With Ryoichi Kano starting his new position as executive chef this September at Bali’s Tirtha Dining and Tirtha Bridal, this Japanese chef has some pretty big shoes to fill. He follows in the illustrious footsteps of fellow compatriot and executive chef, Hiroyuki Meno, regarded as one of Japan’s most acclaimed French chefs. However, armed with exceptional culinary skills and flair highly suited to Tirtha Bridal and Tirtha Dining’s renowned French with Japanese influenced cuisine – his new appointment as executive chef promises to be a recipe for success.
Positioned on Uluwatu’s cliff-tops, on Bali’s southernmost coastline, Tirtha Dining presents a dinner-only bespoke restaurant, providing an intimate, open-air setting for romance, special celebrations and wedding receptions, and ranks as one of the island’s premier fine-dining French restaurants. Tirtha Dining is also part of Japanese-owned Tirtha Bridal, Bali’s premier wedding specialist, whose dedicated wedding chapel and gardens – heaven-sent for outdoor wedding party dining – are located next door.
New Executive Chef Ryoichi established his French cooking skills under a former Cordon Bleu master at Petit Cube in Kobe. While in Tuscany and Emillia- Romagna, Italy, he also perfected his Italian culinary skills, later returning as head chef of the new Italian-French restaurant, Bibbi, in Kobe. Here, Chef Ryoichi started utilizing aspects of French cooking techniques in his home-cooked Italian dishes. His move into fusion cuisine, however, started after he was appointed as head chef at Kyoto’s prestigious Au Bec Fin and using Kyoyasai, local Kyoto produce, in his French dishes. Chef Ryoichi also introduced Japanese elements into the cuisine: inspired by the local custom of not wasting any food, Chef Ryoichi adopted this as his cooking philosophy, incorporating parts of ingredients that are usually discarded, even fish scales and bones, thus ensuring the greatest respect for the ingredient while simultaneously presenting a gastronomic dining experience.
This unique approach and philosophy appealed to Tirtha Bridal’s founder-general manager, Yuka Koreyasu: “Chef Ryoichi’s creativity and way of thinking outside the box is exactly what we’re looking for at Tirtha Bridal and Tirtha Dining. He welcomes the challenge of bringing local ingredients and produce into his cuisine by preparing them using traditional French and Italian methodologies, combined with authentic Japanese flavours.”
(www.tirthadining.net)
