“Inspired by Japan’s beautiful landscape and ingredients, at INUA we are passionate about local ingredients. It’s also very important for us to create an environment where guests can relax – take off their shoes, forget about their daily chaos, and be inspired by us. Even our staff area is based on natural wood and large windows and natural sunlight. We source produce from all over Japan – from Rishiri Island in the north to the islands in Okinawa in the south. We want to raise questions about the definition of locality.”

Inspired by Noma’s one-month pop-up in Tokyo in January 2015, Chef Thomas Frebel returned to Japan to deepen his investigations into the country’s ingredients and food culture. The result is INUA. Out of concern for the environment, the restaurant’s menu is primarily vegetable-based, including many wild and foraged products from the sea as well as the land, although game is included in season. Frebel worked at Noma for ten years, as head of recipe development – essentially as René Redzepi’s righthand man – so inevitably the food at INUA has strong elements of new-Nordic cuisine. INUA is also taking similar steps in terms of ensuring workplace quality for its staff, such as providing opportunities to work out, monitoring daily performance, and creating a bright, positive work environment.