During the Dec. 20 lunch service at Rakushin, a half-dozen chefs pack into the narrow kitchen at the Michelin-starred kaiseki (Japanese traditional multicourse) restaurant in Osaka's Fukushima Ward for a one-off extravagant meal melding Flemish and Japanese cuisine.

When they speak, it's a mix of Japanese, English and Dutch, but often they operate and move intuitively, as empty plates and bowls come to life with everything from snow crab, smoked eel and potato foam to "pizza" laden with sea urchin and caviar.

For Belgian chef Gert De Mangeleer, of the now-shuttered three-Michelin-starred Hertog Jan, neither Rakushin nor Japan are new territory. This is his second year in a row bringing his culinary magic to Shintaro Katayama's machiya (townhouse) restaurant. What does always require a bit of adjustment is the small space. But, De Mangeleer notes, it cuts both ways.