As I settle in at the curved, eight-seat counter at Syn, an innovative French restaurant tucked away in western Fukuoka, I prepare to go globe-trotting. The 14-course menu lists each dish with coordinates that trace its inspiration. Tonight, I’m bound for Denmark, Morocco and Laos, among others.
Chef-owner Naoto Ohno, 36, greets me with warmth and curiosity. A Fukuoka native, Ohno is a globetrotter himself. Syn is the culmination of years spent cooking around the world.
Not long after high school, Ohno left for New York to study at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. On his first summer back to Japan, at 20, he dined at three-Michelin-starred restaurants for the first time: Quintessence in Tokyo and Mizai in Kyoto. The experience changed his life. Fine dining became his passion.
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