Chihiro Naito

At a Glance - Current role: chef of the restaurant in Tokyo. - Former role: sous chef at L’Effervescence in Aoyama. - Specialty: Modern Vietnamese cooking. - Technique and sourcing: French technique with Japanese seasonal produce. - On his path into cooking, Naito has said, "That’s when I left Saitama to attend a culinary school in Tokyo for a year." The first step into professional cooking came through formal study in Tokyo, after Chihiro Naito left Saitama for a year at culinary school. That move was less about romance than about entering the trade with intent. It established the practical base for a career that would later place him in exacting kitchens and, ultimately, in his current role as chef of the restaurant in Tokyo. Rigor is part of the work shaped by his time as sous chef at L’Effervescence in Aoyama. In a kitchen like that, pace and precision are not abstract virtues; they are part of the daily standard. For Naito, that background reads directly in the finished food: Modern Vietnamese cooking expressed with control, French technique in dialogue with Japanese seasonal produce, and no interest in excess for its own sake. Hospitality and repetition also sit at the root of the craft. While in university, he worked part-time at a Japanese restaurant, where the work was ordinary but instructive. Naito has said, “I enjoyed being part of the community there, all while boiling udon, frying tempura, and plating dishes.” Those tasks describe the basics of service as much as they do technique: cooking to order, keeping pace with the room, and learning how a kitchen holds together through routine.

Signature

Chihiro's signature dishes include French Toast and tea leaf salad. The two dishes point to a wide but controlled range. French Toast suggests a familiar format handled with a chef’s attention to texture and finish, while tea leaf salad sits closer to the bright, aromatic register of Modern Vietnamese cooking. Taken together, they show a kitchen that works through contrast—soft and crisp, warm and fresh, familiar and lifted—while staying grounded in the same French technique and Japanese seasonal produce that define Naito’s approach.

In Their Words “I enjoyed being part of the community there, all while boiling udon, frying tempura, and plating dishes.”