Interview with Endo Kazutoshi: A Restaurant to Remember

Kioku by Endo

Sitting amongst the peaks of London high-rises and Baroque architecture might be enough for some restaurants, but for Endo Kazutoshi’s latest venture, Kioku by Endo, it’s a different story. Here, limits exceed the sixth-floor roof, with the décor, dishes and attentive service demonstrating minute detail of the highest of standards.

Initial tasters from the tasting menu arrive in such a precise artform they almost feel wrong to touch, let alone eat. Seared slices of tuna taste freshly plucked straight from the ocean. There’s a sleek golden bar, intricately designed fabric chairs and woody, warmly-lit hues – immaculately-composed and calming on the eye – while a turreted private dining room at the back of the roof terrace is a sight of dreams.

We could say the restaurant is like one of those people who effortlessly succeed at everything – to the slight irritation of everyone else – be it a ping pong match or a pub quiz. However, Endo reminds me the creation of the restaurant was not an overnight job, in a fashion he points to as “very Japanese”.

We’re instead looking at decades of discipline, dedication and the Japanese mantra “Ichi-go ichi-e”, roughly translating as ‘for this time only’. To Endo, this phrase serves as a weighty reminder that “there is no today or tomorrow”, but “every day is like the champions league final”, and a time for him and his team to hone and elevate their mastery. “Today’s guest is my love word, Ichi”, meaning number one, he adds.

What may seem perfect to the outside eye is far from this to him, as there is always a lesson to learn. This could be an adage worth carrying in life as Endo is widely known as London’s top sushi master – not that he would confess it himself – as well as having a Michelin star under his belt for his nigh impossible-to-reserve chef table experience ‘Endo at the Rotunda’, also known as ‘sushi in the clouds’.

Endo Kazutoshi

As we speak over a video call, his background displays a red, embroidered Japanese fabric wall, with the occasional waitress flittering behind him. He tells me he is back home in his city of Yokohama. There to see family? I ask. He gives me a mathematical answer of 10%, as the main reason he is there – to little surprise – is to work. And we’ll unlikely catch him kicking back on a paradisical, glistening shore any time soon, as his persistence in mastering his craft is a journey that shows no sign of faltering. “I’ve been a chef for 30 years and I’m still not finished with my goal”.

This discipline was instilled in him from a young age, when he was expected to spend time in his family’s sushi restaurant – opened by his grandfather in 1940 – while his mother prepared a jam-packed weekly schedule of activities like tea ceremony, flower arrangements and choreography. As he reflects on his childhood, there’s an underlying sorrow as he shares a sense of having missed out as he grew up – on playing, on socialising and perhaps on simply relaxing. “It was a lot. I was always crying because I wanted to escape the pressure, but my mum would say you are the chef, so you must learn”, he recollects. "As a kid I wasn’t happy, but now I see if I didn’t have that experience, I wouldn’t be here."

These more confronting portrayals of his upbringing are interspersed with happy and nostalgic memories of his mother taking him to afternoon tea from when he was five or six years old at his “favourite hotel in the world”, the Hotel New Grand. This hotel played a large role in influencing Kioku, as Endo soaked up the British tradition and guest-oriented atmosphere.

Yokohama itself has a dynamic history, long known as Tokyo’s neighbouring port city welcoming foreigners and expats from Britain and all over, yet the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 had devastating consequences for the city and beyond. The hotel, which was reverently restored from the tragedy, serves as a symbol of the city’s resilience, as well as its legacy and innovation. It is these values that lay the foundation of Kioku, as Endo tells me a balancing act of tradition and modernity is integral. Despite the extravagance in the restaurant there is a sense of comfort – with low-ceilings, snug seating and hand-crafted touches making for a homely feel – he didn’t want it to be too shiny or overbearing.

His childhood therefore brings some emotion to the surface, but rather than cowering away from that he wants the sentiment echoed to guests too. He asks me rhetorically: “How many restaurants have you gone to, and how many have you gone to which you really remember? They may have nice flavours, yes, but what about memorable experiences?” This is Kioku’s aim and is a takeaway feeling, he states, “you can’t calculate”, adding warmly, “we want to reach out to the heart".

The entire restaurant – from the design to the dishes – is inspired by Endo’s years spent working around the world from Japan across to the Mediterranean in Spain, Italy and France. “It’s all part of the experience”, but he’s quick to highlight, "we are not fusion – others do that too much, we do it a little bit." Instead, he uses the skills he learnt during his travels, such as making homemade pasta in Italy or poaching directly on the pan in France, blending them with his Japanese background and craft.

Memories of his work and travel are of great meaning to Endo, as he reflects “for me, to develop imagination or experience is the key”, while believing modern chefs “rely too much on convenience and technology”. “In the past, there was no smartphone or PC, so we had to act to gain knowledge”. He continues: “I tell my chefs even now with all the technology, you cannot skip steps – it’s always one by one, step by step.” His view extends to guests too, with Endo at the Rotunda known for its disapproval of devices that often steal the light away from the culinary show.  

Endo lives by a quest for experience in other areas of his life too, declaring he would never buy clothes online, “I go to the store, meet the staff, and listen to the story” – as he spills his favourite brand is Comme des Garçons. “It’s the same with food” he continues, “it’s about experience", and fully embracing patience and the process. He took not simply acquiring “information from his phone” to the extent of living with his Cornish supplier of seafood for several months. “We lived together, we went fishing together, we ate Cornish pasties together”, Endo says with a smile.

Just as Endo took lessons from his historic home city and seniors across Japan, Europe and other parts of the world, he now strives to impart his culinary wisdom on generations to come. "Now it’s my turn to pass the opportunity” he states, before solemnly adding, “I stand here in the middle – learning from 100 years ago and thinking 100 years into the future”.

Endo may be a man who gives the utmost attention to the present moment, but both his honour of the past and persistence for the future are what really shine through – and are perhaps the ultimate, perpetual goal.