The article visits the Kurokawa restaurant of 木曽路 in Kita-ku, Nagoya. It covers behind-the-scenes activities including the head chef preparing staff meals, selecting wagyu beef, checking the taste of every dish, and running the restaurant’s own culinary school.
木曽路 originated in Nagoya and is a Japanese restaurant chain with 125 locations nationwide. This visit focuses mainly on the kitchen at the Kurokawa restaurant and provides a detailed look at the various initiatives carried out behind the scenes. The restaurant uses marbled wagyu beef and applies strict quality controls, carefully assessing the balance between fat and lean meat. If the marbling is unsatisfactory, the beef may even be returned.
Head chef Naoki Watanabe (渡邊直紀) checks the taste of every dish individually and is responsible for balancing the overall flavours of approximately 50 menu items. He oversees the kitchen staff’s work and works to maintain consistency in the restaurant’s flavours.
木曽路 operates its own culinary school as a training programme, enabling people who cannot attend a vocational school for financial reasons to learn Japanese cooking techniques while working. The programme develops future chefs through hands-on experience in the workplace.
The restaurant’s care is also reflected in its staff meals. Daily creations include omurice on the first day of the visit, croquettes made with wagyu trimmings, fish-head soup, a kishimen noodle dish prepared in a lasagna style, and wagyu curry. The article introduces techniques that can also be used at home, such as adding sweetness with warishita sauce, conveying that the head chef’s skill and attention to detail form the core of the restaurant’s flavour.