The food, tableware, and arranged flowers all form a unified space that expresses the uniqueness of INUA. Photography Jason Loucas
Dishes that evoke scenes from your memory and forgotten sensations
One of INUA's desserts is black koji ice cream with pine cones boiled in syrup and drizzled with Uwazumi cherry tree oil. The syrup boil is made by boiling small pine cones from Ibaraki five times, boiling them in sugar syrup for four hours, and then slowly boiling them in honey to evaporate the moisture.The resulting sticky product is then stored in a vacuum pack while maintaining its shape. And, like everything else, it is completed through a complicated process and effort. When I think of those pretty pine cones, it seems that images of my childhood, when I picked up pine cones and played with them in the forest, come to mind. You will be surprised by the quiet and deep power of this dish. What kind of childhood did head chef Thomas Froebel have?
Thomas Froebel, who leads INUA. Cheerful, energetic, candid and intelligent. Although he plays a big role, he also gives the impression of being innocent.
It was after I met Rene Redzepi of noma that I began to have a lifelong passion for cooking.
I was born and raised in Magdeburg, a city in the former East Germany. He was born several years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of East and West Germany. ``Before unification, my mother could only go to the West once a year, and each time she would bring back mandarin oranges. It was a southern European fruit, and I fell in love with it.My grandmother had an orange at her house, and I used to go there every day to get one. There was a big tree with cherries, sour cherries, plums, apples, and pears, where my cousins and I would climb and play and be scolded.There were also plenty of berries such as strawberries and currants, and I have fond memories of picking them and eating them. .
Meals at home were traditionally meat with gravy on Sundays and fish on Tuesdays. After being obsessed with soccer as a boy, he turned to cooking with the idea of helping out at his father's bistro. When he was 10 years old, he read the autobiography of a world-famous German chef, and yearning for the freedom of living anywhere in the world like him, he spent the next XNUMX years training at top restaurants in Germany. It was after meeting Noma's Rene Redzepi that he began to have a life-long passion for cooking.
"I make people happy and happy through cooking. I've always strived to do that. I want everyone to be happy. That's why I want my staff to be able to work effortlessly and enjoyably, so that someday they won't have to go through such complicated steps to cook food." I think it's possible to make it simpler, but it won't be possible for a while," he says with a smile. He has a strong sense of compassion for his staff. Chefs are important, but service staff are the bridge between the kitchen and the customers, and they do a great job of acting like anthropologists and psychologists.I think the restaurant industry should be more grateful to the people who wash the dishes. I feel it.
INUA also has a unique selection of tableware, tableware, and cutlery. Using the modern method of starting with artists found on Instagram and then expanding to artists the person follows, they were able to find items that were appropriate for the food and space. Many of the cups and plates, including the jug pictured, are the work of Nobuhiko Tanaka, a pottery maker in Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture.
The wooden cutlery is the work of Roberto Jun Yuasa, who immigrated to Japan from Brazil and has a workshop in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. He makes wood products for everyday use such as cutlery and butter cases. Most of the cutlery used at INUA is made in Japan, but the dagger knives, including the one in the top center that looks like a bird's face, are the work of Scandinavian artists such as Denmark's Mikael Hansen. Handmade and each piece is unique and unique. Photography Jason Loucas
“Monk liver terrine.” Decorate with monkfish jawbone. Photography Jason Loucas
Talents and strengths from all over the world come together to form a team
Froebel says that if there's one thing he's good at, it's his "endurance," and the more pressure there is, the better he performs. "There's a language barrier, but it's precisely because of the difficulties that I struggle. I'm happy to be able to live and work in Japan." A year and a half after opening, INUA has received high praise as a further development of Noma's cuisine.
The restaurant is mainly open only in the evening, but many of the chefs are working from early in the morning. There is an even larger kitchen in the back of the open kitchen, and when I visited, they were preparing a unique and popular dessert, ``Wakame Millefeel.'' There are over a dozen chefs from around 15 nationalities. Some chefs come for training. The sous chef is from Guatemala, and the chef who showed me around the kitchen, Hidetake Ishizaka, is a Japanese man of Australian origin. It's truly international. ``Cooking is the common language here. INUA is a nomadic gathering,'' says Frebel.
