Page 56 - Exploring Taste Magazine N.2

EXPLORING TASTE—SANTA MARGHERITA GRUPPO VINICOLO

Photo Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images

lives on this extraordinary contradiction between ancient and modern, classic and ences is held by ramen, a local cult that over time has increasingly spread around
contemporary. Drawing up a guide of the latest culinary trends in town is a tall the world. Today there is no place they are not served in. Here, however, they are
order, but there are well-traced directions. The Japanese school of haute cuisine cooked in every possible way, more sophisticated when coming from the hands of
keeps on presenting its very high degree of specialization and research, from the the most renowned cooks or in home-cooked style when you taste them almost on
classic counter of sushi to the tempura prepared on the spot as small works of art. the street. There is no corner in the city where you won’t f nd a hot dish of them (or
Around the classic dishes, still cooked in keeping with tradition, in thousands of cold, depending on your personal preference). Octopus Tokyo pushes its tentacles
can’t-miss places spread in every borough, a very large group of great chefs pro- further out, and there is something to be labeled as “new” every day. The “poor”
poses menus that are the perfect synthesis between the granitic rules of recipes pork, snubbed in the past, today can challenge the now-illustrious Kobe beef, and
past and the sparks imposed by creativity. Here fusion is not just fashion: it is the sometimes even win. Additionally, you can drink anything out there, and always at
very essence of food, the “twist on classic” which distinguishes a whole culture. All top level. Sakes compete with one another for strength and perfume, handmade
around moves what the international press def nes as “the craziest city in the world, beers are an increasingly wide and fascinating area, wines are the f agship of many
when it comes to food.” Street food shops and small bistros, hidden establishments restaurants and of their sommeliers. The unceasing Japanese curiosity sometimes
and jewels in full view at times go unnoticed because of the quantity of stimuli, makes it possible to enjoy, with the most delicious sushi in the world, a glass of
colors and inputs mixed together in a pop kaleidoscope that makes no distinctions western wine that we wouldn’t even know existed. This is Tokyo’s secret: anybody
as to money, tastes and age. The inclusion rule applies to Tokyo cuisine. Everybody who wants something knows that it can be found here.
can f nd everything, from star-awarded haute cuisine to the most ref ned patisserie,
with a preference for the French classic tradition, one of the most recent trends for
gourmand snacks. Everything is tasted at every hour of the day and night, from f sh
to meat, from the strictly practicing vegetarian to dishes that our western palate
is still unable to catalog. According to a statistic study conducted among tourists
visiting the metropolis in the last years, the f rst place in the gastronomic prefer-

The term sushi indicates a whole range of dishes prepared using rice.
Its origin was never clear but it is thought that its current version dates
back to the f rst half of the 19th century.

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