Description
A collaboration between chef Zaiyu Hasegawa of Den and chef Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilège, the restaurant focuses on its theme of "connect, tie, stick”, where the skewers express their original world. Both chefs have been awarded two Michelin stars and selected as one of the 50 best restaurants in Asia, making them some of the most well-known chefs in Japan. The atmospheric counter feels like a stage where the performance of the chefs can be enjoyed while savoring a variety of dishes that represent the best of the two worlds,
Its name consists of three segments, "Den-Kushi-Flori", which suggests that it is a collaboration by Zaiyu Hasegawa of Den and Mr. Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilège that uses skewers (kushi). They have been friends and working together at events for a long time, thus coming up with the idea for the collaboration restaurant. Chef Susumu Shimizu, who has known the two chefs for the past ten years, devised the menu and is serving the guests at the counter, and after just a year and a few months after its opening in October of 2020, it has obtained a Michelin star.
The restaurant is in the basement of a building that stands next to fashionable stores typically found in Aoyama, and as you pass through the noren into the restaurant, the subdued lighting creates a relaxed atmosphere. Inside the U-shaped counter sits a rugged kamado, a traditional Japanese cooking stove made of mortar and clay, where the final rice dish cooks in an earthen pot. Its design sets a stage, allowing to watch the agile movements of the chefs from every one of the 18 seats. The proximity to the chefs reveals their fascinating performance of serving the dishes in front of the eyes.
The center of the U-shaped counter naturally provides an ideal view, while the ceiling is a little lower at the ends, giving it a more secluded feel. Moreover, three to four people can sit together at the corners. Those who have been to Florilège may notice the similarity, as they were designed by the same creator. Either end of the kamado is decorated with seasonal flowers, adding a sense of the time of the year.
It is delightful to taste a menu that represents the best of both restaurants, which cannot be expressed by either Den, the Japanese restaurant, or Florilège, the French restaurant alone, at rather reasonable prices.