Five or six people work on one menu, and once it's completed, they move on to separate tasks. The attitude is that anyone, anywhere can do anything. Their crisp and efficient movements are reminiscent of a sophisticated sport where they form neat formations.
Cooking will be shown at "Grand Maison Tokyo"
INUA is responsible for supervising the cooking of the TV drama ``Grand Maison Tokyo,'' which started in October this year on TBS Sunday Theater, and the attractive dishes that appear in each program have become a hot topic. The story also features a restaurant showdown over three-star restaurants and the world's top 10 restaurants.
In the French restaurant where Takuya Kimura and Kyoka Suzuki team up and play chefs, Quintessence supervises the cooking, while INUA supervises the cooking of the competing chef played by Kikunosuke Onoue. The spectacular feast of food is also one of the highlights. Although it was a drama and there were various constraints, the dish was made almost exactly as proposed, and Froebel and all the staff worked hard to create the dish. The dishes that appear there are also INUA-like and inventive, such as braised lamb shoulder, which depicts the scene of ``a lamb in a meadow doing whatever it wants all day long, eating plants and flowers...''.
Matured and smoked Maitake mushrooms. Although it is a simple dish, it takes about eight days to complete using four types of seasonings (rice malt oil, miso water, kelp stock, and pine stock). Photography Jason Loucas
Eat together around the table.
Realizing fundamental human activities in the latest form
INUA was awarded two stars in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2019, which was announced in November 11. How do you want people to enjoy the phenomenon called INUA? "Enjoy cuisine that you can't find anywhere else in Tokyo in a homely space. We are here as if we were welcoming a loved one into our home. Forget about your worries and everyday worries and truly relax. I want you to enjoy your meal." So although this is fine dining, there is no dress code. It's difficult to achieve, but I'd like to see people take off their shoes and go up there.
What do you want to accomplish in the future? ``My starting point is always to make people happy.I want to live my life as a person who can strive for that, make my parents and the people around me happy, and give back what many people have given me.That's what I hope. Masu".
I want to travel more. Places I would like to visit include Africa, Mongolia, and the hinterland of China, where the world of meditation and Zen spreads out. I also want to take my time to revisit the various places in Japan that I visited while researching food. He wants to do his favorite thing, rock climbing, and spend more time with his friends and girlfriend, showing the face of a man in his prime today.
Chefs from faraway countries look far into food cultures around the world, from ancient times to the future, and create culinary experiences that can only be found here. Just like a magician who makes people happy. At INUA, each person will be awakened to various memories and sensations, and will feel something deep that appeals to their inner self. Eating opens the door to new sensibilities and changes the world. Life changes. This restaurant offers such an experience.
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairings are available to match the course menu. The juices are all creative, such as cilantro and barley koji, melon and sansho, and pumpkin and mango. Alcohol includes wine, beer, and sake. Photography Jason Loucas
Thomas Frebel Thomas Frebel
Born in 1983 in Magdeburg, Germany. Since joining Noma in 2009, he has built the trust of Rene Redzepi as the head of research and development, and has also worked at pop-up stores in Tokyo, Sydney, and Mexico, leading Noma as Redzepi's right-hand man. He became INUA's head chef in June 2018. In February 6, INUA won first place in the world at the "World Restaurant Awards 2019" (new restaurant category of the year). TBS Sunday Theater broadcast from October 2, 2019"Grand Maison Tokyo"(TBS 28 stations nationwide every Sunday from 21:00pm).
https://inua.jp/
INUA
KADOKAWA Fujimi Building 2F, 13-12-9 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Every Tuesday to Saturday from 18:XNUMX (dinner only)
Sunday lunch held several times a month, irregularly
There is also a private dining room that seats up to 12 people. We can also discuss private parties and events.
Closed every Sunday and Monday
booking@inua.jp
Inquiries regarding reservations: TEL 03-6683-7570 (Reception hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 – 16:00)
INUA official account
Instagram inuajp
Twitter @INUA_JP
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/INUAjp/
Photography by Yuji Hori
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