French Cuisine ""Kochuten"" is located beneath a museum connected directly to Shin-sakae station in Nagoya. As a result of his extensive training at countless restaurants in Japan and abroad, including French, Italian, and Japanese, the Chef advocates for living naturally and true to oneself through his food.
Chef Katsusuke Uwai entered the restaurant world around the age of 22-23 when he began training at L’harmonie de la Lumiere in Gifu. There he was captivated by the lifestyle of his master chef. Thereafter, he trained at a well-established orthodox French restaurant in Tokyo. He moved to Italy and studied Italian cuisine for one-and-a-half years at a world gourmet guide award restaurant, but he was drawn back in by his fascination with French cuisine and worked at restaurants in Paris and Alsace. “I felt that French cuisine was a labor which I could bet my life on,” says Chef Uwai. After returning to Japan, he worked at an Italian restaurant and at a veteran Japanese restaurant ""Onkaiseki Shiratama,"" biding his time until he could strike out on his own.
Chef Uwai says that he lets his body move of its own accord when making menu items. Every day he goes to the market, looks at the ingredients available that day, and raises them to become cuisine. “When you’re doing what you want to do, saying what you want to say, and doing a job that you love, you can work well without stress. It’s important to live naturally and true to yourself,” says Chef Uwai, quoting his motto. One cannot lie to food. By keeping his heart neutral and working together with his team, the chef of Kochuten produces dishes which reveal the delight he takes in preparing food. The restaurant serves many outstanding dishes which simply must be sampled: the staple sea urchin consommé jelly; a quail confit recipe inherited from the chef’s master; and Gifu BON DABON’s pärsùt (dry-cured ham made by the only certified Japanese Parma ham craftsman, Masatoyo Tada), which is used by many famous restaurants such as Sugalabo and Pellegrino but can only be eaten here in Nagoya. Many carefully selected alcoholic beverages are available to enhance the flavors of the chef’s cuisine, including mostly French wines and champagnes, and digestifs such as brandy and whiskey.
Giving a uniformly elegant impression, the interior design uses a Chinese cultural concept while keeping the focus Japanese. The floors are marble, the overhead and wall lighting are Baccarat, the lamps are Lalique, and the walls are maple panels fitted with Japanese techniques. The reddish-brown Cassina chairs are matched by space’s red accents, and the decorative bonsai trees complete the thoroughly luxurious interior. In addition to the main dining room, there are also semi-private rooms, perfect for business entertainment, group dining, dates, and special occasions.
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* The availability of an English version of this page does not guarantee that the restaurant can provide services in English unless otherwise stated. Please be aware that, even if stated, there may still be days when English speaking staff are unavailable.
【Access】
■Directly connected to Shin-Sakae Station(Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama Line)
