In February 2023, the tour "Fly to the Table ~ A Journey of Flavors ~" was held to enjoy local gastronomy on Amami Oshima. This is the first tour project in which Japan Airlines and JAL PAK have teamed up with Russo, who operates Premium Japan.
This time, the chef who was invited to participate in this project and showed off his skills was Yusuke Namai. He is the owner and chef of Ode in Hiroo, Tokyo, and is widely known for its innovative French cuisine. He is consistently ranked in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, and the cuisine created from his free thinking is highly acclaimed around the world.
Villa resort hotel "Denpaku The Beachfront MIJORA". Here, you can spend a blissful time interacting with overwhelming nature and forgetting the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The dinner location was ``2 waters'' of the tour's hotel ``Denpaku The Beachfront MIJORA''. This restaurant is located in the perfect location, overlooking Amami Oshima's endlessly clear and beautiful sea.
Chef Namai and the staff from Ode and 2 waters, who have arrived on Amami Oshima, move around the kitchen. Occasionally we would stop and share our opinions. As dinner time approached, the voltage in the kitchen seemed to rise even more.
``It is thanks to the dedicated efforts of the staff at Ode that we were able to bring out the charm of Amami Oshima's ingredients, which we had never used before and were exposed to for the first time,'' Chef Namai says in praise.
Chef Namai and the Ode staff continue their work.
Photo left: Many herbs grown on Amami Oshima were also used. Photo right: Starters lined up in rows. Feel relaxed with food that you can pick up with your hands.
At 18:XNUMX pm, the noteworthy dinner began with a speech by Chef Namai. Chef Namai spent a lot of time preparing in advance, including reading up on numerous documents related to Amami Oshima's food and visiting producers to learn about the ingredients and food culture.
``I think that because the land is historically and geographically disadvantaged, there is a lot of ingenuity when it comes to ingredients.I respect the people of Amami Oshima who tried to eat and preserve the ingredients somehow in order to survive.'' We came up with a menu based on this idea. We had a lot of fun thinking about the ingredients. We brought home local beans, aged them for several months, and made them into bean sauce. It was a lot of fun discovering new ingredients."
Finally, the spectacular sunset that can only be seen at this location marks the beginning of a unique gastronomic experience. Ode's courses begin with hand-picked dishes because we want you to relax and enjoy yourself, and this time it's no different.
A taco-style tobinya (a delicacy of Amami Oshima, Pacific oysters) flavored with bean sauce made from local beans prepared by the chef, a tart with island banana and carrots, a pertus souffle made with sea lettuce and seaweed with the scent of hijiki and coffee, and a dish made with local fish "Akamatsu". From the start, elaborate dishes such as salmon tobakaze are lined up. As they snacked on these, the guests were drawn more and more into the world created by Chef Namai.
Chef Yusuke Namai was born in Tokyo in 1975. When he was 25 years old, he started his career in cooking. After working as a chef at Restaurant J in Omotesando, Tokyo and Ururu in Karuizawa, he became a chef at Chic Petitere in Hatchobori, Tokyo in 2012. Opened “Ode” in 2017. It was awarded one star in the 2019 Michelin Guide, ranked 2020th in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 35, and 2023th in 20.
The tableware used for dinner is made with materials from Amami Oshima as much as possible, such as using large conch shells as vessels. The clean sand from the beach also added color to the platter. Chef Namai's intention was to have the audience enjoy the live feeling that can only be experienced at a local event, something that cannot be achieved with ordinary plates.
Furthermore, as the course progresses, dynamically arranged dishes appear. For two days, you can eat vinegared shellfish meat and hikagehego (a giant fern that grows in Amami Oshima) with liver mayonnaise, served in a beautiful luminous shell bowl, and herbal dishes such as handama (kintoki grass) paste. The menu includes marinated island goat royale, pig's trotter and red radish pie served with dragon fruit sauce fermented for two weeks, and Ryukyu boar stewed in brown sugar shochu. Not only do all the dishes use ingredients from Amami Oshima, but the combinations of ingredients are surprising and pay homage to history. This is local gastronomy that deserves rave reviews and is filled with Chef Namai's passion.
There was a cheer when the pork trotter and red radish pie was served.
A number of dishes are condensed with Chef Namai's unique sensibilities, such as the idea of using night shellfish as vessels.
A variety of plants from Amami Oshima are used to create a table full of wild flavor.
Carve your one-night-only dinner into your memory with a course menu in hand
Chef Denpaku, who joined us in the kitchen this time, said, ``Chef Namai sublimated Amami Oshima's ingredients into gastronomy in a way that was not bound by stereotypes.He created many wonderful dishes that people from Amami Oshima would never have imagined. It was a great inspiration for me, and I would like to share Chef Namai's methods of handling and cooking ingredients with other chefs in Amami Oshima.''
The world of food is so profound that the more you dig into it, the more profound it becomes. In particular, stepping into the world of local gastronomy requires a wide range of knowledge that goes far beyond the realm of food. This is because local gastronomy is about learning about the history and culture of a region and using that knowledge to create dishes using local ingredients, and it cannot be possible without learning from both the cook and the eater.
The first ``Fly to the Table ~ A Journey of Flavors~'' ended in great success, leaving unforgettable memories for both the guests and the chefs. She is already planning to hold the event at the next candidate location, but I wonder where and what kind of local gastronomy we will encounter next time.
Each region of Japan has a rich natural environment and culture, and each region has its own unique food culture. This is truly a Japanese treasure. This project, which shines a spotlight on local regions through local gastronomy tourism, provides an opportunity to discover such treasures. Furthermore, it will surely contribute to the development of Japan's food culture and the creation of a gastronomic city centered around food. I have high hopes for this groundbreaking project in the future.
text by Yoshiko Takahashi
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