Ryugin

Michelin ☆☆☆

Japanese chef Seiji Yamamoto is widely admired for coupling a vivid imagination with a deep respect for tradition and Japanese culinary heritage. His outlook, combined with immense skill and precision, results in the inimitable dishes served at this Tokyo destination, which has been on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for five years now. The 18-seat restaurant’s interior is relatively plain, but the labour-intensive cooking is anything but. Yamamoto’s food is not traditional, being kaiseki Japanese but with influences from French and Chinese cuisine.

Yamamoto seeks to push the boundaries of Japanese cuisine through his dishes, but always from a base of understanding and appreciating the subtle changes of season, indigenous ingredients and precise techniques honed over centuries. And when he steps away from the kitchen, the chef is a passionate promoter of his country’s culinary heritage on the global stage