Chef Shinobu Namae rarely eats at the same restaurant twice. Like a lot of chefs, he spends most of his time in his own kitchen, overseeing lunch and dinner service at L'Effervescence, his Michelin-starred French restaurant in Tokyo's Aoyama. When he does venture out, he chooses his destinations carefully. Many chefs see dining as an opportunity to discover new techniques, ingredients or trends. For Namae, that usually means checking out high-end restaurants, and picking a different place each time.
"I have a list of many restaurants to go to," he says, but notes that there are a few places he likes to revisit. "I wish I could go to Sushi Araki (in Ginza) again because his anago (conger eel) and akami-maguro (bluefin tuna) are unforgettable. The vegetables at Tempura Kondo (also in Ginza) are also really great — especially the pumpkin, fried in large chunks so that it's almost like a confit."
Naturally, Namae doesn't dine exclusively at expensive restaurants. These days, he's partial to a small cafe in Shibuya called Café Bleu, which he recommends not only for the buttery scrambled eggs and toast, but also for the extensive list of Japanese wines, available by the glass from 10 a.m.