Italian chef Luca Fantin offers creative Italian fine cuisine at Bvlgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin, on a corner in Ginza, Tokyo -- a special spot, as all four corners of the intersection are occupied by luxury brands.
The executive chef, whose name is incorporated into the restaurant's name, serves various minimal, contemporary and beautifully arranged dishes -- such as a dish of aoriika squid and cauliflower that looks like a sumi ink painting, and a sea urchin pasta that brings out the sweetness and umami flavor of the seafood.
The dishes he prepares express his respect for Japan's four seasons, its people and its foodstuffs -- with all these elements mingled subtly together.
"What is unique about my dishes may be focusing more on Japanese landscape," Fantin said.
Fantin was born in 1979 in Treviso, Italy. He served as sous chef at La Pergola, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Rome. In 2009, he was appointed executive chef at the high-end Italian restaurant in Ginza operated by the famous Italian jewelry brand Bvlgari, which has a history of 136 years.
At first, Fantin aimed to reproduce his own style of cuisine in Japan, but from the first dish onward, he was never satisfied with the results. As his frustration grew, he said he felt as if he were continually fighting against himself.
In 2012, RyuGin, a Japanese restaurant where he had once worked as a trainee, opened a branch in Hong Kong. RyuGin is also a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
Thinking it must be very expensive to send luxury Japanese ingredients overseas, Fantin asked the owner and chef, Seiji Yamamoto, why a master like him, who knows all about Japanese ingredients, had opened a restaurant in Hong Kong.
Yamamoto told him that setting up the restaurant in Hong Kong was a new experience, and said that he would find and use as many good local ingredients as possible.
Inspired by Yamamoto's words, Fantin took time away from his busy kitchen to visit production centers all over Japan, as he thought he needed to better understand why Japanese and Italian ingredients were different, and kept looking for good ingredients he could make use of, he said.
At that time, he did not speak Japanese and did not know any suppliers in Japan. He remembered an encounter with a Japanese farmer who -- meeting an Italian for the first time -- dressed in formal clothing to welcome him.
Over time, he has come across many wonderful ingredients including Hokkaido sea urchin. Just five grams of Italian sea urchin makes a dish of pasta quite salty, he said.
"Sea urchin in Italy is very salty. Japanese sea urchin, I cannot say it is the same animal. The flavor is totally different."
When making sea urchin pasta, he uses dashi broth made from shellfish to make the sauce, adding sweet tomatoes and lemon. A little garlic oil instead of garlic makes the flavor all the more impressive, he said.
When eating sea urchin pasta on his recommendation, 99 percent of people would call it "a dish of life," he said.
The full flavor of Japanese cuisine comes from umami provided by elements such as dashi broth. He applied the concept to Italian dishes.
Another crossover involves the kobujime traditional cooking method, in which raw fish is covered with kombu seaweed, which imparts its umami flavor to the fish. But instead of kombu kelp, he uses a mineral-rich Italian lettuce.
Kinki, a fish also known as rockfish, is wrapped in lettuce that has been dried and become like seaweed in texture. After the flavor from the lettuce is absorbed into the alfonsino, the fish is grilled.
Fantin has visited about 40 locations in Japan to look for ingredients, believing it is not possible to prepare great dishes without excellent foodstuffs.
His adherence to quality in his dishes is apparent even in his choice of tableware. He uses Arita-yaki (Arita ware) plates that suit his own style, as they are made by hand and he likes their texture.
His reputation has spread the world over, and in 2011 he became the first Italian chef whose restaurant received a Michelin star in Japan. He has retained that star ever since.
In 2019, the restaurant marked its 10 year anniversary, and was selected as one of "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" in a vote by 300 restaurant industry experts for the second consecutive year.
However, Fantin never rests on his laurels (or his lettuce), and continues to pursue a contemporary Italian cuisine based on his experiences in Japan.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
