My cooking, which makes people say 'I was moved!', is based on overwhelming strategy and logic

Nice to meet you. My name is Shusaku Toba. I am a chef at a restaurant in Yoyogi-Uehara called "sio".

In this note, I would like to share what I usually think about when creating dishes and building a restaurant.

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I want to be told "I was moved!" rather than just "It's delicious"

What I am aiming for is not just "delicious." It is "being moved."

There are countless "delicious" restaurants in Japan, but few can provide a sense of being "moved." If you don't move your customers, you will be buried among the masses.

I have a strategy: "If I make this kind of dish, the customer will be moved in this way." There is a "cooking equation" for moving people. It might be the same feeling as a novelist or copywriter thinking, "If I write it this way, it will resonate with the reader in this way."

Why do I dare to serve a "thin soup"?

The restaurant's course is a 10-dish omakase, but the flow of that course is extremely well-crafted. It is, so to speak, close to a "story." Each one has proper "logic," and I create it so that you can feel the introduction, development, turn, and conclusion.

For example, in the course, I always serve soup first, but I make it very "delicate." This is actually an approach to what comes next. I intentionally make it a bit thin so that you can be moved by the next dish.

The customer might think, "Oh, it's thin... But I've heard that Toba-san's place is very delicious, so is this what a delicious soup is?" By making them think that, when I serve a dish with a sharp flavor next, they are moved, thinking, "This is amazing!" If a soup that is too delicious comes out first, the next sense of being moved will be diluted. I value that "flow" and the "logic" of each dish.

What is the "equation for being moved" of a shortcake?

In my cooking, there is "logic" to evoke being moved in everything. Because it is derived from an equation in my brain, I can provide customers with a sense of being "moved" that goes beyond "delicious".

What does that "logic" mean?

For example, let's analyze a shortcake. A shortcake has incredibly sweet whipped cream, and just when you think, "It's too sweet," a sour strawberry appears. The "interaction of tastes" that comes alternately, "Wow, it's sour. I want to eat something sweet again," is the point of being moved.

My cooking uses this "acidity against sweetness" logic. In other words, I keep the whipped cream, but I replace the relationship of "strawberry to whipped cream" by, for example, substituting the "acid" part of the strawberry with a salad dressed with vinegar.

When I bring a salad to whipped cream, ordinary people might think, "Why would you think of that?" but to me, it's just bringing something different instead of a strawberry, and it holds up as logic.

The point of being moved by a McDonald's hamburger

In my head, I have many such "logics of being moved" stored away. It is because I have input an overwhelming amount of information. To be precise, it might be "sensitivity" rather than "quantity." I try to perceive "10" where others can only perceive "1".

For example, when I go to McDonald's, while ordinary people are eating silently, I perceive "10" there. That "something" I perceived comes to life when I cook.

By the way, the moving point of a McDonald's hamburger is when you eat the first and second bites, and hit a pickle on the third bite. That feeling of the pickle suddenly showing its face from among the meat, ketchup, and mustard is irresistibly pleasant.

I put that 'pleasure of the third-bite pickle' into my drawer of ideas, thinking it might be useful for cooking someday.

The theory of why McDonald's cola is delicious

I also love McDonald's cola. The good thing about McDonald's cola is the exquisite level of carbonation. For example, canned cola has too much carbonation, so you can't gulp it down all at once even after opening it. But McDonald's has just the right level of dilution and carbonation to be easy to drink.

There is a 'trick' to why the carbonation is just right for drinking. First, fine rock ice is put into the cup. When cola is poured over it, the ice has a huge surface area, so the carbonation pops and escapes. Because there is a lot of ice, the dilution speed is also fast. As a result, it becomes incredibly easy to drink at the moment the customer drinks it.

Most people probably don't dig that deep into the difference between McDonald's cola and canned cola. But I dig into it. I have a drawer for 'McDonald's cola is like this.' That's why, when I make drinks at the restaurant, I can use logic like 'wouldn't it be better to have more ice?' or 'isn't this the way to approach the carbonation?'

