Good food is more than just good cooking. It’s about experiencing in tangible form someone’s vision – be it that of a chef, bartender, producer or farmer. That was our major takeaway when we attended the spectacular Luxury Group Dining Series at the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo over the last weekend of September.
The prestigious Tokyo hotel hosted the launch, and served as the first stop, of the multi-city dining programme. Over the course of two months, the Luxury Group Dining Series is set to bring together 55 culinary and beverage talents to showcase not just their craft but also their unique food and drink ideas at 23 restaurants and bars across six regional destinations.
In Tokyo, we got to hear from dedicated farmers who are behind some of Japan’s finest ingredients. We then tasted exemplary dishes from chefs who took inspiration from the farmers’ produce and sought to champion them. We also sipped cocktails that were like spirited narratives of Japan’s past.
Over this illuminating weekend, we realised that food at its finest is a harmonious blend of many tastes: that of terroir, passion, technique and certainly culture. Here are the five main events that made up the Tokyo chapter of Marriott International’s Luxury Group Dining Series.
Chateau Haut-Brion menu with wine pairing at Heritage by Kei Kobayashi
This dinner was all about honouring traditions. Kei Kobayashi is easily one of the world’s most prolific Japanese chefs. After all, he is the first Asian chef to earn three Michelin stars in France. This year, he has expanded his presence in Tokyo by opening a string of high-profile restaurants, including his namesake at the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo, where the menu offers classic French cuisine accentuated with Japanese ingredients.
Chateau Haut-Brion, on the other hand, is one of the most revered wine producers in Bordeaux, France, with a storied history dating back to 1533. Its wines come from the Pessac-Leognan appellation, famed for age-worthy reds blending cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and stellar dry whites made from semillon and sauvignon blanc.
Here, the coming together of two legends – chef Kobayashi’s vision of French cooking, immaculately executed by the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, Teruki Murashima, and Chateau Haut-Brion’s centuries-old winemaking expertise – was a delectable reminder of how tradition is the foundation of greatness.
A delightful artichoke and caviar dish dressed in bright, vinegary sauce brought out the peach and pear notes of the La Clarte Pessac-Leognan Blanc 2017. Similarly, the smooth and gentle oakiness of the Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan Rouge 2017 offered the same depth to match the smoked lobster’s bisque-like sauce that was enriched with curry powder, coconut milk and vanilla.
Sugi Bee Honey afternoon tea at the Lobby Lounge, and a four-hands brunch with sencha pairing at Bistronomy Towers
Two of the weekend’s more casual events took one Japanese ingredient each and reimagined them for today’s palate. That was a fitting idea, considering the two venues – afternoon tea at the Lobby Lounge and brunch at Bistronomy Towers – offer jaw-dropping views of Tokyo’s sprawling ultra-modern skyline.
The afternoon tea revolved around Japanese honey by Sugi Bee Garden, which has been producing the golden nectar for more than 70 years and is noted for sustainable beekeeping practices. Sugi’s bee colonies are carefully transported from Kumamoto to Akita to Hokkaido and back, in a cross-country tour informed by Japan’s flowering season. As such, the quality honey comes in a variety of floral notes that’s reflective of Japan’s lush and diverse nature. This beautiful ingredient was the hero flavour in pastry chef Jong Tze Khang’s decadent afternoon tea spread.
The four-hands brunch was equally enjoyable, prepared by Towers’s chef de cuisine Takuji Nakano in collaboration with Vladimir Veiga, the head chef of two Michelin-starred restaurants in Portugal, namely Arola and Lab by Sergi Arola. Here chef Veiga injected his signature Portuguese flavours in dishes such as poached sea bass with yuzu-flavoured radish and galangal sauce, lending new bursts of flavour to chef Nakano’s technical French bistro-style cooking.
The focus, however, was firmly on fifth generation tea farmer and certified tea master Noriyasu Ueshima’s sencha tea pairing. Using the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo’s exclusive blend of green tea grown in Wazuka, a small section of Kyoto’s premier tea-growing region, Uji, as well as single-origin leaves from his private farm, Ueshima showcased the amazing versatility of Japanese sencha.
