Shinsuke Ishii

The Climb

At Sincère in Tokyo, the craft is defined by the combined role of owner and chef, a dual position Shinsuke Ishii took on in 2016. That arrangement puts control of the kitchen’s pace and the dining room’s shape in the same hands, so the restaurant reads as a single working system rather than separate parts. Ishii has framed that work in terms that reach beyond technique: for him, cooking is also a way to think through how people and nature coexist.

Today

At Sincère, the owner-chef role gives Shinsuke Ishii direct authority over both execution and experience. It allows the restaurant to function as a clear expression of intent, with each service carrying more than one purpose. Ishii has said plainly, “I ask myself what I can do as a chef, and I decided to inform as many people as possible through my work.” The statement points to a trade-minded view of the plate: food as communication, and the dining room as a place where that message is delivered. He has also described the room he wants guests to enter, saying, “I want customers to enjoy eating in a theater-like space.” The emphasis is on setting and control, not spectacle alone. In that frame, Sincère becomes a place where service, room, and plate are shaped with the same attention, and where Ishii’s environmental thinking sits alongside a careful approach to the guest experience.

In Their Words “I ask myself what I can do as a chef, and I decided to inform as many people as possible through my work.” “I think coexistence between people and nature is a major theme.”

Recognition

Shinsuke Ishii's honors include MICHELIN Guide One Star. For a chef-owner, the distinction marks Sincère as a Tokyo address with clear standing, and it confirms the consistency of Ishii’s approach in the dining room. The recognition sits on the work rather than above it: a signal that the restaurant’s combined authorship, from kitchen to service, has been read and accounted for at the guide level.