“In 130 years of history, our main dining concept has been to serve French cuisine as this is our core and tradition” said Chef Yu Sugimoto, 14th Executive Chef of Imperial Hotel Tokyo. During the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, 11th executive chef, Nobuo Murakami led a team of 300 cooks to prepare dishes for the Olympic game athletes. The hotel has a strong relationship with Hôtel Ritz Paris, and the 8th executive chef, Bunjiro Ishiwatari was taught directly from Chef Auguste Escoffier, and the kitchen continues to use his recipe.
Last year, 38-year-old chef Yu Sugimoto succeeded the position. After spending 5 years in the kitchen of Imperial Hotel, he moved to France and worked as chef de cuisine at Le Meurice under two maestros, Chef Yannick Alleno and Chef Alain Ducasse, before returning to Imperial Hotel. The hotel preserves the traditional recipe and successive chefs continue to use it in “The Brasserie”. Diners of all generations still enjoy the decade-old signature dishes. Their main dining destination is “Les Saisons”, and was led by French chef Thierry Voisin for almost 15 years. This April, they started a new private dining concept Le Salon ”Intimité” that allows guests to enjoy the 7 special course by Chef Sugimoto. “The style of two chefs are similar to each other, but both still have its differences. Chef Alleno is focused more on the original expression of using that ingredient, while Chef Ducasse believes in maximizing the flavor of the ingredient”. After spending 12 years in France, he found his own style of dedication to the ingredients, and that is by adding minimal ingredients to the plate.
This story is from the May - June 2020 edition of Cuisine & Wine Asia.
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This story is from the May - June 2020 edition of Cuisine & Wine Asia.
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