It’s surprising how a tweak in brewing temperature could alter the ratio of tannin, caffeine and amino acids in the tea, resulting in vastly different flavours. For instance, brewed at 65ºC with little water, the new sencha ‘espresso’ produced rich umami flavours and a satisfying long finish. It was quite the revelation.
Sake pairing dinner at Hinokizaka
It was an eye-opening experience when a sake-pairing kaiseki meal at Hinokizaka brought in a third element for a multidimensional dining experience. For two special evenings, the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo’s signature Japanese restaurant was decked out with 17 gorgeous bonsai plants from Omiya Bonsai Village, ranging from 20 to 300 years old. These miniature plants, with their unique aesthetic and cultural history, were the perfect accompaniment to a refined multi-course dinner honouring three different styles of traditional Japanese cooking: sashimi/sushi, tempura and teppanyaki.
Bonsai master Kanta Hirota was on hand to explain the intricacies of the craft. In many ways, bonsai is an art of subtraction, where unnecessary branches are pruned to maintain the plant’s sense of balance and harmony. This philosophy of ‘less is more’ is evident throughout Japanese culture, especially in food and sake.
Considered the epitome of Japanese fine cuisine, kaiseki is a celebration of seasonal tastes, where the freshest ingredients are treated with minimal intervention to celebrate their distinct flavours. Similarly with sake, rice grains are polished down to their core so that the resulting brew reflects the purity of the rice.
At this well-rounded dinner, the fruity notes in the award-winning Nabeshima sake from Saga were a lip-smacking match for the fugu sashimi’s clean and delicate flavours. Lean and fatty tuna sushi, on the other hand, was elevated with Inotachi from Fukumitsuya, a bright and refreshing sake that had a long finish. The Rokushu sparkling sake, with its fine bubbles produced through natural secondary fermentation, had just the right crispness to complement the light and clear tilefish soup.
It was a well-thought-out dinner, both in execution and conceptually: a three-way pairing of kaiseki, sake and bonsai that celebrated the purity of form and flavour.
Guest shift at the Bar
Tokyo is in its golden age of cocktails. The city is seeing a mushrooming of cool bars getting creative with their drinks, some by exploring new flavour combinations, others by reimagining classic concoctions with Japanese spirits. For the Luxury Group Dining Series weekend, two Ritz-Carlton bartenders – Kentaro Wada from Tokyo and Yosuke Asano from Kyoto – sought inspiration from the Nakasendo, an inland route in the Edo period (1603-1868) that connected what is now Tokyo and Kyoto.
Essentially, the two award-winning bartenders created drinkable Japanese history in a glass. The physical menu was just as inspired: an elegant handscroll with beautiful hand-drawn illustrations detailing the Nakasendo route and the four cocktails on offer.
The cocktail Haikara took inspiration from Nihonbashi, the heart of Tokyo back in the day, which flourished as a melting pot of cultures. Here, cognac was shaken with Japanese gin and a splash of chicken consomme for a sophisticated drink. Another stop on the Nakasendo, Sekigahara’s Tanuki & Kitsune cocktail was inspired by two of the most illustrious military commanders in Japan’s history, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari. The drink was a delectable balance of sweet and umami, thanks to the mix of dried persimmon-infused rum, sake and miso bitters.
Surprisingly, this limited-time event also served as a teaser for the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo’s revamped cocktail menu. Set to start on November 1, the new, wildly imaginative drinks menu is inspired by Japan’s 72 microseasons. But perhaps what will set Instagram buzzing is the spectacular 3D-printed glassware and vessels that will be used to serve the new drinks, including a miniature tree with the glass sitting under a canopy of blooming cherry blossoms. Judging from the preview we saw, the new drink offerings will be mind-blowing.
After Tokyo, Marriott International’s Luxury Group Dining Series continues in Bali (October 4-6), Melbourne (October 17-19), Bangkok (October 31-November 3), Mumbai (November 15-17) and Singapore (November 29-December 1). For more information, check the event website.
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