Yugen

Like many words in Japanese, “yugen” is difficult to translate into English. In fact, the best possible way in which to express it in English is through a French loanword: je ne sais quoi. This indescribable quality is what Chef Mifune Keisuke hopes to make his guests feel at his Michelin-starred restaurant Yugen: making his cuisine so subtly different that every diner is instantly struck by it — but they just don’t know what it is. Having trained at the likewise Michelin-starred Kyoto culinary titan Ajikitcho for 13 years, Chef Mifune knows the basics of kaiseki cuisine like the back of his hand. It is this intimate familiarity and utter mastery of these culinary fundamentals that allows him to make such delicate changes to mainstay kaiseki dishes, bringing out that special “yugen” in each one. Most of these adjustments are closely guarded secrets, but a commonly known one is his substitution of local Kansai rice varieties with Yume Tsukushi rice from his hometown of Fukuoka. Previously the recipient of a single Michelin star in 2021, Yugen finds itself picking up a second in 2024, with a third potentially on the cards in the future. The Michelin inspectors may not have known exactly how to describe what makes the cuisine at Yugen different, but they certainly have given it due recognition.