By The Best Chef NEW CANDIDATES Top100 2022 Comments Off

Atsushi Tanaka

A.T (Restaurant A.T)

The Franco-Japanese chef – Atsushi Tanaka – continues to simultaneously entice and challenge Parisian palettes with the progressive, artistic, and dynamic cuisine that is served at Restaurant A.T.

Atsushi Tanaka’s cuisine is not Japanese. Neither is it Spanish, nor Scandinavian, nor Parisian—although he spent a large part of his life developing and perfecting his art in these different regions. His cuisine is strongly influenced by many European culinary techniques, including molecular cuisine, Nordic cuisine, and French classicism. When it comes to categorising his culinary identity, the chef simply answers: “impossible.”

His impressive career has taken him to Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, Quique Dacosta in Alicante, Pastorale, Sergio Herman, and Slius, as well as to the most famous Scandinavian restaurants including Geranium in Copenhagen, Frantzen and Oaxen Krog in Stockholm.

These enriching experiences have allowed Tanaka to build his gastronomic identity and to approach his interpretation of the great classics from a new angle.

Virtuoso cooking techniques, unique textures, an innovative play on volumes

The Chef Atsushi Tanaka opened his first restaurant, A.T, in April 2014, just a few metres down from the famous Tour d’Argent. Daring combinations, virtuoso cooking techniques, unique textures, an innovative play on volumes

Variations in textures and interpretations of the same ingredient within a same dish are also intrinsic to his cuisine—take, for example, his famous “Camouflage” one of his signature dishes, which buries a fillet of arctic char under shards of solid parsley and juniper.

These creations are all composed of certified organic and natural produce, sourced directly from the producers by Tanaka himself. Seafood comes from Normandy or Saint-Jean-de-Luz, fruits and vegetables from the Loire, Jura or Ile-de-France regions. The chef also uses herbs and wildflower gatherers such as Pierre-Édouard Robine to season, accompany, and enhance his compositions.

Cooking as form of art

A.T.’s creations are a poetic mix of tastes and colours. Served on plates made of charcoal, sprinkled with flowers and decorated with Hinoki (an infusion of milk and creamy cypress wood)

“For me, cooking is an art form, I need design. I need my food to be beautiful and tasty at the same time.”
says chef Atsushi Tanaka of Paris restaurant AT.