The FINANCIAL — L’Osier (Ginza, Tokyo), the French restaurant run by Shiseido Company, Limited (“Shiseido”), has been awarded three stars for the third consecutive year in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2021 published on Thursday, December 10, 2020, the highest honor given to restaurants serving “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey.” In addition, innovative Italian restaurant FARO (Ginza, Tokyo) has earned one star, signifying “a very good restaurant in its category.”
L’Osier
The French restaurant L’Osier started business in 1973 and is named the French word for “willow,” which has a deep connection to Ginza. Realizing the Shiseido Group corporate mission “BEAUTY INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD” through authentic French cuisine, L’Osier embodies a rich and mature culture and is a symbol of the Shiseido brand, aiming to achieve top quality in all areas of food, service, and dining space.
Third-generation French executive chef Olivier Chaignon creates the current cuisine of L’Osier with innovative ideas and techniques while preserving the restaurant’s traditions and the essence of French cuisine. He selects the best ingredients to create an exquisite harmony of delicate taste and texture, using new combinations of ingredients created with his unique sensitivity.
Designed with key elements of “white,” “gold,” “translucence,” “glass,” and “light,” the restaurant features a dynamic space integrated with a nine-meter-high atrium, offering customers a luxury dining experience in an open and relaxed environment. In May 2019, chef sommelier Toshifumi Nakamoto received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon and sommelier Taku Iguro was named Best Sommelier at the 9th J.S.A. Best Sommelier of Japan championship in August 2020. Along with these achievements, L’Osier is highly acclaimed by many patrons from both Japan and abroad for not only its cuisine and space but also its meticulous attention to detail in hospitality.
“First of all, I would like to thank all our customers for coming to L’Osier even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would also like to express my gratitude to my staff, who are passionate and dedicated to their work and support me every day. I will continue to work hard with my staff to make our customers’ eyes shine like a star,” Award comments by L’Osier executive chef Olivier Chaignon.
FARO
Located on the 10th floor of the Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building, FARO offers modern and original creations (cuisine) that go beyond the bounds of Italian cuisine by combining the tradition and innovation of modern Italian cuisine with the richness of Japanese ingredients and culture. At FARO (lighthouse), named with the aim of becoming a restaurant that shines a light on the world from the land of Ginza, executive chef Kotaro Noda sheds light on a new food culture. Noda has been at the forefront of the Italian culinary world for 20 years, and the only Japanese chef bringing Michelin stars to two restaurants in Italy.
With him, FARO is now particularly focused on its vegan course; Noda describes it as “not a limitation but a new expression, leading to a good example of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.” The course menu is not only for vegans but for the many people who want to experience “delicious food and feel beautiful inside and out.” At the same time, we find that the vegan lifestyle has the potential for sustainability and harmony, and therefore pursue initiatives to “live a happy fulfilling life while protecting the beauty of the earth and society” through a diet that does not burden the environment or animals.
All FARO staff aim to act as “food curators” and travel around the country to deepen ties with producers and suppliers. From tableware and cutlery to table accessories, we have a wide range of products made with “Japanese artisanal techniques,” such as Niigata’s Kumiko woodcraft, Tajimi and Arita vessels, Imabari weaving, and Edo-Kiriko cut glasses, with a desire to preserve the wonderful traditional culture of Japan.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our customers, producers and suppliers across Japan for their affection and support toward FARO, which was newly reborn in 2018. I believe this award is a result of all the efforts of Shiseido and Shiseido Parlour, who gave us a chance as the new FARO, and also all of our staff. This is the beginning of a new phase for FARO and we will all work together and make even greater efforts to further evolution.”Award comments by FARO executive chef Kotaro Noda.
Shiseido’s restaurant business
Shiseido started business in Ginza, Tokyo in 1872 as the first private Western-style pharmacy in Japan. The founder, Arinobu Fukuhara, installed a soda fountain in a section of the Shiseido pharmacy in 1902 to manufacture and sell the country’s first soda water as well as ice cream, a rare delicacy at the time, inspired by the drug stores he had visited in the U.S. on return from the World Exposition in Paris in 1900. In 1928, the company opened Shiseido Parlour, which served authentic Western cuisine. As one of the pioneers of Western culinary experiences as well as a symbol of Ginza, the restaurant continues to propose new values to its many patrons and strives to embody Shiseido’s mission “BEAUTY INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD” from the culinary field.
L’Osier opened its doors as an authentic French restaurant inside the former Shiseido Parlour Building (now Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building) on Ginza Chuo-dori Avenue in 1973. Since 1999, the restaurant has been located in the Shiseido headquarters building on Ginza Namiki-dori Street, bringing the atmosphere of Paris to the boulevard. Celebrating its 40th anniversary in October 2013, the restaurant reopened under new executive chef Olivier Chaignon. L’Osier is a highly acclaimed fine-dining restaurant that offers a truly wonderful experience to patrons from both Japan and abroad.
FARO Shiseido opened as a full-fledged Italian restaurant in the Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building upon construction in 2001. From October 2018, under new executive chef Kotaro Noda the business was rebranded the modern FARO was born.
About the Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a world-renowned guidebook series first published in August 1900 by the French tire manufacturer Michelin, based on its own research. The first Michelin Guide in Asia, Michelin Guide Tokyo 2008, was released in November 2007. This year sees the 13th edition of the book.
