Sugalabo

Sugalabo is a French-Japanese restaurant in Azabudai, in the Minato ward of Tokyo, led by chef Yosuke Suga. The way in is a false wall at the back of a small coffee shop.

Suga came to Robuchon's group as a young cook, first working as the French chef's personal assistant, and was still in his twenties when he took charge of L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Tokyo. He stayed with Robuchon for more than 15 years. In 2014 he left to set up his own company, a laboratory for food that gave the restaurant its name, and Sugalabo followed in 2015. Krug later chose him as one of four Japanese chefs to act as ambassadors for the champagne house.

The menu is an omakase that follows the short seasons of the Japanese year rather than the four broad ones. Each month Suga travels around the country to find produce, but also the plates and tools the kitchen works with. A meal may begin with a puffed rice cracker topped with bottarga from Nagasaki, then move to a feuilleté of blue cheese and daikon, or saury from the Pacific served with confit tomato. The dish most linked to the house pairs cured ham with Japanese curry rice, a home-style comfort food dressed in French technique. Desserts are led by Kazutoshi Narita, who came from Esquisse and was once named Asia's best pastry chef.

Seats run along a counter facing the cooks, with one private room beside it. Suga has said openly that he dislikes critics and rating systems, and the restaurant keeps its phone number private. Even so, it has appeared on the Asia's 50 Best list and holds a Tabelog Silver award and a high La Liste score. The secrecy shapes the meal as much as the food does: diners come through a coffee shop, sit close to the chef and eat whatever the season and his travels have brought that week.