Chef Sato’s dishes are a special combination of East-meets-West that’s exhilarating in its creativity and assertiveness of flavour
With a name translating as “your life” in French, this is a restaurant that expresses all that chef Hideaki Sato seems to want from his own life. Formerly the chef de cuisine of the award-winning Tenku Ryugin in ICC, chef Sato is now free to call the shots. We’ve been thoroughly convinced by the direction he’s decided to take. Indeed, the Japanese character sitting above the restaurant’s English title reads tabi, meaning “journey”—chef Sato’s journey.
Classically trained in French techniques but with a solid understanding of Asian culinary traditions thanks to his years working under the mentorship of Seiji Yamamoto, chef Sato’s dishes are a special combination of East-meets-West that’s exhilarating in its creativity and assertiveness of flavour. His penchant for exquisite presentation, honed from years crafting seasonally inspired kaiseki cuisine, translates to his menu here as well—a degustation affair carefully curated with the best ingredients sourced from around Asia.
In its early incarnation, the menu offered a few signatures familiar to those who previously dined at Ryugin—the chef’s iconic poached oyster wrapped with wagyu beef, for example. However, there are many more dishes that should soon come into their own as chef Sato’s new classics: a starter of lightly seared botan shrimp nestled into a fluff of sweetcorn mousse with shrimp broth jelly, or the Hokkaido bafun uni draped atop risoni and done carbonara-style. The Lung Guang chicken consommé distils the very essence of the bird into a golden elixir, within which he places piney matsutake mushrooms and the most delicate chicken wontons, their chiffon-thin wrappers billowing in the broth. Each dish is like a song on a greatest-hits album, but the journey feels leisurely and logical, rather than disjointed or jerky.
Every single detail is laboured over at Ta Vie, from the menu (carefully placed into a stout wine bottle) to the fine, cold-brewed teas that are served with as much reverence as that given over to premium sake. Service, with chef Sato’s wife, Hiromi, leading the charge, is warm and welcoming, a fine match for the smart and elegant interiors. The combination is natural, just like everything else about Ta Vie.
On the back of our menu is what appears to be a poem; it’s actually lyrics from the popular Japanese folk song Yashinomi, describing the wonder felt by a traveller who finds a coconut washed up on the beach, “separated from the shore of thy birthplace.” Chef Sato is no longer adrift, but it appears his journey of discovery is only just beginning.
