with Azuki to Kouri launching from that cohort in early 2021. theworlds50best.com On the omakase side, Makitori Shinkobe under chef Toyoki Hikita pioneered live open-fire yakitori in 2021, moved its counter to Akasaka in 2023, and now stages 16 skewer-and-small-plate courses that reviewers say fill months in advance. virtuoso.com That same reporting names counters like Sushi Waku and Night Market—and credits younger chefs returning from overseas and pandemic-era experimentation—for folding Southeast Asian and Western techniques into Tokyo’s chef-driven tasting counters. virtuoso.com
