L’effervescence

In Tokyo’s upscale Nishi-Azabu neighborhood is L’Effervescence — perhaps the finest contemporary French restaurant in Tokyo.

Helmed by Shinobu Namae, L’Effervescence is styled as a hermitage deep within the city. Chef Namae travels the length and breadth of Japan searching for fresh inspiration and fresher ingredients, which he honors with his inventive dishes. Serving up delights to busy Tokyoites, he delivers tastes and an overall experience that transport diners to another reality, echoing the forests and oceans from which he sources the finest ingredients. Connection to the land is central to his genre-blurring haute cuisine, which he refers to not as Japanese-French fusion, but as “post-colonial cooking.”

Chef Namae’s pedigree shines through just as clearly as the superb natural flavors of his painstakingly selected ingredients. After working with French superstar Michel Bras at first his Hokkaido restaurant, and later in France, he then spent a couple of years at the Fat Duck in England, as pastry chef and sous chef under Heston Blumenthal.