In good taste

In kitchens filled with love, laughter and ladles of every size, SNEHA MEHTA finds comrades defying the old adage of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

- SNEHA MEHTA

When Kanchan Adhikari lost his job in 2019, he announced his plans to start a Nepali restaurant to his Japanese wife Asumi, leading to the biggest fight in their relationship. Asumi's argument: Kanchan had never cooked professionally. "I told him, 'You're a smart guy, you can get another job'," she recalls. "But he didn't listen to me."

Kanchan, who is originally from the Chitwan district of Nepal, moved to Tokyo 16 years ago to study business administration. After being laid off, he taught himself to cook through YouTube tutorials and calls with his mother and grandmother back in Nepal. He also drew on the muscle memory of following his mother's instructions from outside the kitchen when she couldn't enter during her period. Thus armed, he began serving home-style Nepali curries for the lunch seating at his friend's bar. “I had to dive straight into the deep end and cook to protect my family,” Kanchan says. “There was no choice.”

Emboldened by the results, the couple decided to start their fine dining restaurant, Adi, in August 2020. It was perhaps the worst time to open a restaurant, but they were galvanised by the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. At Adi, Kanchan combines high-quality Japanese produce with the spices and flavours of Nepal. Samosas are made with wild ashitaba from Izu Oshima (an island off the coast of Honshu) and kinmedai (golden eye snapper) is served with coconut raita and tamarind chutney. Established Tokyo fishmongers typically don't supply to restaurants without Michelin stars but they sell to Kanchan because they like his respectful South Asian manners. “Old Japanese men love Kanchan,” Asumi confirms.