Yamato Imanishi

Coming Up

École Tsuji Osaka gave Yamato Imanishi the technical base that later met the pace and scrutiny of Paris kitchens. That movement from Osaka into the Paris dining scene placed him between two disciplined culinary traditions, and the work that followed sharpened a language of precision rather than display. In 2011–2011, Yamato worked as Section Chef at Septime in Paris, France and Section Chef at Le Chateaubriand in Paris, France, where the demands of service and section work reinforced the habits of control, timing, and attention that sit beneath his later cooking. Today, Yamato is Executive Chef of LA VIGNE DINING FUDO (since 2025) and chef of Ying. Those two positions define the present shape of his work: one tied to Hakuba, Nagano, Japan, the other to Macau. In both, the throughline is the same—seasonality, clarity, and an approach to ingredients that favors exactness over excess.

Where They Are Now

Chef at Ying in Macau is the current post through which Yamato Imanishi’s kitchen can be read most directly. The work there is built around simplicity and close attention to ingredients, with each plate carrying the discipline of subtraction as much as addition. At Ying, restraint is not treated as an aesthetic slogan; it is a method, visible in how the cooking is composed and in how little is needed when the product is treated with care. Executive Chef at LA VIGNE DINING FUDO in Hakuba, Nagano, Japan extends that method into a different setting. There, his French cuisine is rooted in seasonal terroir, tying the kitchen to place and to the changing calendar. The Hakuba address adds a second frame to his practice: one where the expression of a dish is shaped by what is available, when it is available, and how precisely it is handled. Taken together, Ying in Macau and LA VIGNE DINING FUDO in Hakuba describe a chef working across two locations without shifting his standard. The geography changes; the ethic does not. In both kitchens, the craft rests on the same premise: the less unnecessary handling that enters the process, the more clearly the ingredients can register.

In Their Words “Not overworking the ingredients and listening to their life force has become the core of my culinary philosophy.” “Simple cuisine, stripped of unnecessary decoration, reflects the true essence.”