There are many meals in your life.
Some are so-so, some are good and some are great.
And then you have these special meals, they one you will never forget.
For many reasons.
And this is one of them.


So here I was excited to venture to the restaurant of the only female Chef who is on the WB50 Asia list.
I went there not for her cakes, but for a collaboration meal together with Daniele Calvert, newly minted Chef of Sezanne in Tokyo. A combination which is prima-vista super interesting.

The Doctor and the Beauty. 
(This without invoking any prejudice to skill and gender.)

Daniel, as a protégé of Thomas Keller, paired with his humble and curious personality, creates food which is restraint while complicated, but unbelievably tasty. I wonder why a young man like Daniel has the courage to hold back as much as he does. His focus on the main ingredients combined with a few other symbiotic additions is simply astonishing. One dish to underline my point. Look at the Saba “Escabeche” with Hamaguri. Purity on a plate! The taste of the saba matches the taste of a Saba nigiri of Sugita san. Stunning.

Natsuko, the world’s most famous cake maker, is probably cursed by the fame she created by the beauty and taste of her cakes. At least for me, it eclipsed her ability to create complex and excellent dishes. Her passion for fashion translates into the design of her dishes, but be no fool, they are really tasty. The combination of flavors and top notch execution creates stunning, very well tasting dishes. For example, the difference of viscosity, acidity and texture of her Amadai dish is a lecture of how one can create pleasure in one’s palate. Go there and experience it, I am sure you will agree.

I don’t know why and how I got invited to this collaboration (which lasted just for a few days), but I am thankful. A collaboration rarely works, but this one not only worked, but sparkled. I believe every word when I hear about all the effort this stunning, extraordinarily creative team put into this pas de deux and I am grateful to have been part of this.

PS: Full disclosure. 
Unknown to me, the organizers decided to treat the guests on that particular day I have been there for the meal and drinks. Normally I never accept comps etc. I did not know about it, when I agreed to come, I am, however, very grateful for the generosity and hospitality of the Hosts, Natsuko & Daniel. 
But I want to emphasize, that if I had had to pay for my meal and wine, nothing which I wrote above would have been different.

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