Inua’s cuisine delves deep into Japanese culture to express a fine balance of flavour

Frebel points out that diners today are more focused on how the animals they consume are raised and how their vegetables are grown. At Inua, he prepares bee larva in two ways—deepfried and crispy, almost like nuts, and steamed with dashi, served sweet and creamy. Regardless, both versions have the flavours of quality honey.

Frebel’s ultimate aim, though, is to serve tasty, healthy food, such as his dessert of mille-feuille that’s made with seaweed. Instead of puff pastry, he layers caramelised seaweed crisps and sweet Hokkaido cream, then finishes it with a sprinkling of pine needle salt.

“Of course, the time at Noma made me who I am, but I wouldn’t say this is a sister restaurant of Noma,” says Frebel. “We share the same level of respect for nature, but our location and climate are so different.” He points out how Japan is made up the islands that stretch 3,000km from north to south, where almost every type of climate can be found. “I would like to express the nature and seasonality of Japan, its generous land and sea—all the fish and meat we serve are wild-caught, from Mother Nature.” No surprise, then, that his ultimate goal is to give the ingredients the respect they deserve by letting them “shine” on the plate.