Sohei Yuki

The Climb

Training at Waseda University and Culinary school gave Sohei Yuki the groundwork for a career built on repetition, attention, and control. In serious cooking, that kind of preparation matters less as a line on a résumé than as a signal of working habits: concentration, restraint, and the patience to repeat a motion until it holds. At 麤皮, where Sohei Yuki worked as cook until 2014, the demand was for exact execution rather than flourish. That sort of kitchen asks for close reading of each detail, and for the steady kind of competence that keeps effort from getting in the way of finish. Since 2014, Sohei Yuki has been Owner Chef and Executive Chef of Steak Dining Vitis. The role ties decision-making directly to the grill: the standards come from the same hands that shape the fire, the cut, and the plate. The arc from school to kitchen to ownership is straightforward, and that is part of the point — a career made through long practice, not shortcuts.

Today

As Executive Chef there, Sohei Yuki keeps ownership and kitchen authority in the same place. That structure gives Steak Dining Vitis its character: the person directing the restaurant is also the one responsible for the cooking, from fire management to final service. The format is wagyu over charcoal, led by the chef rather than by ceremony. There are no tasting menus and no theatrical trappings; the meal is not built as performance. The basement-level setting keeps the focus close to the grill and the plate, where charcoal and beef do the talking and the room stays in support of the work.

Signature

Sohei Yuki is known for charcoal-grilled wagyu steak. His craft focus is Rokamado-style charcoal-grilled steak. That kind of signature narrows the field: one technique, repeated and refined, with the work centered on how far a single method can be taken.

In Their Words “The rokamado is a method that uses charcoal as its heat source, and cooks with the far-infrared rays of the charcoal.” “I wanted more people to know about steak grilled in the rokamado style.”

Recognition

Sohei's honors include Tabelog 100 No. 65 (2025) and Opinionated About Dining ranking (Japan). Those notices place his work in the wider steak conversation in Japan, while the kitchen itself stays with its charcoal-led discipline.