Chef
Seiji Yamamoto
Owner-Chef, Nihonryori RyuGin
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Tokyo, Japan
- Venue
- RyuGin · Restaurant
Known for
- Pioneering progressive kaiseki with modern techniques at Nihonryori RyuGin
- Signature hamo eel soup prepared using CT scan for bone mapping
- 12-course seasonal omakase menus
i. Biography
Kaiseki at Nihonryori RyuGin in Tokyo is practiced as Seasonal Japanese Cuisine under close technical scrutiny. As representative director and owner chef, Seiji Yamamoto, born in Kagawa Prefecture, works within a form that depends on timing, cut, temperature, aroma, texture, and the order of courses. The cooking treats the season as structure, not garnish: ingredients are studied for what they can carry at a specific point in the year, then handled to make that point legible.
The Climb
Discipline in this culinary tradition is often transmitted through repetition, restraint, and correction before it becomes personal. Early work under Hirohisa Koyama at Aoyagi gave Seiji Yamamoto that grounding: a trade education in finesse, clarity, and the patience required to let an ingredient register without excess. His later style kept that base while adding close observation and exacting technique to traditional kaiseki practice. Overseas expansion tested whether a restaurant identity built on seasonality from Japan could hold outside the country. As operator of overseas branch at Tenku RyuGin in International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong (2012–2020), and operator of overseas branch at Shoun RyuGin in Taipei, Taiwan (2014–2022), Seiji Yamamoto extended the name into new settings while keeping the work tied to seasonal imagination, disciplined craft, and precise handling of ingredients. Modern Kaiseki in Tokyo has been built around clarification rather than display. As owner-chef since 2003, Seiji Yamamoto has used the restaurant as the main site for a cuisine rooted in Japanese tradition while asking how technique can sharpen, rather than obscure, the ingredient and the season.
The Practice Today
Progressive kaiseki cookery there centers seasonal ingredients and tasting menus that read through season and place. In Seiji Yamamoto’s work, Modern Kaiseki, Seasonal Japanese Cuisine is associated with native ingredients shaped into refined courses that present Japan’s natural beauty through control of temperature, timing, cut, aroma, and texture. The value is in attention: each course depends on a narrow decision made correctly. Ingredient-led technique is the stated rule of the kitchen. “Our techniques and hearts as chefs are present when we honestly and distinctly convey the ingredients that nature has fostered,” Seiji Yamamoto has said. The approach joins a perfectionist method, respect for ingredients, delicate artistry, and close attention to detail. Technique is not treated as a separate effect; it is the means by which the ingredient is made clearer. Across the menu, Seiji Yamamoto incorporates modern cooking techniques through creative execution, integrates avant-garde methods into classic kaiseki cookery, and uses precise, sometimes scientific techniques to improve flavor and texture. Knife techniques are treated as flavor work, with centuries-old technique married with modern scientific thinking. Daily contact with ingredients remains the operating discipline. “To discover what that is, we face the ingredients every day to determine and understand and that is what defines cooking.” In Seiji Yamamoto’s framing, innovation is not a break from kaiseki; it is a closer return to the ingredient, the season, and the question of what a course can reveal when handled with enough precision.
Signature
Progressive kaiseki cookery is the through-line: seasonal Japanese ingredients, Modern Kaiseki, and a perfectionist approach applied with restraint. Seiji Yamamoto is associated with a grilled Spanish mackerel dish and an assorted sashimi plate. The mark is not a single decorative move, but a disciplined register of clean structure, seasonal resonance, and deliberate handling.
Standing
Recognition has followed the precision of the kaiseki work: Seiji's honors include World's 50 Best Restaurants; placed 31st (2016), Fifth best chef in the world (2016), Fifth in Asia's Best Restaurants, Three Michelin stars for Nihonryori RyuGin, Two Michelin stars for overseas branches, and Global 100: 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality (2022). Taken together, these awards place the craft in a contemporary international frame while keeping its reference point in Japanese culinary tradition.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Seiji
What does Seiji Yamamoto currently do?
Seiji Yamamoto is representative director, Owner chef.
Where did Seiji Yamamoto work before?
Earlier in their career, Seiji Yamamoto worked at Aoyagi, Tenku RyuGin, and Shoun RyuGin.
