A private phone number, secret opening times, and no interest in Michelin.
Chef Yosuke Suga is no stranger to Michelin stars, having worked to earn and keep them for more than a decade as a protégé of the late, great, Joel Robuchon, once the world’s most Michelin-starred chef. But when it was time to start his own restaurant, Sugalabo, in 2015, he turned his back on the critics.
“I’ve seen a lot of the behind-the-scenes workings of Michelin,” Suga said. “Because of that, both in a good and a bad way, I gradually lost interest … More than that, I developed a strong desire not to be evaluated by others; to not work in a way that seeks validation from a guidebook.”
“We serve for the customers, but don’t make dishes for critics,” he added.
Good luck getting a table, however. Ten years after opening, Sugalabo is inaccessible to nearly everyone.
The restaurant’s table policy is a watered-down take on “Ichigensan okotowari,” or “no first-time customers without introduction,” an old practice of some of Japan’s most lauded – and by their nature, secretive – establishments. These restaurants are patronized almost entirely by regulars, who may be permitted to bring a guest, but there’s no guarantee the guest will be allowed to return.
At Sugalabo, diners must be invited or recommended by existing patrons. There is no online booking system, no set opening times, only a private phone number known to the chosen few, who return time and again to the 20-cover bar and dining table.
