Rising star, chef Thomas Frebel – who worked as Rene Redzepi’s right hand man at Copenhagen’s Noma restaurant for nearly a decade – has now gone solo, setting up shop in Tokyo’s Iidabashi neighbourhood with Inua restaurant.
Spending two years foraging Japanese land and sea – from the tropical southern islands of Okinawa to the northernmost mountain forests of Hokkaido – the result is probably Tokyo’s most imaginative culinary adventure with a medley of exquisitely plated Nordic-influenced dishes concocted from local ingredients like kihada berries from Nagano and scarlet pitanga fruits from Okinawa.
Matching the food, Copenhagen-based OEO Studio, has lined the interiors with a mix of smooth timber by Dinesen, dyed concrete, bricks from local manufacturer Kunishiro and wall coverings from Kyoto textile maker Hosoo. This has been dressed with a medley of furnishings – from chairs by Finn Juhl to bar stools by OEO Studio for Danish brand Brdr. Krüger – while overhead, Nuage pedant lamps by French artist Céline Wright put the pretty plates under the spotlight.§
