The charm of fermentation I noticed in Scandinavia .

There were few tastes that I knew, but many tastes that I did not know. After the meal at Kabi, I was impressed by the following discoveries.

Restaurant Kabi, which opened in Meguro, Tokyo, last November, initially attracted attention with its catchy "20-something chef" and "fermentation," but now it has become a regular restaurant for even the most seasoned gourmets. Now, however, the restaurant has become a regular stop for more sophisticated gourmets as well.

The restaurant has become one of the most popular restaurants in the first half of 2018, and has become one of the most difficult to get reservations for.

For example, the specialty (signature dish) "saba" is vinegared mackerel with manteau cheese and sweet fermented miso, rolled in leaf wasabi.

The "Vegetable (Greenpeas)" course for March features scallops, scallops, chives, pickles, and radish pickles marinated in molasses miso, topped with white powdered clams , flavored with fermented green pea juice, clam broth, and mint oil. The dish is flavored with fermented green pea juice, clam broth, and mint oil.

The complex flavors of the parts, which are too many to remember, seem to be scattered about, but the ripe flavors of each ingredient overlap and spread out in the mouth as one thick, delicious taste.

Fermentation is an inherent part of Japanese food culture, and I consider my cuisine to be "Japanese cuisine" because I use many Japanese ingredients and seasonings and serve pickles and sushi as my staple dishes.
." says Chef Shohei Yasuda. After serving as sous chef at the French restaurant "Tirpse" in Shirokanedai, Tokyo, which opened and was awarded a Michelin star in the fastest time in the world, Yasuda went to Denmark where he trained by himself as a chef at the one-star restaurant "Kadeau," and returned to Japan at the end of 2016. He returned to Japan at the end of 2016 and opened "Kabi" in partnership with Kentaro Emoto, a sommelier.

In Denmark, the level of food is very high, and popular restaurants, such as Kadeau, use fermentation to preserve food and at the same time enhance its flavor to make it tastier. This is the same way of thinking about pickles in Japan, and many restaurants were further influenced by Japanese food culture. But even though I am Japanese, I had never made nukazuke before . I wondered how to make it. I learned from them and imported it back. For example, French people rarely open a Japanese restaurant after training in Japan and returning to France, and even though I have a French background, I wanted to convey the charm of Japanese food culture and traditional food that had always existed in Japan if I were to open my own restaurant in Japan.

The "bringing out the best flavor by letting it rest" is located in the back of the restaurant.

On the shelves neatly lined with colorful and austere bottles, the top shelf is filled with fermented juices made from kelp tea and fruits. From the middle shelf down, there are about 20 kinds of bottles, including pink strawberry bottles and bottles in which nuts that Mr. Yasuda himself picked up, such as Japanese chestnuts, are bubbling, implying that they are fermenting.

Mr. Yasuda opens the bottles one by one , checking their condition. The aroma of maturity pervades the area, and the walls of the old house seem to breathe in and out the aroma and bacteria.

. what makes us different from other restaurants is that we wait a long time after preparing the food. Right now, shiitake mushrooms and strawberries that were prepared last fall and winter are just at the best time for fermentation. . What we prepare in the winter is used six months later in the summer, so there is no sense of seasonality. Therefore, I am conscious of incorporating as many raw, seasonal ingredients as possible to pair with fermented ingredients. I try to fit the salted, smoked, marinated, or fruit-based ingredients into a single course like a puzzle, and then combine them with seasonal vegetables, fruits, and fish in a well-balanced way to incorporate a sense of the season.

The nostalgic yet "new taste" experienced at Kabi is based on the traditional fermentation and aroma of Japanese cuisine, and the menu is created by considering what to combine with what and how to prepare it, in other words, the process of preparation is completely new. In other words, it is because the process of making the dish is completely new, and the result is a new and delicious Japanese cuisine that has never been experienced before.

What is even more surprising is the pairings that sommelier Emoto, who is also a co-owner of the restaurant, makes for the courses of the day. Emoto says that even without tasting the food, he is able to create a pairing just by hearing from Chef Yasuda what it tastes like.

. we don't do special pairings. Each dish has its own characteristics, but unlike a French dish with layers and layers of sauces, each part of the dish's flavor mixes together in the mouth, so it is easy to tell if it goes well or not. For example, if a dish has a grassy flavor with an aroma like takuan (pickled radish), would you feel comfortable with this part of the sake within that single world? If you think about it, it is easy to pair it. This wine, Jean Yves Péron La Bottiere 2015, is a white wine of the Jacquère ( Jacquère ) variety, which is a discovery even when drunk on its own, but it has a similar aroma to the food at "saba" so it naturally goes together. As a trend, I often pair drinks with pickled dishes that have an oxidized flavor, such as takuan (pickled radish)."

Also, the sake to be paired with the specialty "saba" is "Kimoto Burendo Hakuin Masamune. It is a winter-only sake from Takashima Shuzo, a sake brewery established in 1804 in Shizuoka, blending four different types of pure rice sake from the same sake brewery, which gives it a complex and deep flavor that cannot be achieved with just one type.

Furthermore, one cannot talk about Mr. Emoto without mentioning the nine non-alcoholic pairings, including the fermented juices.

Since we are making mocktails (non-alcoholic cocktails), the process of perfecting the taste as a liquid is very different from an alcoholic pairing of ready-made drinks. For example, gastronomy restaurants such as the world-renowned restaurant "noma" serve drinks that change in taste when taken with food, but they are not necessarily delicious as a drink on its own. Therefore, I try to make drinks that taste good on their own as a finished product, and I value the feeling that they accompany the food.

Finally, we asked Chef Yasuda about the form that "Kabi" is aiming to take.

We both want to create a restaurant where we can raise the level of our customers as well as our creators. Nowadays, many people come to enjoy a restaurant after checking restaurant review sites and ratings. Of course, we appreciate that, but we want people to enjoy the experience of eating a dish without knowing how it is made, not because it is carefully explained to them, such as, "How it is cooked and combined with this. I want people to enjoy the experience itself. . I want people to enjoy the food and the space with their five senses, rather than just taste the food based on information. It is one of our challenges for the future to let our customers know how to enjoy restaurants in this way.