I seek for the restaurant who provides “perfect cuisine” that combines beauty and taste

Restaurant Racine

Tanaka Kazuyuki

On the 15th January 1985, Mr. Tanaka Kazuyuki was born in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Once he took it in to his mind, he does it. He realized his career in France with his strong will and his aggressive mind. He started to work as a trainee at the restaurant where he pushed others to introduce it to him in a hurry. This training terms ended as a second at a three-star restaurant. He set up his own restaurant in June 2015 and after a year and a half after, he won his first Michelin-star on the Michelin Guide France. In the Gault et Millau magazine, he won "Jaunes talents" in the national unit. "Grand de Demain" of two regional unit and of nationwide units fastest in the historyof this guide. This is an interview with an energetic young one-star Japanese chef who continues activities France.

Interview Points

Point1. It is important to victory over yourself and to continue without hesitation once you decide.
Point2. I devote a cuisine thinking that all the customers are my own important persons.
Point3. Beauty and taste can coexist in dishes. I seek for for a perfect dish which remains in the customer's memory.

The way to become a chef after he suddenly turned his future perspectives

Please tell me the story to think about becoming a chef.

Mr. Tanaka:
My father was a Western-style chef, both my uncle and my grandfather worked as chefs in their each restaurant.Under these circumstances, sometimes I was helping my father’s restaurant, so entering the curinary world was a natural choice.

I was thinking of becoming a Western-style chef or soccer player when I was a child. When I was a high school student, I wanted to become a football player. I played football until the summer of high school third grader at Higashi Fukuoka High School. My room was full of football materials. However, I understood that I would not become a football player at that summer. Then, I decided immediately to become a cook which I knew from my childhood. I threw away all football related books, posters, etc., instead I put the cookbooks my father had on a bookshelf in my room, I read that and aimed for a cook.

I went to the job interview without any appointment with ‘Apicius’, Tokyo. I decided to sit down and to say “I will not return” till I was hired. In fact, by just an interview, I could get a job without a resume. The reason why I got a job was because I was studying the chef’s cooking and his history. Even though an old tale came out, I prepared conversation beforehand so that I could talk about that story. It was possible to do it because I was reading perfectly about 50 books handed down from my father. These were a book about the life of an old great cook.

Speaking of Higashi Fukuoka High School, it is a famous high scholl for football. That was a drastic change in your life. Didn’t you hesitate ?

Mr. Tanaka:
Once I decide it, I never hasitate to do it. When I was playing football I was just thinking about football. If I decide to cook, I just think about cooking.

Hard days with part-time job and full-time job to save money for training in France.

Please tell us about the era of training in Japan and France.

Mr. Tanaka:
Since I started to have French cuisine, I decided to go to France, so I calculated backwards from going to France and decided my career here, here, here and there.

First of all, I thought that I needed money for traveling to France, I just worked on saving expenses to go to France and worked hard on saving money.

At “Apisius” I worked for about 1 year and 2 months, but at the same time “Yoshinoya” at the same time I worked at night for about 4 days a week. At “Yoshinoya” I was studying sommelier in a quiet time. Customers from 1 o’clock to 3 o’clock in the midnight are few hours after completing preparations, preparations and cleaning. I think that the security cameras were sitting all the time (laugh).

I stayed at the desk all the time until preparation of breakfast meal started, at that time I slept only 9 hours per week. I thought “It is strong with humans” (laugh).

Junior who did the same thing collapsed in three months. When I was working, the condition continued that the body was cold and my head was hot. After all, it fell to the examination of the wine expert, but since I had the experience of doing that unreasonableness, now I think that it is easy to do anything.

I will not forget the date of travel, May 6th, 2003. I bought a cheap Korean Air air ticket of 68,000 yen the next day of Golden Week.

I remembered well since I did not have a house for about a month. Actually, in the last month before traveling, I also had to withdraw my house. It was unnecessary because there was almost no time going home with workmanship.