Shunsai Hayato

Unexpectedly, Chef Henmi Akihiro’s culinary journey started with his dog. When he was just four or five, he would cut slivers of meat from his dinner and feed them to the pup, pretending he was a master chef. Seeing his dog happily wolfing down the scraps sparked something in him: a desire to make people happy through cooking. The journey may have started as make-believe, but Chef Henmi’s road to culinary success is very much real. After graduating high school, he moved from his native Okayama to Kyoto’s Gion district to learn the ins and outs of Japanese cuisine for seven years. He then returned to Okayama to train at a ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) for another decade, before fulfilling his childhood dream of starting his own restaurant: Shunsai Hayato. Located near Korakuen, one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, Shunsai Hayato continues the local culinary tradition of what is known as “otonosama-ryori”: the traditional fine cuisine of the feudal lords. But though Chef Henmi may preserve the trademark fine quality and impeccable skill of otonosama-ryori, he does away with one thing in particular: its exclusivity. Chef Henmi welcomes all to his restaurant, from infants to the elderly. “Everyone deserves to enjoy their time with food,” he says. And enjoy it they certainly will. Chef Henmi’s take on otonosama-ryori is certainly fit for a lord: he puts even the most dedicated sushi chefs to shame by having fresh fish delivered four times a day to his restaurant, choosing only the freshest from two separate fish suppliers. It makes for fantastic sashimi, but can also be put atop the finest Hinohikari rice — continuously supplied by his middle school classmate for the past 16 years — to be enjoyed as nigiri sushi. And when it comes to beef, only Chiya wagyu is fit for a lord. Just like Chef Henmi, Chiya cattle are native to Okayama, and are directly descended from the tsuru-ushi: the ancient predecessor to the modern Japanese black kuroge wagyu cattle. Virtually impossible to find outside of Okayama Prefecture, the highly marbled Chiya beef is so rare it has been bestowed the title of “phantom wagyu”.