The reason Gusto's 'Mayo Corn Pizza' is amazing

As an aside, Gusto's 'Mayo Corn Pizza' is also amazing. It's super delicious. First, mayonnaise has 'umami' and 'acid.' That alone isn't pleasant, but then the sweetness of corn, which is like 'the canned food,' enters. Therefore, a 'sweet, salty, and sour' flavor is born. That's why it invites you to 'eat one more bite.' It's very well made, and I eat it thinking, 'I see.'

What I thought was amazing about beef bowls is Matsuya's takeout bento. The beef and rice are separate, and I think the person who invented that is a bit of a genius. In the past, no matter how delicious a beef bowl was, by the time you took it home, the rice would have absorbed the sauce, and you couldn't eat it in its truly delicious state. They noticed that. Even just looking at things like this, there is a lot to learn.

A sense of discomfort with Matsuya's 'miso soup with curry'

Conversely, I feel a sense of discomfort that Matsuya includes miso soup with curry. Why is a hot drink included with spicy curry? It just increases the spiciness. I think a cold salad would definitely be better.

If you keep these feelings of discomfort in your head without ignoring them, you can think, 'maybe it's good to serve a cold, acidic drink with it' when you serve spicy curry at your own restaurant. We currently serve lemon sour with our spicy curry.

Family restaurants and fast food chains are indeed excellent. Since they are popular with the masses, there is a reason why they are popular. I 'brush up' the logic I've acquired that way in a restaurant-like manner.

How to grill asparagus to perfection

How can you increase the 'resolution' and input parts that others don't notice? Even in just one process, how can you 'dig deep'? That is the key to creating moving cuisine.

It is often said that 'simply grilling high-quality ingredients' is the ultimate cooking. That is certainly true, but how much can you dig deep into that 'act of grilling'? That is extremely important. If you don't have a solid 'vision' and 'aim' in the 'grilling' part, it just becomes something that was grilled. It cannot become a moving dish.

For example, what is the point when grilling black abalone? The appeal of abalone is that texture, that softness. Abalone becomes tough if you just grill it. Therefore, we cool it down properly after heating it once, and then grill it after letting it absorb the dashi broth. From the customer's perspective, it looks like it's just being grilled, but the preparation is done in an incredibly detailed way.

At 'sio,' we serve grilled asparagus, but of course, we aren't just grilling it. After grilling, we let it absorb a dashi of clams and butter once. By doing that, it becomes juicier and more delicious than when it is just grilled. The 'just grilled' asparagus turns into a moving dish. How much intent is included in 'just grilled'? That is where the depth and wonder of cooking lie.

Does that nikujaga have a 'vision'?

All of my dishes have a clear 'vision' and 'aim'. For example, when I say 'I will make nikujaga,' I never 'just make it.' Even if you call it nikujaga, it changes significantly depending on whether it's beef or pork. Beef goes well with a richer flavor, so there will be more sugar, and for pork, mirin is probably better than sugar.

I have an incredibly high resolution for the blueprint of 'which nikujaga to make, and how to make it'.I visualize it in my head and try eating that nikujaga in my mind.Thinking things like, 'Yes, exactly... beef needs that richness, so it has to be sugar,' Iconstruct the dish by working backward from the finished product.That is why I rarely waver.

Once the destination of 'going to Hakone' is decided, all that's left is to choose the route.People who just make nikujaga aimlessly don't have a set 'goal,' which is why it's difficult to make it delicious.

I imagine it thoroughly and create it in my brain, so I almost never do actual test cooking.If it tastes good when I eat it in my head, it's about 90% done. All that's left is to adjust the flavor slightly. I have logical equations in my head, and since I can verbalize them, I almost never fail.

Cooking is 'the output of a collection of knowledge'

Some people say 'cooking is science,' but I believecooking is 'the output of a collection of knowledge.'That is why I put so much effort into how to internalize that knowledge and how to improve the precision of my input.

I was once told by Masahiro Bannai, a pasta chef at 'Aroma Fresca' (currently the chef at 'DIRITTO') whom I studied under,'Concentrate on everything you put in your mouth.'Ever since then, whether I go to McDonald's or Matsuya, I have made it a point to thoroughly input everything.

