Mastering all the techniques of both traditional and innovative French gastronomy, the finishing touches that set Florilege apart are the result of Chef Kawate’s fine-tuned sensibilities. While the ingredients play an essential role, each dish carries an important message and is driven by a concept. Guests are intended not simply to taste the cuisine but to experience it.

Take for example Florilege’s beef dish featuring meat from wagyu cows, not heifers. In contrast to most popular restaurants which tend to use the highest-grade ingredients they can find, Chef Kawate goes completely the other direction. He talks of how Japan wastes approximately 17 million tons of food every year, of which one-third to one-half is perfectly edible. Saddened by that reality, Kawate searches for ways to break the cycle, hence the inspiration behind his beef dish. It is commonly thought that the quality of beef from a cow that has had calves is not up to par, but Florilege wants to overturn that misconception. Dried overnight, sliced extremely finely, and served carpaccio-style topped with a thoroughly French-style broth, the shabu shabu dish arrives with a message card for guests sharing the chef’s philosophy.

Dishes express Japan’s bountiful seasons as with many popular Tokyo restaurants, but each demonstrates wonderful originality and presentation that cannot be found elsewhere. Ayu sweetfish is typically roasted over charcoals and served with tadezu water pepper vinegar. In contrast, Kawate’s reconstructed dish of ayu seemingly swimming amidst the water grasses of shallow water makes you stop and contemplate. With Kyoto sweet white miso as the hidden ingredient, this dish’s deliciously deep flavors convince you of the merits of revisiting traditional cuisine.

A wicker basket filled with what appears to be freshly harvested corn is placed before you and a single ear still in its husk makes its way to your plate. Closer examination reveals that in place of fresh corn is creamy polenta filled with the deliciously sweet kernels in a re-creation of a delicacy from southern France, but for which Chef Kawate also took inspiration from dago-jiru – a regional dish from Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Japan and the home of some of Japan’s largest corn crops.

In a dish called Scallop fromage blanc, the spotlight shines brightly on an unlikely star – scallops. Pressed with kombu kelp in mille-feuille layers, the scallop flavors strike the perfect balance with the creamy, slightly sweet fromage blanc accompaniment. The juxtaposition of textures in the Amazon cacao mousse dessert make this dish a joy to devour, but what takes this desert to the next level is the refreshing herbal flavors of home-made shiso Japanese perilla soup. And a sakuranbo cherry dessert is like an objet d’art, almost too beautiful to eat. But the fresh fruit flavor finished with glossy pâte de fruit fruit jelly is irresistible.

The creativity extends well beyond cuisine into drinks, and Florilege offers not only wine pairings to accentuate the food, but cocktail pairings as well. It’s a twist rarely seen in Japan and one Kawate was experimenting with from well before the move to the new location.

INGREDIENTS
With not a single imported ingredient, Florilege serves exquisite French cuisine using only carefully selected home-grown produce. Each dish is created with utmost love and respect for the ingredients diligently produced by farmers around Japan, including the organic vegetables shipped directly from Fujii Farm in Nagano. Chef Kawate keeps in regular contact with producers, visiting them and regularly consulting them through the LINE messaging app on his smartphone. A recent visit to Arita Kawamachi in Wakayama has yielded of a new relationship and delivery of sansho Japanese pepper to Florilege. It’s further proof of Kawate’s conviction that the procurement of ingredients is all about nurturing personal relationships.