Agustin Balbi

The Climb

Technique is the through-line in Agustin Balbi’s early career: a training base in the United States, then the kitchen at Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros in Tokyo, Japan, where he worked as Chef de Partie from 2014. In that setting, the work would have been built on pace, exact placement, and repeatable execution—conditions that shape a cook’s habits more than any slogan ever could. The move from Tokyo to Hong Kong, and then into a Head Chef role at a modern Japanese restaurant, shows the usual trade progression in plain view: more responsibility, broader control, and the chance to test a point of view under pressure. That progression became visible in the titles that followed. Agustin is chef-founder of Andō since 2020 and Partner Chef of Sefino since 2025, roles that mark the shift from working inside a defined kitchen structure to helping define one. The line from Chef de Partie to founder is not decorative; it is the record of accumulated method being turned into authorship.

Today

Japanese ingredients, especially seafood, sit at the center of the cooking at Andō in Hong Kong, where Agustin serves as chef-founder and executive chef. The work there is not about isolating ingredients for effect, but about arranging them so they hold together across the meal. Rather than building the menu as a string of separate notes, he uses narrative menus, letting each course introduce, develop, and carry forward the one before it. That structure matches the way he describes dining: Agustin has said, “I think the act of eating is a very personal act.” The line is useful because it points to the job in front of the kitchen, which is to cook with enough precision to hold its shape and enough openness to meet different diners where they are. At ANDŌ in Hong Kong, that means food that is composed carefully but intended to be received as experience, not just read as technique. The result is a style built on restraint and resonance. Japanese ingredients—especially seafood—are given room to carry the meal, while the larger sequence keeps the table moving. It is controlled cooking, but not closed-off cooking.

Signature

Sin Lola is one of Agustin Balbi’s signature dishes. In a body of work shaped by narrative menus and measured layering, the dish functions as a fixed reference point: a named expression of the style that defines his cooking. It sits in the register of dishes that help identify a chef’s hand without needing explanation beyond the plate itself.

In Their Words “We don't do our normal cuisine, because the guests are not used to those flavors.” “It’s very important that we do something good for them, that makes them happy.”