Despite the limited space, @ryogotahara_logy and his team turn out startlingly creative dishes with a maximalist bent at @logy.tw. Here’s an example: sliced red tuna and chives rolled in a thin layer of medium-fatty tuna sit atop a bed of umi budo in a golden pool of saffron-grapefruit dashi. The composition is veiled in a transparent jelly of (memory fails a bit here but perhaps) hibiscus sprinkled with shiso flowers. What makes this dish shine is the clever pairing, a rare white Crozes-Hermitage by Jeannine Boutin.

Award-winning somm @lu__kevin made great choices for every course. I especially liked the orange Lunar from (wild and crazy guy) @moviawines with the sweet-and-savory unagi, fried and then finished with mushroom broth and scallions. Ryogo’s cuisine shows a clear lineage to his mentor, @hiroyasu_kawate, veering principally in the embrace of bitter flavors at Logy.

One of the most captivating courses was also the most subtle: homemade tofu filled with a touch of cream, afloat in a broth of tomato water and whey, crowned with caviar and a pine-oil-scented pine nut. Paired with Las Mercedes de Callajuela non-fortified Palomino, this is food that makes you pay attention. Like an almost-familiar tune playing softly in the background.