Seiji Yamamoto sums up his considerable experience simply and humbly: “I’m a chef because I love to cook”. That approach is reflected in his entertaining cooking, which resonates with all five senses. His focus on serving each dish at the apex of its flavour is single-minded: he switches knife techniques to vary the flavour of decorative sashimi and pike conger, manipulates blazing charcoal to tease out the flavour of eel. With skill as well as respect for the spirituality of Japan, he preaches Japanese cuisine as food culture.