“Florilège” Mr. Hiroyasu Kawate
French restaurant “Florilège” fascinates food lovers worldwide. Mr. Kawate’s dishes are French based, with enchanting presentation skills and hidden messages. The restaurant has been awarded Michelin 1-star, and ranked 14th in the “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants”, proving Florilege is one of the most promising restaurants today.
The chef, Mr. Kawate is challenging food losses and waste problem through his dishes. His way of contributing to the society is not limited to Japan. Not only supporting the act on food losses and waste, he is also engaged in running events for chefs in Asia. In this article, he talks about his thought on his restaurant and his roles worldwide.
A border-free restaurant that could change the future of food
– Tell us your thoughts of opening “Florilège”
At first, I concentrated in making a restaurant very different from “Quintessence”. Imitating “Quintessence” wasn’t something I wanted to do, and I also felt it could be rude to Mr. Kishida. I wanted to be regarded as “Hiroyuki Kawate of Florilège”, not “Hiroyuki Kawate from Quintessence”. I admire Mr. Kishida as if I look at the top of Mount Fuji. “Quintessence” is such a big restaurant, I think it’s the top restaurant. So I wanted a factor, anything, no matter how small, that was evaluated higher than “Quintessence”. I think I could return my thanks to Mr. Kishida that way.
Not only running the restaurant, currently I am trying to contribute to the food losses and waste problem. I also attend the The World Cuisine Academic Meetings, or cook at orphanages, aiming to educate the orphans about food and diet. I think all of those actions are part of my mission. I consider career in general is contribution to society in some way or another.
We all help each other, and relate with one one another. I think that our mental fulfillment or accomplishment come from such social relationships. Therefore my “mission” is to improve the future through food, by challenging the food losses and waste problem, and understanding the sustainability of food.
– Your course menu relates to social contributions. Could you tell us about them?
Examples of such dishes are those using non-heifer cows(heifer: a cow that has never had a calf), and desert using cacao imported directly from a village in Peru by Mr. Tetsuo Ota. However those messages in a dish could sometimes be too serious to be enjoyed. There were cases in the past, using only Miyagi ingredients (Miyagi: one of the most severely damaged cities by tsunami), or using only vegetable scraps. Customers would be tired from suh too serious messages. So now I try to concentrate on the overall dinner course with some simple messages.
Florilege_sustainabilitySustainable Food: beef
Beef Carpaccio using non-heifer cow from Miyazaki, with puréed smoked potato and consommé soup
Florilege_amazoncacaoGift: Cacao from the Amazon area
Chocolate mousse using Cacao from the Amazon, with red shiso jelly and red shiso soup
– And you also have drink pairings in your menu.
Yes, I was qualified as sommelier when I was 23, and I like drinks other than wine as well. I have a variety of pairings, not only of wines but with cocktails or mixture of both. I also offer Japanese sake pairings and non-alcohol drink pairings.
– Japanese sake pairings with French cuisine has become popular today, but you have been offering since a while ago.
That’s true. I started the sake pairing around my second year of the restaurant, so it has now been 7 or 8 years. The reason I started it is simply because I like Japanese sake, and when I started my restaurant, I came to question wine pairings. Looking at my staff, I thought we could come up with our own ideas more. So I spoke to the managers, and they agreed that we don’t have to limit ourselves to wines. Then we started to offer wide variety of drink pairings.
Florilege_chefKawateFlorilège_My “mission” is to improve the future through food, by challenging the food losses and waste problem, and understanding the sustainability of food
Teaming up with chefs in Asia to leap to the world
– Tell us about your activities overseas.
I’d like to have the world know what we do in Japan. My current target is to be listed in the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants”. It’s so that I my opinions have a bigger influence. No one would listen to someone with a low profile. So if I am one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, there would definitely be more people who would be interested in listening to what I say, and thence more people know what I do.
– We are also aiming to promote food culture in Japan. What are the things you keep in mind when you advertise your activities, or “Florilège” to the world?
Japanese food culture can be understood only when one visits Japan. I try to think of actions or movements that attract interest to Japan. In order to do so, the identity of each chef would be important, such as his/her ideas and what sort of dish he/she makes. So, going back to the point I gave earlier, I’d like to have the world know my restaurant “Florilège”, and the actions I am involved in. For example, telling the world Florilège has chefs with this sort of technique, we use this and this ingredients, and our dish is like this. What do you think? Please come and visit us in Japan if you are interested. And so on.
– Florilège has not only guests overseas, but also trainees from outside Japan to learn from you.
I proactively welcome trainees from overseas. That’s nothing special, it should be a normal thing. I consider it is important to share information especially within Asia. I feel it is necessary to boost up the whole of Asia, including Japan. Compared to North or South America or Europe, Asia doesn’t have power when it comes to giving opinions. I can’t help to feel that everytime I go overseas. Currently, no matter how many Asian restaurants are ranked top 10 in the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants”, Asia is still weak in its power. But that is why I try to work with chefs in Asia, or co-ordinate events. Whenever I see them, I always talk to them about doing something revolutionary in Asia.
Know more about this restaurant here＞＞＞Florilege (フロリレージュ)
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