By the way, I ate steak at Bronco Billy today, and even there I was thinking, 'Meat really is better when it has a nice sear, isn't it?'How much can I concentrate and input?I stake my life on that. That is why my resolution naturally becomes high.

Aim for 'pleasant cooking' rather than 'delicious cooking'

Bannai-san often told me, 'Don't just make delicious food, make pleasant food.' It's about whether it feels 'pleasant' in the mouth. That is what leads to being moved. For example,when you eat a fatty piece of pork shoulder loin and then eat a salad with a nice acidity, it feels 'really pleasant.'He kept telling me, 'Make food like that.'

My cooking has quite a lot of acidic components, butwhen 'acid' is added to a dish, the plate 'tightens up' as if it has a straight spine.When serving 10 dishes, I focus on how much of that 'pleasantness' the customer can feel. I build my cooking with that as a priority.

Thinking about the order of the 'five tastes' in cooking

This has gone on a bit long, but please let me talk a little more. It's about the 'five tastes' of cooking.The assembly of the 'five tastes' is the key to creating moving dishes.It has become the point.

Cooking is composed of five tastes:'umami, saltiness, sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.''Saltiness' and 'acidity' are positioned relatively close to each other.

'Umami' is like a ghost. What do I mean by that? Just making bonito dashi has a scent, but it doesn't taste good. However, when you addsalt to it, the 'umami' finally rises and it becomes delicious.'Umami' and 'saltiness' are also positioned in similar places. From there, the flavor is constructed by adding 'bitterness' or 'sweetness'.

And,the order in which these five tastes appearis important.

For example, sukiyaki is 'sweet and salty.' Of the five tastes, the first thing you must feel is 'sweet,' and then 'salty.' That makes it delicious. If you have the image that'for sukiyaki, the sweet taste must come first,'you won't fail.

For a salad, it's like 'sour -> salty,' and the end is 'a little sweet.' Then you realize, 'The vinegar has to be the most prominent, right?' In this way, it is important to calculatewhat kind of flavors will flow through and in what order.

You must not let people 'feel' the salt

One last important thing is 'not letting people feel the salt.' Salt should not remain as salt. If I am cooking and I can feel the salt,I always start over.If the white object called 'salt' pops into my head, I remake the whole thing. Of course, it's different when I intend it, but basically, you should aim for'not feeling the salt, but it's pleasant. Yet, it's not bland.'

Salt must never come to the surface. If it comes to the surface, the flavor becomes 'salt.'Because it becomes a salty taste rather than the taste of the ingredients.Therefore, when valuing the taste of the ingredients, I aim for the fine line where you don't feel the salt. The salt level is truly pinpoint.

My cooking doesn't make you feel the salt, so even after eating 10 courses, it should feel 'light'. You won't have an upset stomach the next day either. There is no unnecessary umami, and it's not overly seasoned. That leads to 'lightness' and 'comfortable cuisine'.

I think about cooking 24 hours a day

When I talk about logic and calculations like this, people sometimes ask, 'What are you? Are you a businessman?' But no matter how far I go, I am a 'chef'. I love cooking, and I think my love for cooking is extraordinary.

I really do think about cooking 24 hours a day. I immediately email acquaintances about ideas I have for cooking. I never make the same dish every day. Even for the dishes I serve in the course, while I'm working, I'm saying things like, 'Ah, this could be better,' or 'Let's do this with the plating' every day. After all, I want to make today better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. That continues every day.

I can work hard because I love cooking, and I can think about making it better because I love cooking. I am eating constantly in my head. I don't think there is anyone who eats as much in their head as I do. I love cooking immensely. I am always thinking about new menu items. If I were told to 'create a new menu item' at this very moment, I could do it in five minutes. My brain is overflowing with menus. That is because I create more than double the number of dishes in a month compared to other chefs. I can do that too because I love it.

Logic is necessary for cooking.

But you cannot create 'emotion' with that alone.

I believe that only with an endless 'love for cooking' does logic come to life and lead to 'emotion'.

Editorial cooperation: WORDS