Azabu Asai

Azabu Asai’s head chef Taichi Asai values the personal connection above all. No item of food that passes through Azabu Asai’s kitchen escapes his attention. Every morning, he stops by Toyosu Fish Market for a chat with his inner circle of seafood suppliers, who give him nothing but the best of the day’s catch. The top-grade kuroge wagyu that graces his countertops comes from a butcher in his hometown of Kyoto. Though he now owns his own restaurant in one of the most glamorous parts of the nation’s capital, the Kyoto farmers that supply his vegetables still talk fondly of him when he was a junior high school student. So it is human connection, patiently built and established over years of trust and care, that underscores every dish in Azabu Asai. Though Chef Asai may have refined his skills in some of Kyoto’s most famous restaurants, like the famed kappo restaurant Maruyama in Gion, or the Ginza branch of Restaurant Yonemura, it is perhaps this irreplaceable connection that makes all the difference in his cuisine.