The chef at the official residence of Japanese Consul General Hiroyasu Kobayashi, 53, in Jumeirah, an exclusive neighborhood in Dubai, counts himself among the ranks of "taste diplomats" for Japan — but he's Thai.
On a large table in the residence's dining room are set cooked aroid and squash, grilled salmon, egg apples fried with fermented soybean paste and mushrooms in a clear broth served in an earthenware teapot.
"Because 'matsutake' mushrooms were not available, we prepared (another type)," Kobayashi said.